This week, we visited the Museum of the Chinese in America in Chinatown, Manhattan. We participated in two interactive tours through the school: one on stereotypes, and another on immigrant stories collected by the museum.
Student Reflections:
By Suzanne:
At MoCA, I learned that there was a lot of stereotyping and racism that happened. Most Chinese came to the U.S. for the search of gold which they heard from their friends. The trip to America was long; it took them about three long months just to get to San Francisco.
It wasn’t just that but when they did find the gold; they weren’t able to keep it. Most of the Chinese that came were mostly men at the really early period. The women that were able to come were the owners of the stores but that was rare. I also learned that Americans started to become nice to the Chinese when the Chinese helped the Americans during the war. People had many stereotypes for the Chinese and many other races like the Japanese. These are some facts that I learned from the trip.
By Simon:
After visiting the Moca museum, I really feel the poignant memories of the earliest immigrants. They spent three months on a ship and could not speak English. When they were discriminated, the only thing they could do was keep silent. They could still go through those hard time with their America dreams. This museum is the epitome of the Chinese history. Anyone who visits the museum will become the successor especially the new Chinese immigrants. They succeed to gain hope and spirit from the easier immigrant’s stories which were hand down from generation to generation.
By Jing Ling:
The trip of MOCA museum helped me to learn about early immigrants' story. I never understood that how hard were they live with before. I went to the museum and I saw how did they work, how did they live, and how did they survive in the community. They did the most humble job, and they just earned little money. They made great contributions to the society, but people still blamed them. People wanted to kick them out of the United States. Local residents made irony toys to laugh at Chinese, they gave servants a nick name. Those phenomenon makes me feel so sad... Everyone came to the United States just in order to have a better life, they just want their childern have a better life. However the truth was not like what they imaged. Although they were blamed, they bear all insult, still lived in the community quietly. They just want to live in the United States, they just want to work, and they just want to achieve their dream.
By Ming:
I was very interested in this trip because I had a chance to know more about Chinese-American history. It's pretty sad to see how they were considered as evil and monsters. I was kind of disappointed that we had to do two presentations instead of one because I wanted to see all the historical things. But overall, it was a good trip because I like things about history.
By Simon:
After visiting the Moca museum, I really feel the poignant memories of the earliest immigrants. They spent three months on a ship and could not speak English. When they were discriminated, the only thing they could do was keep silent. They could still go through those hard time with their America dreams. This museum is the epitome of the Chinese history. Anyone who visits the museum will become the successor especially the new Chinese immigrants. They succeed to gain hope and spirit from the easier immigrant’s stories which were hand down from generation to generation.
By Jing Ling:
The trip of MOCA museum helped me to learn about early immigrants' story. I never understood that how hard were they live with before. I went to the museum and I saw how did they work, how did they live, and how did they survive in the community. They did the most humble job, and they just earned little money. They made great contributions to the society, but people still blamed them. People wanted to kick them out of the United States. Local residents made irony toys to laugh at Chinese, they gave servants a nick name. Those phenomenon makes me feel so sad... Everyone came to the United States just in order to have a better life, they just want their childern have a better life. However the truth was not like what they imaged. Although they were blamed, they bear all insult, still lived in the community quietly. They just want to live in the United States, they just want to work, and they just want to achieve their dream.
By Ming:
I was very interested in this trip because I had a chance to know more about Chinese-American history. It's pretty sad to see how they were considered as evil and monsters. I was kind of disappointed that we had to do two presentations instead of one because I wanted to see all the historical things. But overall, it was a good trip because I like things about history.