University of British Columbia Press
From Slave Girls to Salvation
Gender, Race, and Victoria’s Chinese Rescue Home, 1886-1923
9780774830577
9780774830560
Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
From Slave Girls to Salvation
Gender, Race, and Victoria’s Chinese Rescue Home, 1886-1923
For decades, the Chinese Rescue Home was a feature of the landscape of Victoria, British Columbia. Originally a refuge for Chinese prostitutes and slave girls rescued from captivity, it became a residence and school where the Methodist Women’s Missionary Society attempted to reform Chinese and Japanese girls and women. They did so, in part, by teaching them domestic skills meant to ease their integration into Western society. This book offers the first in-depth history and analysis of this iconic institution and expands our understanding of the complex interplay between gender, race, and class in BC during this time.
264 pages
Table of Contents
Introduction: Breaking Ground
1 Foundations of Stone: Victoria and the Chinese Rescue Home
2 Pillars of Domesticity and the “Chinese Problem”
3 Crossing the Threshold: Interrogating the Space and Place of Victoria’s Chinese Rescue Home
4 Outside the Walls of the Home: Men, Marriage, and Morals in the Public Arena
5 Roofs, Rafters, and Refuge: The State, Race, and Child Custody
Conclusion: Race, Gender, and National Imaginings
Notes; Appendix: Sources and Methodology; Bibliography; Index