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Judy Yung

Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 (Naomi B. Pascal Editor's Endowment) Paperback – Illustrated, November 11, 2014

by Him Mark Lai (Editor), Genny Lim (Editor), Judy Yung (Editor)

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In the early twentieth century, most Chinese immigrants coming to the United States were detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. There, they were subject to physical exams, interrogations, and often long detentions aimed at upholding the exclusion laws that kept Chinese out of the country. Many detainees recorded their anger and frustrations, hopes and despair in poetry written and carved on the barrack walls.

Island tells these immigrants' stories while underscoring their relevance to contemporary immigration issues. First published in 1980, this book is now offered in an updated, expanded edition including a new historical introduction, 150 annotated poems in Chinese and English translation, extensive profiles of immigrants gleaned through oral histories, and dozens of new photographs from public archives and family albums.

An important historical document as well as a significant work of literature, Island is a testament to the hardships Chinese immigrants endured on Angel Island, their perseverance, and their determination to make a new life in America.

Replaces ISBN 9780295971094

Print length

280 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Washington Press
Publication date

November 11, 2014
Dimensions

8.1 x 0.9 x 10 inches
ISBN-10

029599407X
ISBN-13

978-0295994079
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Editorial Reviews

Review

During the time they spent on the island, as little as a few days, as long as three years, [immigrants] carved and ink-brushed their concerns onto the walls of their barracks. One hundred thirty-five calligraphic poems survived, first discovered by a Federal park ranger after Angel Island was abandoned in 1940. Together with the interviews, the poems -- angry, heroic, wrenchingly forlorn, despairing, provocative, resistant -- convey, as no secondhand or thirdhand account could ever do, what it was like to be Chinese and to be on Angel Island.

--New York Times

It reclaims the migration history of ordinary Chinese Americans. . . . Poignant testimony to what it meant to be Chinese in America at the beginning of the twentieth century.

-- (01/01/2015)

More than two decades ago, the first edition of Island brought the plight of Chinese immigrants in America to the academic forefront through the poetry they left behind at Angel Island. The updated and recently published second edition expands that focus with more poems, interviews, archival photos and an enhanced discussion of historical context....The resulting tome is sure to be a touchstone for Chinese and Asian American Studies for generations to come.... As our nation continues to be a mecca for impoverished people from other countries, Angel Island reminds us to check our attitudes and policies toward immigration, because for all the benefits of being a multicultural and democratic nation there are myriad untold costs.

-- (01/01/2015)

About the Author

The late Him Mark Lai was internationally renowned as the dean of Chinese American history and the author of The Chinese of America, 1785-1980 and Becoming Chinese American: A History of Communities and Institutions. Genny Lim is a native San Francisco poet, playwright, performer, and educator. She is the author of three poetry collections and the award-winning play Paper Angels, about Chinese immigrants detained on Angel Island. Judy Yung is professor emerita of American studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco and Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Washington Press; Second edition (November 11, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 029599407X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0295994079
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.1 x 0.9 x 10 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #402,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #56 in Chinese Poetry (Books)
- #70 in Asian American Poetry
- #130 in Chinese Literature

Customer Reviews:
16 ratings

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Sam L

Best book of AIIS carved poems

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2019

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"Island" is the best and most comprehensive book featuring the carved Chinese poems at the AIIS (Angel Island Immigration Station).

One person found this helpful

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John Lee

a great book

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2015

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a great book on immigrant to the US and history of their life through their writing.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A Must-Have Book of Poetry

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2016

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This is a beautiful compilation of poignant,poetry written by detainees while held at the Angel Island immigration center in San Francisco. It also personal histories of some of the detainees at the end of the book. This is a must-have for the library of anyone interested in U.S. immigration or Asian American history.

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M. S. Brown

Historic Angel Island prison poetry left by Chinese immigrant of the Exclusion era

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015

With this second, enlarged edition of "ISLAND" Professor Emerita Judy Yung and key colleagues have added a precious component to her one volume definitive history of Angel Island published in 2010 with co-author Dr. Erika Lee. The original 1991 "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940" by Yung, Jenny Lim and deceased historian Him Mark Lai remains a poignant collection of very personal poems actually carved by immigrant prisoners into the very walls of their cells during overlong incarcerations at the island prison. Arriving at "Gold Mountain" to seek their places within America most were incarcerated for months and occasionally years. That was due to institutionally systemized racism not experienced by any other foreign arrivals to such a broad degree for nearly half a century. Among thousands of crime-less victims who were caged for days, months or years of waiting, many felt compelled eventually to compose as poetry their innermost thoughts of frustration, anger and deep bitterness. Many of them then scored those anxieties into Angel Island detention center walls for those similarly following them to read. With this second edition of ISLAND poetry Dr. Yung has now included a series of powerful and touching, personal interviews recorded many years after the person's incarceration. In these oral histories the fundamentally innocent Chinese ex-inmates spoke of their tribulations and also of their eventually successful lives, careers, and/or families. They also reflected philosophically upon their soul numbing time spent behind those Island bars and within large cages. This despite their strictly enforced confinement at Angel Island near San Francisco Bay's even more infamous Alcatraz Island and its truly dangerous and incorrigible, federal convicts. This second, significantly expanded and thorough edition of ISLAND also offers levels of closure within a selection of after stories as related to original ISLAND authors Judy Yung and Him Mark Lai. Author Yung has also added similar Chinese poems left by Ellis Island detainees in New York Harbor as well as some from British Colombia's likewise detained Chinese immigrants. Equally revealing herein is a detailed 1975 oral history that the authors collected from a former, caucasian Immigration Service clerk who worked for several years with Chinese immigrants at Angel Island. This excellent book is a must for students or scholars of Chinese American history and especially for anyone of Chinese American heritage.

4 people found this helpful

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B. Lee

PUTTING LIFE TO THE POEMS at Angel Island

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2014

Am privileged to do docent tours at the Angel Immigration Station for the California State Park on Angel Island for elementary, high school and college folks.This book will really be so wonderfully used to contextualize the many poems that were shared in the first Island edition to real life situations. Thank you for the painstaking work for collecting the pictures that have been scattered..(especially on my iPAD)....Thank you for this GREAT update!

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Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 (Naomi B. Pascal Editor's Endowment) Paperback – Illustrated, November 11, 2014

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