A01=Christopher W. Merritt
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American History
American West
Author_Christopher W. Merritt
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJK
Category=HBLL
Category=HBTB
Category=JBFH
Category=JFFN
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese Immigrants
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
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eq_history
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eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ethnic Studies
Ethnohistory
Historical Archaeology
Immigrants
Immigration
Intermountain West
Language_English
Montana
Overseas Chinese
PA=Available
Price_€50 to €100
PS=Active
Rocky Mountain West
softlaunch
US History
Product details
- ISBN 9780803299788
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Aug 2017
- Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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In The Coming Man from Canton Christopher W. Merritt mines the historical and archaeological record of the Chinese immigrant experience in Montana to explore new questions and perspectives. During the 1860s Chinese immigrants arrived by the thousands, moving into the Rocky Mountain West and tenaciously searching for prosperity in the face of resistance, restriction, racism, and armed hostility from virtually every ethnic group in American society. As second-class citizens, Chinese immigrants remained largely insular and formed their own internal governments as well as labor and trade networks, typically establishing communities apart from the main towns. Chinese miners, launderers, restaurant keepers, gardeners, railroad laborers, and other workers became a separate but integral part of the American experience in the Intermountain West.
Although Chinese immigrants constituted more than 10 percent of the Montana Territory’s total population by 1870, the historical records provide a biased and narrow perspective, as they were generally written by European American community members. Merritt uses the statewide Montana context to show the diversity of Chinese settlements that has often been neglected by archival studies. His research highlights how the legacy of the Chinese in Montana is, or is not, reflected in modern Montana identity and how scholars, educators, professionals, and the public can alter the existing perception of this population as the “other” and perceive it instead an integral part of Montana’s past.
Although Chinese immigrants constituted more than 10 percent of the Montana Territory’s total population by 1870, the historical records provide a biased and narrow perspective, as they were generally written by European American community members. Merritt uses the statewide Montana context to show the diversity of Chinese settlements that has often been neglected by archival studies. His research highlights how the legacy of the Chinese in Montana is, or is not, reflected in modern Montana identity and how scholars, educators, professionals, and the public can alter the existing perception of this population as the “other” and perceive it instead an integral part of Montana’s past.
Christopher W. Merritt is the deputy state historic preservation officer for the Utah Division of State History.
