Women in the anti-Japanese movement in California, 1900--1924

This study explores the participation of California women and women's organizations in the anti-Japanese movement between 1900 and 1924. It begins with a brief overview of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century anti-Japanese movement in California; then it examines the participation of individual women and women's organizations. Then follows a discussion of the involvement of such clubwomen and labor activists as Katherine Philips Edson, Maud Younger, and Louise La Rue. The positions of the Women's Trade Union League, and the Women's Equal Suffrage League as well as that of prominent suffragists such as Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony are examined. The interactions of gender, race, and class in the anti-Japanese movement as they relate to individuals, organizations, and the wider movement are explored. The use of images of women in anti-Japanese rhetoric in the media and popular culture is investigated. The paper concludes with a brief examination of the continuing resonance of anti-immigrant and racial themes in California politics today.