Chinese Americans in the Heartland: Migration, Work, and Community (Asian American Studies Today)

The term “Heartland” in American cultural context conventionally tends to provoke imageries of corn-fields, flat landscape, hog farms, and rural communities, along with ideas of conservatism, homogeneity, and isolation. But as the Midwestern and Southern states experienced more rapid population growth than that in California, Hawaii, and New York in the recent decades, the Heartland region has emerged as a growing interest of Asian American studies. Focused on the Heartland cities of Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri, this book draws rich evidences from various government records, personal stories and interviews, and media reports, and sheds light on the commonalities and uniqueness of the region, as compared to the Asian American communities on the East and West Coast and Hawaii. Some of the poignant stories such as “the Three Moy Brothers,” “Alla Lee,” and “Save Sam Wah Laundry” told in the book are powerful reflections of Asian American history.
 

HUPING LING, professor emerita of history at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, served as the executive editor-in-chief for the Journal of Asian American Studies from 2008 to 2012. A prize-winning author, she has authored or edited over thirty books and published over 200 articles on Asian American studies.