Early Chinese American Community

Part 1: (2-3 pages)
This part requires that you read the research paper Insights into Early Chinese American Community
Development in Massachusetts through the U.S. Census by Michael Liu and Shauna Lo (Institute for Asian
American Studies, UMass Boston), March 2014.
1. Write a short summary describing the evolution of the Chinese population in Massachusetts from
1870 to 1880 to 1900. Address the changes in both age demographics and occupational
demographics.
2. Recreate 2 of the tables from the paper AND include rows for the corresponding relative frequencies
(percentages) of the data values. Then describe some of the similarities and/or differences between
the data in the table. You can compare age distributions between two decades or occupation
distributions between two decades.
3. Integrate into the paper least 3 Excel-generated graphs that draws comparisons between the three
decades. Describe the similarities and differences and how your graphs illustrate them. Place the
graphs in appropriate locations within your paper, not just at the end of your paper.
4. Highlight at least 3 interesting pieces of information not already mentioned in your paper, and why
you found them interesting.
Part 2: (1-2 pages)
Conduct research on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
1. In one paragraph, summarize the objective and actions taken by Chinese Exclusion Act.
2. How did the Chinese Exclusion Act affect the Chinese demographics in Massachusetts? Include
statistics from the research paper to support your answer.
3. What social lessons can people today learn from the Chinese Exclusion Act?
4. Include citations of your research in MLA format. At least one citation must be an article, and you are
permitted to include videos as citations as well. If your citations were found on public Internet, then
include the web URL next to the citation.