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Donaldina Cameron was an early 20th century missionary in the San Francisco area. A crusader for female Chinese immigrants, she rescued and education more then 3,000 Chinese Slave women during her ministry from 1895 to 1934.

Early Life (1869-1900)

Born in New Zealand, Donaldina was the youngest of seven children. She moved with her family to California when she was 2. During her childhood, Donaldina had very little contact and experience with immigrant populations. In an effort to expose Donaldina to the world around her, a family friend Mary P.D. Browne, the former president of the Women’s Occidental Board of Foreign Missionaries, took Donaldina to the Presbyterian Home where she met Margaret Culbertson and became a sewing teacher for the Presbyterian Mission Home. Culbertson and the Presbyterian Home acted as a place of refuge for freed indentured female Chinese servants, where they could be safe from the outside world and get an education. Together, Culbertson and Cameron worked to rescue Chinese immigrants until Culbertson’s death in 1897.

Background

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882/ Page Act of 1875 was the first piece of federal immigrant legislation in the United States. It prohibited immigrants from any area considered “undesirable” which included most of Asia. It also barred any Chinese women from entering the United States, unless they already married to men in the United States. Originally passed to prohibit the immoral sex trafficking of Asian women and influx of Asian man laborers, it instead created a dangerous illegal “Yellow Slave Trade”. Illegal passage of Chinese women into America became very common in the late 1880’s into the early 20th century. Many times, young women would present forged marriage papers that said they were already married to Chinese men in the United States. This phenomena was dubbed the “Yellow Slave Trade” and oftentimes entailed “Mui Tsais”, young Asian girls who were sold as domestic servants or prostitutes by the “Tongs”, secret Chinese sex slave trafficking societies. A Chinese prostitute lived a brutal life, usually dying within five years. During this time San Francisco City Hall, ran by “Boss” Abe Ruef and Eugene Schmitz, took kickbacks from “Tong” groups resulting in very little government reform for the Yellow Slave Trade. The Chinese Six Company was a Chinese organization that attempted to stop the Tongs, but eventually collapsed when Tongs infiltrated the organization.

Mission Life (1900- 1934)

Two years after Culbertson’s death in 1897, Donaldina Cameron became superintendent of the Presbyterian Home at the young age of 25. She continued the mission that they had began together, saving young Chinese immigrant women from indentured service. Many friends and relatives of these girls would leave secret messages for Donaldina at the Presbyterian Home indicating the house where a girl was captivated. Oftentimes, the Tongs, which nicknamed her “Jesus Women”, would threaten Cameron and the home. She once even spent a night in San Jose jail while seeking the release of a Chinese woman. However, Cameron continued her mission. Cameron is often referenced as the “Angry Angel of Chinatown”, which would later become the title for a bibliography on her by Mildred Crowl Martin.

Once freed from the Yellow Slave Trade by Cameron, Chinese women were forced to reside at the Presbyterian Home and convert to Christianity. While some Chinese immigrant women welcomed conversion and saw Donaldina as a savior, nicknaming her “Lo Mo” or mother in Chinese, others has mixed feel about this forced conversion. Oftentimes, Donaldina could be very patronizing towards these women, using terms like “waif” and “children” to describe the residents of the home, Very rarely was Chinese culture integrated into the education of the girls in the home, rather there was a strict curriculum of English, Christianity and western housekeeping skills. Finally, the women of the home were only allowed to leave the home if they married a Christian man the Cameron approved of.

In April of 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake and fire forced the evacuation of the Presbyterian Home. Donaldina was able to save records that gave her guardianship over the girls at the home, thus ensuring their safety from being forced to re-enter the Yellow Slave Trade. The Home itself was destroyed in the earthquake, and was rebuilt in 1907 at 920 Sacramento Street, where it still stands today.

Donaldina also founded two homes for Chinese children. Many of these children were orphans or the children of the rescued women. The Chung Mei Home served young boys, while the Ming Quong Home was for girls. Although either is no longer in existence, the former Chung Mei house is today part of the Windrush School in El Cerrito, California and the Ming Quong Home is now a part of Mills College in Oakland, California.

Later Life and Legacy (1934-1968)

Donaldina retired from her missionary work and the Presbyterian Home in 1934. She is credited with saving and education over 3,000 Chinese immigrant girls. In 1942, the Presbyterian Home was renamed the Donaldina Cameron House. The Donaldina Cameron House still stands today in San Francisco. It serves as a multi-service agency serving Asian communities by promoting healthy Christian communities through programs like youth sports, tutoring and counseling. After retirement, Donaldina moved to the Palo Alto area. She died on January 4, 1968, at the age of 98.

Background

•	Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882/Page Act of 1875 – permitted only wives of American-born Chinese men to immigrate

•	Yellow Slave Trade- name for the trade of Chinese women

•	“Mui Tsais”- domestic servants, often young girls

•	“Tongs”- name for secret Chinese sex slave trafficking societies

•	San Francisco City Hall- Boss Abe Ruef and Eugene Schmitz

o	Corrupt, took kickbacks from Tong groups

o	Did very little to stop sex trade

•	The Chinese Six Company- a Chinese organization that attempted to stop the Tongs, but eventually collapsed when the Tongs infiltrated the organization

Early Life

•	Born in New Zealand

•	Family of 7- Six sisters, 1 brother, youngest

•	Moved to CA at the age of 2

•	1895: Mary P.D.Browne o	Friend of Cameron’s family

o	Former president of the Woman’s Occidental Board of Foreign Missionaries and founder of a Young Christian Women’s Association branch in San Fran

o	Took Donaldina to the Presbyterian Home where she met Culbertson

•	Margaret Culbertson- superintendent of the Presbyterian Home

o	Worked with Cameron to rescue girls

o	Died in 1897, two years later Cameron became super indent of the home

Rescues

•	Many friends and relatives of prostitutes would leave secret messages at the Home indicating where a house of captive women were

•	Donaldina had an uncanny ability to detect trapdoors and hidden staircases

•	Spent a night in San Jose jail while seeking the release of a Chinese women

•	One incident where Stanford students and Palo Alto residents demonstrated and formed a community meeting in support of Cameron and Chinese women who had been given into custody to their slave owners

•	“ Jesus Women”- nicknamed this by the Tongs, oftentimes they would threaten Donaldina life

Conversion

•	Rehabilitation meant conversion

•	Regular exposure to Christianity

o	Daily morning Bible study & evening prayer services, Sunday School

•	If women wished to marry, it had to be a Christian man

•	“ Our first care is to educate and train them along the simplest lines of Christian faith and duty”

•	Many women converted to Christianity- also had a deep love of Donaldina

Life at the House

•	Nicknamed “Lo Mo”=”mother”

•	Cameron often used terms like “waif” and “children” to describe Chinese residents at the house

•	Patronizing attitude toward women

•	Did not recognize Chinese efforts to stop slave trade…i.e. Chinese govt. & Chinese Six Companies

•	Curriculum at the house was English, Christianity, and Western Housekeeping lessons

o	Occasionally Chinese calligraphy taught

•	Women who married at the house had to wear White, even though that is the color for funerals in China

•	Donaldina never learned Chinese

•	Very strict rules at the house

o	Roll call ever morning at prayers, women absent without an excuse were punished

o	Fined for tardiness at mealtime

o	Had to obtain written permission from staff to leave the house

o	Lending/borrowing was not allowed

•	Some of the rules justified to due potential for slave-owners to try and steal the girls back- had to be kept safe

Comments
Meghan--You've clearly done some work here and have made a good start. I'd suggest the following as you move forward:

1. Start with her early life up to her arrival at the mission home, then have the background section about Chinese immigration and women & girls. You'll want to be careful about how to describe the latter, since most were not slaves, but rather indentured servants who came either willingly or unwillingly (check Pascoe on this).

2. You have a lot of info about the Mission Home here, but as a biographical article, you'll need to frame it as part of her life story. You might want to present different perspectives on her: the earlier hagiographic views of Cameron as the Angel of Chinatown vs. the more recent analyzes of her as a well intentioned but Eurocentric missionary type.

3. You should finish with a section on her later life and legacy. This would include material on her retirement, death, and what became of the mission home.Docjay57 (talk) 18:51, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Meghan,

You've done a fair amount of research and have included some interesting and relevant historical information. I like your information regarding the Mission Home. However, I think your article would benefit from a thorough self-edit. Also, expanding the "introduction" section of your article would greatly improve it. More information could also be provided on her later life. I think a picture would add another dimension as well. All in all, I rate this article a 2/3. It has great potential to be a 4/5 with additional information. Farnumm (talk) 16:00, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Meghan,

This is a good start, but I think you've got more to work with here. To begin with, I don't think you've explain the Page Act as fully as you could, so I would recommend looking into that a little more. Secondly, I would suggest another proof read - the sentence about the houses where the girls were "captivated" was a little off. All in all, it's a good start, but I'd love to see some more detail. 3/5 for this draft. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jvarm1 (talk • contribs)