Preserve Your Community Stories at the 
Chinese American Experiences: 
Mass. Memories Road Show

Free and open to the public
Saturday, June 2nd, 10:00-3:00
Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany St, Boston

INFORMATION SESSION
For volunteers & community leaders
Tuesday, April 3rd, 6:00-7:30
Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany St, Boston

On June 2nd, CHSNE is hosting Chinese American Experiences Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS)—an event-based public history project that digitizes family photos and memories shared by the people of Massachusetts. Learn more about this event at ourInformation Session on Tuesday, April 3rd, 6:00-7:30 at the Pao Arts Center.

Providence’s Chinatown

Exhibit and Walking Tour | April 1 – May 31
CHSNE Field Trip | May 12th

Between the 1880s and the late 1960s, Providence was home to a bustling Chinese American community in the downtown area. Providence’s Chinatown is a project to rediscover these locations and to connect this history to Rhode Island’s modern Chinese diaspora. This exhibition is the first piece of an effort to share the history of Rhode Island’s Chinese community and create a permanent archive collection.

Providence’s Chinatown is curated by graduate students at the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities in partnership with CHSNE, with additional support from the Heritage Harbor Foundation, Taiwan Nexus Grant, and Rhode Island State Archives.

Chinatown Mural Tour

Ever pondered the who, what, how of Chinatown’s many public murals? Wonder no more! Join CHSNE for a 60-min walking tour of public murals in Chinatown, revealing the stories and history behind them. Don’t miss this exclusive offering! Limited tickets are available, reserve in advance.

150 years ago today, on March 31st, 1868, Anson Burlingame returned to the United States from China. At a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was widespread in the western states, Burlingame stressed equal treatment of the Chinese in the treaty that bears his name. The Burlingham Treaty, signed in 1868, granted China “most favored nation” status in trade and spelled out the right for “free migration and emigration” of each country’s citizens for “purposes of curiosity or trade or as permanent residents.”

Burlingame graduated from Harvard Law, served on the Massachusetts State Senate and the US House of Representatives, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.  In honor of this anniversary, CHSNE is sharing the 2011 Chronicle article, “Who is Anson Burlingame?,” by Stephanie Fan.

In 1898, 120 years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark, confirming that a American-born Chinese man could be an American citizen despite the national Chinese Exclusion Act. Wong Kim Ark’s citizenship was upheld under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, despite the opposition referring to situation as “an accident of birth.” Watch a special presentation of American Experience|PBS on THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT, Tuesday, May 29th. Request a Community Conversation Kit HERE.