Reenactment: 22 Lewd Chinese Women

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, CABA and the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois (HLAI) are excited to collaborate on a trial re-enactment of Chy Lung v. Freeman, telling the story of 22 Chinese women through narration, discussion, and historic photographs.

The history of Asian-American womanhood can be found in the Page Act of 1875, which prohibited Chinese women from entering the United States by classifying them as “prostitutes” and casting them as a threat to American morality. Chy Lung v. Freeman was a case born out of such sentiment. Upon the arrival of a ship from China in 1874, a San Francisco state official determined that 22 Chinese women traveling alone were “lewd”—or prostitutes—and placed a bond of $500 on each woman in order to disembark. The women were detained and legal proceedings followed, including a trial and appeals to the United States Supreme Court,…