Charlotte J Brooks

Professor

Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

Department: History

Areas of expertise: 20th Century US history, republican China

Email Address: charlotte.brooks@baruch.cuny.edu

> View CV

Originally from California, Charlotte Brooks earned her B.A. in Chinese history from Yale University and worked in China and Hong Kong after college. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in U.S. history from Northwestern University and taught at the University at Albany-SUNY, before coming to Baruch College. A scholar of race, immigration, and urban history, she has published widely on Asian American history, especially Chinese American history.

Her newest book is American Exodus: Second Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901-1949 (University of California Press, 2019). Between twenty-five and fifty percent of all native-born Chinese American citizens in the early twentieth century left the United States for China under the assumption that they would never permanently return to the land of their birth. American Exodus explores this little-known aspect of modern Chinese and American history through the lives of the thousands of Chinese Americans who settled in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and the Pearl River Delta. The project received a 2017 National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship.

Prof. Brooks is also the author of two other books. Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years (University of Chicago Press, 2015) is a comparative study of Chinese American political activism in New York and San Francisco between World War Two and the late 1960s. Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California (University of Chicago Press, 2009), uses Asian Americans’ experiences with housing discrimination to explore the startlingly rapid racial transformation of mid-century urban California. It received an honorable mention for the Organization of American Historians’ 2010 Frederick Jackson Turner Award. In addition, Prof. Brooks’ articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the Journal of American History, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the Journal of Urban History, and her work has also been reprinted in The Best American History Essays.

Prof. Brooks is currently working on two new projects. The first is An American Family: The Moys of New York and Shanghai, a literary nonfiction account of six Chinese American siblings and their spouses during the exclusion era. The second, Selling America in China, is a scholarly monograph that focuses on the lives and activities of the thousands of American entrepreneurs, diplomats, and adventurers who traveled to China in the late Qing and republican years; although few succeeded in accumulating great wealth, many stayed on for decades, founding small businesses, peddling their “American expertise,” and occasionally reinventing themselves on the China coast as they promoted not just US products, styles, and services, but what they saw as American values.

Education

Ph.D., History, Northwestern University

M.A., History, Northwestern University

B.A., History, Yale University New Haven CT

SemesterCourse PrefixCourse NumberCourse Name
Fall 2023AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2023HIS1000Themes in American History
Fall 2023HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2022HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2022HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2021AAS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2021HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2021HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2021HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2021HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2021AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2021HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2021HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2020HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2020HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2020AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2020AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2020AAS3345Asian American History
Fall 2020HIS3345Asian American History
Spring 2020HIS6002HHonors - History II
Spring 2020AAS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2020HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2020HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2020HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2019AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2019AAS3345Asian American History
Fall 2019HIS3345Asian American History
Fall 2019HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2019AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2019HIS6001HHistory - Honors I
Fall 2019HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2019AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2019AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2019HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2019HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2019HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2019HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2018HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2018HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2018AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2018AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2018HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2018AAS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2018AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2018HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2018HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2018AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2018HIS5000Independent Study History I
Spring 2018HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2016AAS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2016HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2016HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2016HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2016HIS5100History Internship
Fall 2015HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2015HIS3345Asian American History
Fall 2015HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2015AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Fall 2015AAS3345Asian American History
Fall 2015HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2014HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2014AAS4900Issues Asian Amer St
Spring 2014HIS5100History Internship
Fall 2013HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2013HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2013AAS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2013AAS3345Asian American History
Spring 2013HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2013HIS3345Asian American History
Spring 2013HIS5100History Internship
Spring 2013HIS6002HHonors - History II
Spring 2013POL6002HHonors - Political Science II
Fall 2012IDC6001HHon Idc Thesis I
Fall 2012POL6001HHonors - Political Science I
Fall 2012HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2012HIS3854China in Revolution
Fall 2012HIS5000HIndependent Study History I
Fall 2012AAS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2012IDC3001HHonors - People of New York
Spring 2012HIS1000Themes in American History
Spring 2012HIS5100History Internship
Spring 2012HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2011AAS3345Asian American History
Fall 2011HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2011HIS3345Asian American History
Spring 2011AAS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2011HIS3854China in Revolution
Spring 2011HIS5100History Internship
Spring 2011IDC3001HHonors - People of New York
Spring 2010HIS5100History Internship
Spring 2010HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2010IDC3001HHonors - People of New York
Fall 2009HIS3345Asian American History
Fall 2009AAS3345Asian American History
Fall 2009HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2009HIS5100History Internship
Fall 2008HIS3345Asian American History
Fall 2008HIS3400City & Subrb-20c Amr
Fall 2008HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2008AAS3345Asian American History
Spring 2008HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2008HIS3460Topics in American History
Fall 2007HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2007HIS3460Topics in American History

Books

Brooks, C. (2019). American Exodus: Second Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901-1949. Oakland, California, University of California Press.

Brooks, C. (2015). Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years. Chicago, Illinois, USA, University of Chicago Press.

Brooks, C. (2009). Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California. Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press.

Journal Articles

Brooks, C. (2020). New Old Sources for Chinese American History: US Consular Reports and Form 430 Applications. Chinese America: History and Perspectives, (2020).

Brooks, C. (2015). The Rise and Fall of a Front Group: The National Chinese Welfare Council, 1957-1991. Chinese America: History and Perspectives, 29(1). 47-59.

Brooks, C. (2015). Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years. History Now, 42.

Brooks, C. (2014). The Chinese Third Force in the US: Political Alternatives in Cold War Chinese America. Journal of American Ethnic History, 34(1). 53-85.

Brooks, C. (2011). The War on Grant Avenue: Business Competition and Ethnic Rivalry in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1937-1942. Journal Of Urban History, 37(3). 311-330.

(2004). Sing Sheng vs. Southwood: Housing, Race, and the Cold War in 1950's California. Pacific Historical Review, 73(3). 463-494.

Brooks, C. (2000). In the Twilight Zone Between Black and White: Japanese American Resettlement and Community in Chicago, 1942-1945. Journal of American History, 86(4). 1655-1687.

Book Chapters

Brooks, C. (2018). Immigration to American Cities, 1925-2017. In Guilfoyle, T. (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (p. 8000 words). New York, New York. Oxford University Press.

Brooks, C. (2016). Sing Sheng vs. Southwood: Housing, Race, and the Cold War in 1950's California. In Nicolaides, B., & Wiese, A. (Eds.), The Suburb Reader New York. Routledge.

Brooks, C. (2006). Sing Sheng vs. Southwood: Housing, Race, and the Cold War in 1950's California. In Appleby, J. (Ed.), The Best American History Essays 2006 (pp. 173-200). New York. Palgrave Macmillan.

Media Contributions

Brooks, C. (2021). 1905-1906: Chinese Businesspeople Boycott American Goods..

https://time.com/5956943/aapi-history-milestones/

(2020). Toynbee Prize Foundation blog.

(2020). The Metropole.

(2019). Chicago Tribune.

(2019). New York Times.

(2019). Washington Post.

(2019). PBS "Finding Your Roots," Season 5.

(2019). PBS/WGBH American Experience.

Presentations

Brooks, C. Teaching Asian American History. Professional Development Workshop. Perth Amboy, NJ: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Brooks, C. (2021, March 12). Wan-go Weng's Chinese America. Pacific Crossings: Wan-go Weng and His Film Collection at Columbia. New York (via Zoom): Columbia University.

Brooks, C. (2021, April 28). Cold War in Chinatown. Stanton Sharpe Lecture Series. Dallas, TX (via Zoom): Center for Presidential History and Southern Methodist University History Department.

Brooks, C. (2021, May 31). Historical Perspectives on Anti-Asian Racism. Anti-Asian Racism: Past, Present and Change for an Inclusive Future. New York, New York (via Zoom): Baruch Asian Heritage Alumni Network.

Brooks, C. (2021, June 30). Comment on "“Chinese Exclusion and Chinese Students: The Impact of Xenophobia on U.S.-China Educational Exchanges, 1882-1943,". Annual meeting. Online: Society for the History of American Foreign Relations.

Brooks, C. (2020, May 31). American Exodus. MOCATalks. New York, New York (via Zoom): Museum of Chinese in America.

Brooks, C. (2020, February 21). American Exodus. Friday Evening Lecture Series. New York, NY: Asian American and Asian Research Institute of CUNY.

Brooks, C. (2020, June 30). American Exodus. TalkStory Sunday Talks. Washington DC (via Zoom): 1882 Foundation.

Brooks, C. (2019, July 23). Comment on "Searching Asian American Histories". Inheritance and Innovation: An International Symposium on Migration, Ethnicity and the History of American Civilizations. Changchun, Jilin, China: Northeast Normal University.

Brooks, C. (2019, April 22). By Choice and Coercion: The Problem of Dual Citizenship in Modern China. Cornell Contemporary China Initiative Lecture Series. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.

Brooks, C. (2018, March 23). Comment on "Wonders of the Weak: Fraught Self-Fashioning by and against Chinas in the Cold War". Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting. Washington, DC: Association for Asian Studies.

Brooks, C. (2018, June 26). The Cold War: A Closer Look. Professional Development Workshop. Hunterdon HS, New Jersey: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Brooks, C. (2017, April 13). Promise and Peril: How Interdisciplinarity Has Shaped the Practice of Asian American History. Association for Asian American Studies Annual Meeting. Portland, OR: Association for Asian American Studies.

Brooks, C. (2016, April 2). Chinese American Traitor: The Search for Shanghai Broadcaster Herbert Moy. CUNY China/East Asia Talk Series. New York, NY

Brooks, C. (2016, February 18). Citizenship, Extrality, Expatriation: Chinese American Citizens in China's Treaty Ports. Advanced Research Collaborative. CUNY Graduate Center: CUNY.

Brooks, C. (2016, July 7). Interest Group Politics and the National Interest. New York University Multinational Institute of American Studies. New York, NY: US State Department.

Brooks, C. (2016, September 22). Comment on Seiji Shirane's "From Japanese Subjects to Chinese Nationals". Modern China Seminar. New York, NY: Columbia University.

Brooks, C. (2015, November 13). Between Mao and McCarthy. Friday Evening Lecture Series. New York, NY: Asian American and Asian Research Institute of CUNY.

Brooks, C. (2015, November 8). Chinese American "Returnees". MOCA Talks. New York, NY: Museum of Chinese in America.

Brooks, C. (2015, June 30). Chinese American Loyalty in World War Two. SHAFR Annual Meeting. Arlington, VA: Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

Brooks, C. (2015, May 2). US-China Relations. Saturday Academy. New York, NY: Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History.

Brooks, C. (2015, March 31). Between Mao and McCarthy. San Francisco, CA: Chinese Historical Society of America.

Brooks, C. (2015, April 17). 'Herbie Moy Hated All White Men': Exploring Chinese American Allegiances During World War Two. OAH Annual Meeting. St. Louis, MO: Organization of American Historians.

Brooks, C. (2014, March 14). Making Homes. The Migrant Metropolis. College Park, MD: University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution.

Brooks, C. (2014, December 7). The Excluded: Chinese Immigration to the Tri-State Area in the Early Twentieth Century. Port of Entry to a Continent: Hoboken and the Federal Immigration Process, 1892-1924. Hoboken, NJ: Hoboken Historical Museum.

Brooks, C. (2014, October 11). Tammany’s Tong: The On Leong Merchants Association and Chinese American Politics in Prewar New York. Seventh Biennial Urban History Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Urban History Association.

Brooks, C. (2013, June 24). Immigration and Cultural Conflict. New York University Multinational Institute of American Studies, New York, New York, June 2013. New York, New York: US State Department.

Brooks, C. (2013, April 30). The Forgotten Liberals: Chinese American Political Activists in the Early Cold War Years. Reno, NV: University of Nevada, Reno.

Brooks, C. (2013, October 16). Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Liberalism in the Cold War Years. Robert F. Allabough Class of 1934 Memorial Lecture. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Dept. of History.

Brooks, C. (2012, November 1). Hold These Truths panel. Play "Hold These Truths". New York, NY, USA: Epic Theatre Company.

Brooks, C. (2012, March 8). Chinese Immigration. Undesirables in America. Las Cruces, NM: Confucius Institute, New Mexico State University.

Brooks, C. (2012, April 21). Rethinking Right and Left: Political Complexity in Cold War Chinatown. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. Milwaukee, WI: Organization of American Historians.

Brooks, C. (2012, June 25). Immigration and Cultural Conflict. New York University Multinational Institute of American Studies. New York, New York: US State Department.

Brooks, C. (2012, September 5). Teaching Asian American History as American History. New York, NY: Stuyvesant High School.

Brooks, C. (2012, October 28). Comment on "Historicizing the Global City: Race, Space, and Capital in Twentieth-Century Urban America". Sixth Biennial Urban History Association Conference. New York, NY: Urban History Association.

Brooks, C. (2011, March 18). Interracial Connections and American Empire. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. Houston, Texas: OAH.

Brooks, C. (2011, June 27). Immigration and Cultural Conflict. NYU Multinational Institute of American Studies. New York, NY: U.S. State Department.

Brooks, C. (2011, October 14). Asian Americans Today. Northeast Sisterhood Conference. Queens College, CUNY: Alpha Kappa Delta Phi.

Brooks, C. (2010, October 21). Community Activism. Fifth Biennial Urban History Association Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada

Brooks, C. (2010, October 14). Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends. Department of Asian Pacific American Studies. New York, NY: New York University.

Brooks, C. (2010, September 30). Heart Mountain Removal, Resettlement, Redress, Reflections: A Community Rediscovery. HEART MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: Removal, Resettlement, Redress, and Reflections: A Community Conference. Los Angeles, California: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and Japanese American National Museum.

Brooks, C. (2010, November 18). A Voter Cannot Be Neutral, Nor Should He Be': The Chinese American Democratic Club of San Francisco and Cold War Party Politics. American Studies Association Annual Meeting. San Antonio, Texas

Brooks, C. (2009, October 31). Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends. Asian and Asian American Research Institute of CUNY. New York, New York

Brooks, C. (2009, October 31). Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends. Columbia University Seminar on Twentieth-Century Politics and Society. New York, New York

Brooks, C. (2009, October 31). Diverse Suburb: History, Politics, and Prospects. Conference at Hoftra University. Hempstead, New York

Brooks, C. (2008, March 31). 'The Orientals Whose Friendship Is So Important': Asian American Identity in the Early Cold War Era. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. New York, New York

Brooks, C. (2008, November 30). Housing Policy: Race, Community, and Activism. Researching New York Conference. Albany, New York

Brooks, C. (2007, April 30). In the Wake of White Flight: Japanese Americans and Suburbanization in Postwar Los Angeles. Association for Asian American Studies Conference. New York, New York

Brooks, C. (2006, November 30). Housing: More Than Shelter. Researching New York Conference. Albany, NY

Brooks, C. (2006, October 31). The War on Grant Avenue: Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans in San Francisco. Western History Association Conference. St. Louis, MO

Brooks, C. (2006, October 31). The War in China and the Fight for Chinatown. Third Biennial Urban History Association Conference. Tempe, AZ

Brooks, C. (2006, April 30). Asian American Intellectuals as Both Subject and Objects of Study. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. Washington, DC

Brooks, C. (2005, November 30). Researching Westchester's Surburban Roots. Researching New York Conference. Albany, NY

Brooks, C. (2004, October 31). As Long As Prejudice is Tolerated, No Minority is Safe: The Struggle Against Housing Discrimination in postwar San Franscisco. Second Biennial Urban History Association Conference. Milwaukee, WI

Brooks, C. (2003, November 30). Money Matters. Researching New York Conference. Albany, NY

Brooks, C. (2001, October 31). 'Gee, But They're Japanesey': The Chicago Nisei Confront 'Assimilation' 1942-1947. Association of Asian American Studies "East of California" Conference. Oberlin, OH

Other Scholarly Works

Brooks, C. (2016). Zhongzu qishi zai jiujinshan! (Racial discrimination in San Francisco). The Suburb Reader, Second Edition.

Brooks, C. (2005). "Japanese Americans" (507 words) and "Tongs" (186 words).

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/

Brooks, C. (2002). Knowledge Note: Communist China, 1949-Present.

Brooks, C. (2002). Knowledge Note: Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Brooks, C. (2002). Knowledge Note: Talks at the Yenan Forum on Art and Literature.

Brooks, C., & Hawes, J. (2001). "Japanese American Families During World War II" and "Department of Housing and Urban Development". The Family in America: An Encyclopedia.

Brooks, C., & Ciment, J. (2001). Asian American. Encyclopedia of the Great Depression and the New Deal. 71-73.

Reviews

Brooks, C. (1970,January 1). Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless: A Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific. Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies.

Brooks, C. (2019,December 1). Review of Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry during the Cold War. American Historical Review. Bloomington, IN: American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2019,April 1). Review of The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America. Pacific Historical Review. Portland, OR,USA: Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2017,May 1). Review of Asia First: China and the Making of Modern American Conservatism. Pacific Historical Review. Portland, OR: Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2016,April 1). Alien Nation: Chinese Migration in the Americas from the Coolie Era through World War II (The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History) . American Historical Review. Bloomington, IN: American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2014,November 1). Garden of the World: Asian Immigrants and the Making of Agriculture in California's Santa Clara Valley. Southern California Quarterly. Historical Society of Southern California.

Brooks, C. (2014,April 1). Citizens of Asian America: Democracy and Race During the Cold War. Political Science Quarterly. New York, NY: Academy of Political Science.

Brooks, C. (2013,December 1). Jim and Jap Crow: A Cultural History of 1940s Interracial America. Journal of American History. Organization of American Historians.

Brooks, C. (2013,March 1). Chinese Chicago: Race, Transnational Migration, and Community Since 1870. Journal of American History. Bloomington, Indiana,USA: Organization of American Historians.

Brooks, C. (2012,January 1). Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation. Journal of American Ethnic History. Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

Brooks, C. (2012,January 1). Racial Beachhead: Diversity and Democracy in a Military Town. American Historical Review. Bloomington, Indiana,USA: American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2012,February 1). Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada's Exclusion Era. Social History. Social History.

Brooks, C. (2010,May 1). The New Nativism: Proposition 187 and the Debate over Immigration. Social History. Social History.

Brooks, C. (2009,January 1). Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America. Journal of American Ethnic History. Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

Brooks, C. (2009,August 1). Making a Non-White America: Californians Coloring Outside Ethnic Lines, 1925-1955. Pacific Historical Review. Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2009,February 1). San Francisco's International Hotel: Organizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement. Pacific Historical Review. Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association.

Brooks, C. (2008,January 1). Colored Property: State Policy and White Racial Politics in Suburban America. Journal of American Ethnic History. Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

Brooks, C. (2005,March 1). Becoming Old Stock: The Paradox of German-American Identity. Reviews in American History.

Brooks, C. (2005,March 1). Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Journal of American History. Organization of American Historians.

Brooks, C. (2002,December 1). By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans. Journal of American History. Organization of American Historians.

Research Currently in Progess

Brooks, C.(n.d.). The Moys of New York and Shanghai: A Chinese American Family in War and Revolution. In Progress.

This project is a family biography of the six Moy siblings and their spouses. Coming of age in prewar America, the Moys faced intense racism and anti-Chinese policies that shaped their decisions and trajectories. Two of the siblings stayed in America, while four emigrated to China, where some collaborated with the Axis powers and others served the US government and the Nationalist regime. (Under contract.)

Brooks, C.(n.d.). Selling America in China, 1890-1937. In Progress.

This project explores the lives and activities of the thousands of American entrepreneurs, diplomats, and adventurers who traveled to China in the late Qing and republican years. Few succeeded in accumulating great wealth, but many stayed on for decades, founding small businesses, peddling their “American expertise,” and occasionally reinventing themselves on the China coast. But while such people comprised around half of the American population in China before World War II, they have largely disappeared from histories of foreign activity there. Instead, scholarship about American entrepreneurship and community in prewar China has focused on two large US corporations—Standard Oil and British-American Tobacco—and the hundreds of Protestant missionaries who sought to convert the Chinese. In contrast, a growing body of work about other expatriate groups in China shows that British, Japanese, and other foreign communities there often developed into “settler societies” with distinct identities. China’s Americans also formed a distinct group, whose social, political, and economic influence on the country’s foreign enclaves increased during and after World War I. The men and women at the center of that group and of my study included shopkeepers, importers, prostitutes, and penniless retirees; Chinese American entrepreneurs selling their bicultural knowledge; Foreign Service staffers caught between their sympathy for local Americans and a State Department increasingly at odds with such expatriates; and an eccentric commercial attaché who ended each day by rating its success on a scale from one to ten. At a time when Washington saw China as insignificant to US strategic interests, these expatriates played an unusually large role in shaping America’s China policy. Furthermore, they did so in the context of prolonged Chinese government instability, overweening British economic power, and growing Japanese imperialism. This project will examine their efforts to promote not just US products, styles, and services, but also what they saw as US values. And it will also explore the way other foreigners and Chinese citizens, especially in China’s coastal cities, perceived and responded to the Americans.

TitleFunding Agency SponsorStart DateEnd DateAwarded DateTotal FundingStatus
A Vast Field of Opportunity That Has Hardly Been Scratched: Selling America in China, 1890-1937PSC-CUNY 5107/01/202012/31/202204/17/20204281Completed
Stiffs and Sentimentalists: Anglo-American Rivalry in China, 1890-1945PSC-CUNY 5007/01/201912/31/202204/15/20193436Completed
Immigrants from America: The Chinese American Second Generation in China, 1900-1949PSC-CUNY 4707/01/201606/30/201704/15/20163500Completed
“Returning” to the Homeland: The Chinese American Second Generation in China, 1911-1949PSC-CUNY 4507/01/201406/30/201504/15/20145829Completed
Carefully Cast Your Sacred Vote: Chinese American Political Activism in Cold War AmericaPSC-CUNY 4107/01/201006/30/20113600Completed
Asian American Politics and Identity in Cold War AmericaPSC-CUNY 4007/01/200906/30/20103320Completed
Asian American political activismPSC-CUNY 4007/01/200812/31/20093740Completed
Selling America in China, 1890-1937 PSC CUNY 5307/01/202212/31/202304/15/20224413Funded - In Progress
Honor / AwardOrganization SponsorDate ReceivedDescription
FellowNew York Academy of History2016The New York Academy of History is a professional organization devoted to the study and teaching of the history of the City and State of New York. Membership is by invitation. Elected Fellows are historians, independent scholars, public historians, museum curators and administrators, educators, archivists, and others with a demonstrated record of achievement and publications.
Presidential Excellence Award for ScholarshipBaruch College, CUNY2014
Honorable Mention, 2010 Frederick Jackson Turner Award (for author's first book on some significant phase of the American history)Organization of the American Historians2010
Eugene M. Lang Junior Faculty Research Program Fellowship2009
College Travel Fund AwardUniversity of Albany2006
Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Affirmative Action/Diversity Leave Program RecipientSUNY Joint Labor-Management Committee20062006-2007
Individual Development AwardSUNY Joint Labor-Management Committee2006
College Travel Fund AwardUniversity of Albany2005
Louis Knott Koontz Memorial AwardPacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association for "Sing Sheng vs. Southwood"2005
Faculty Research Assistance Program B GrantUniversity of Albany2005
Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the HumanitiesBarnard College (declined)2003
Finalist and Hagley Museum and Library/Rutgers-Camden AlternateWoodrow Wilson Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities2002
Northwestern University Graduate School Dissertation Year Fellowship2002
Social Science Research Council International Migration Dissertation Fellowship2001
Teaching Assistant FellowSearle Center for Teaching Excellence2000
University FellowshipNorthwestern University1997

College

Committee NamePosition RoleStart DateEnd Date
WSAS Assessment CommitteeCommittee MemberPresent
Department Assessment CoordinatorPresent
Department Website EditorPresent
Executive CommitteeCommittee Member6/30/2024
Pathways AssessmentCoordinator6/30/2024
Committee on the LibraryCommittee Member6/1/2023
Major AssessmentDepartment Coordinator6/1/2022
Weissman DEI AllianceCommittee Member5/31/2022
Executive CommitteeCommittee Member8/31/2021
Pathways AssessmentCoordinator7/11/2019
Presidential Excellence in Scholarship Award CommitteeCommittee Member5/15/2019
Major AssessmentCoordinator7/1/2018
Reassigned Time CommitteeCommittee Member12/31/2016
Internship Program Coordinator12/31/2016
Program in Asian and Asian American StudiesCommittee Chair3/26/2016
Major AssessmentCoordinator7/1/2014
WSAS Faculty MentorFaculty Mentor6/30/2014
Undergraduate Research CommitteeCommittee Member4/30/2014
Weissman Curriculum CommitteeCommittee Member12/31/2013
Ad Hoc Search CommitteeCommittee Member4/30/2013
"Professors without Borders" seriesDepartment Liaison8/31/2012
Executive CommitteeCommittee Member7/31/2012
Weissman representative to the Zicklin School of BusinessCommittee Member6/30/2011
Member, Diversity and Internationalization Roundtable CommitteeCommittee Member5/31/2011
Instructor for "College for a Day"11/30/2009
Ad Hoc Search CommitteeCommittee Member4/30/2008

University

Committee NamePosition RoleStart DateEnd Date
Asian American/Asian Studies Advisory GroupCommittee Member6/1/2018Present
CUNY Mid-Career Faculty Fellowship ProgramFaculty Mentor1/1/20196/30/2019
Pathways Working CommitteeCommittee Member8/26/201112/1/2011
Reviewer, PSC-CUNY grant program12/31/2010
Member, ad hoc group to improve Asian American studies at CUNY and coordinate with Tam Visiting Professor10/1/20098/31/2010

Professional

OrganizationPosition RoleOrganization StateOrganization CountryStart DateEnd DateAudience
University of Illinois PressManuscript reviewer5/1/2021PresentInternational
University of Chicago PressManuscript reviewer1/1/2011PresentInternational
Chinese America: History and PerspectivesReviewer, Journal Article10/1/2015PresentNational
Buildings & LandscapesReviewer, Journal Article6/15/2023PresentInternational
Modern American HistoryReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2019Present
Pacific Historical ReviewReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2008Present
Journal of American HistoryReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2010Present
Cambridge University PressManuscript reviewer1/1/2013PresentInternational
American Historical ReviewReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2011Present
Journal of Urban HistoryReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2012Present
Rutgers University PressManuscript reviewer1/1/2013PresentInternational
Journal of Chinese OverseasReviewer, Journal ArticleSingapore1/1/2013Present
Western Historical QuarterlyReviewer, Journal Article1/1/2015Present
Stanford University PressManuscript reviewer1/1/2016PresentInternational
University of North Carolina PressManuscript reviewerNorth Carolina1/1/2017PresentInternational
California HistoryReviewer, Journal Article1/1/202012/31/2021
Australian Journal of Politics and HistoryReviewer, Journal ArticleQueenslandAustralia1/1/202112/31/2021
International Committee, Organization of American HistoriansMember5/1/20164/30/2020
Verge: Studies in Global AsiasReviewer, Journal Article1/1/20202/28/2020
Organization of American HistoriansAd hoc committee memberIndiana2/1/201912/31/2019
Organization of American HistoriansMember of program review committee7/23/20187/25/2019
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service)Application evaluatorGermany12/1/201812/31/2018
The Immigration SyllabusContributor12/31/2017
Journal of Interdisciplinary HistoryReviewer, Journal Article1/1/20165/31/2016
GastronomicaReviewer, Journal Article1/1/20152/28/2015
Frederick Jackson Turner Prize Committee, Organization of American HistoriansCommittee Member1/1/201112/31/2012
Polity PressReviewer, Textbook1/1/201212/31/2012
The HistorianReviewer, Journal Article12/31/2007

Public

OrganizationPosition RoleOrganization StateOrganization CountryStart DateEnd DateAudience
Museum of Chinese in AmericaLead Content Consultant, MOCA redesign; scholar-advisor to New Acquisitions CommitteeNew YorkUnited States5/1/2020PresentInternational
NEH K-12 Institute on “Japanese American Post-War Resettlement in Chicago, 1943-1950"Guest Speaker7/21/20247/31/2024National
“Asian American History,” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Professional Development WorkshopGuest Speaker9/2/20229/2/2022Local
Stuyvesant High School National History Day TeamconsultantNew York4/30/2016
New York History DayJudgeNew YorkUnited States3/1/20153/31/2015Local
Brooklyn Secondary School for Collaborative StudiesGuest SpeakerNew York4/18/20134/18/2013Local
Richard Edwards Elementary School team, National History Day ContestProvided expert commentaryIllinoisUnited States5/1/20126/30/2012National
Stuyvesant High School National History Day teamProvided expert commentaryNew York4/1/20115/31/2011National