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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2017
This article attempts to reveal how a typical first generation Chinese American activist set out to go to law school to learn the skill set to help fight against racial prejudice directed at the Chinese in the early twentieth century. It examines how Hua Chuen Mei, a first-generation Chinese American lawyer was educated and trained in America; it primarily traces his undergraduate and law school education at Columbia and New York University Law School from 1910–1914 to show how he overcame the odds and excelled academically to complete his undergraduate and law degree programs with flying colors. It revisits his extracurricular activities to understand what motivated early Chinese immigrants like him to seek legal education, and what issues were uppermost in the mind of a typical Chinese American law student in that era.
2 Li Chen, Early Chinese Law Students at Columbia Law School (unpublished paper).
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 Chen, Li, Pioneers in the Fight for the Inclusion of Chinese Students in American Legal Education and Legal Profession , 22 Asian Am. L.J. (2015)Google Scholar.
7 169 U.S. 649 (1898).
8 Id.
9 Li Chen, Early Chinese Members of the English Bar – an ongoing project to document early Chinese members of the English Bar.
10 LINDA MEI ADAMS, CAROL YUKE ETC, DR. HUA CHUEN MEI –MAY 30, 1925 1 (2010).
11 Id.
12 Id.
13 The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Lists of Chinese Passenger Arrivals at San Francisco, California; NAI Number: 4481626; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787–2004; Record Group Number: 85.
14 LINDA MEI ADAMS, CAROL YUKE ETC, at 2.
15 In One of New York's Public Schools: 29 Nationalities, Polyglot Material For American Citizenship, NEW YORK HERALD, Jun. 29, 1902, at 9.
16 Id.
17 Gerry Arrests a Chinese Boy: TwelveYear-Old Youngster Captured in a Bowery Restaurant, THE MORNING TELEGRAPH, October 4, 1899, at 3.
18 Id.
19 In One of New York's Public Schools: 29 Nationalities, Polyglot Material For American Citizenship, NEW YORK HERALD, Jun. 29, 1902, at 9.
20 Best Ten Essays Entered In The History Competition: The Five Compositions From The High Schools And The Five From The Elementary Schools Considered By The Committee Of Award The Most Meritorious Of The Thousands Sent To The Times, NEW YORK TIMES, Jun. 21, 1903, at 15.
21 Chinese Boy Who Won Prize In City History Competition Moy Wah Lives In The Heart Of The Chinese Quarter On Mott Street, But Has Ambitions About His Future Career – How Essay Was Written, NEW YORK TIMES, Jun. 28, 1903, at 34.
22 Id.
23 Id.
24 Id.
25 Id.
26 Supra note 19.
27 Id.
28 THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, FIFTY-NINTH ANNUAL REGISTER 1907–1908, 102 (1908).
29 Mei Hua Chuen's Academic Transcript from Columbia University (unpublished manuscript on file with the author from Dr. Mei's family).
30 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE AND GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT 1908–1909 203–206 (1909).
31 Id. at 192.
32 Id. at 191.
33 Id. at 193.
34 Supra note 1.
35 Supra note 27.
36 Ursinus Erhard, Gossipy Items from Gotham, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Jun. 18, 1911, at 61.
37 Supra note 38, at 193.
38 Columbia's Class Day, Hua Chuen Mei Elected to Membership in Phi Beta Kappa, THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, Jun. 6, 1911, at 24.
39 OSCAR M VOORHEES, PHI BETA KAPPA, PHI BETA KAPPA GENERAL CATALOG 1776–1922 (1923).
40 Chinese in Phi Beta Kappa, Columbia Votes Hua Chuen Mei a Topside Scholar, THE SUN, Jun. 6, 1911, at 7.
41 Supra note 34.
42 Supra note 27.
43 Supra note 34.
44 Supra note 27.
45 LI CHEN, A HISTORY OF CHINESE LAW STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE LATE QING DYNASTY 1878–1911 (2015) – UNPUBLISHED THESIS.
46 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE AND GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT 1911–1912 220 (1911).
47 Supra note 27.
48 Id.
49 Id.
50 Id.
51 Id.
52 Id.
53 Id.
54 Id.
55 Id.
56 Id.
57 Id.
58 Foreigners at Columbia, Students from Other Lands Have Won Honors of Many Kinds, THE SUN, January 14, 1912, at 5.
59 Supra note 43.
60 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE 1913–14 460 (1914).
61 Columbia's Big Law Class, Degrees Will be Awarded This Week to 138 Out of 151 Students, NEW YORK TIMES, Jun. 1, 1913, at 11.
62 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, NEW YOR UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE 1913–14, 180 (1914).
63 Id., at 102
64 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, NEW YOR UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE 1916–17, 112–113 (1917).
65 Supra note 59, at 178.
66 Id., at 187.
67 Mei Hua Chuen's Academic Transcript from New York University (unpublished manuscript on file with the author from Dr. Mei's family).
68 NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, NEW YOR UNIVERSITY CATALOGUE 1914–15, 512 (1915).
69 Supra note 43.
70 Chinese immigrants were popularly portrayed as addictive gamblers in the media.
71 Proverbs on “Policy Slips”, Tombs Court Heartens to the Chinese Sages, THE SUN, May 26, 1909, at 5.
72 Supra note 1.
73 Chinese in America, The Loss of the Queue Does Not Mean They Are “Americanized”, NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 2, 1911, at 10.
74 Id.
75 Id.
76 Id.
77 Id.
78 Id.
79 Racial Prejudice, The Chinese Students' Monthly, Vol VIII April 10, 1913, at 398.
80 Id.
81 Republican Club to Discuss Race Hatred, THE DAILY STANDARD, January 14, 1914, at 14.
82 Races Mingle at Republican Club, NEW YORK TRIBUNE, January 18, 1914, at 6.
83 Publicity for the Chinese Republic, The Chinese Students' Monthly, Vol VIII April 10,1913, at 330–332.
84 President Sun's Election, Its “Unanimity” Not Mathematical Says One of His Countrymen, NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, Jan. 5, 1912, at 6.
85 Id.
86 Id.
87 Id.
88 Id.
89 Id.
90 Id.
91 Supra note 1.
92 Asserts China Isn't Really A Republic: J.O.P. Bland, Here to Lecture, NEW YORK TIMES, November 18, 1912, at 4; The Future Of China, NEW YORK TIMES, December 8, 1912, at 16.
93 Hua Chuen Mei, Cavils of an English Manchu at the Republic of China: An Analysis, The Chinese Students' Monthly, Vol. VIII, January 10,1913, at 171.
94 Id., a 172.
95 Id., a 175.
96 Id., a 178.
97 Id.
98 Id., a 183.
99 Id.
100 Mei Hua Chuen's Court admission paper at New York State Archives (unpublished manuscript with the author).
101 Id.
102 U.S. Bar Admits Chinese, Hua-Chuen Mei, First of Race to Practice in Federal Tribunal, NEW YORK TIMES, Jul. 2, 1915, at 6.
103 Dr. Hua-Chuen Mei is now engaged in professional work at the law firm Wherry & Mygett, 40 Wall Street, New York, The Chinese Students' Monthly, Volume X, October, 1914, at 47.
104 Supra note 19.
105 In the matter of Hua-Chuen Mei, alleged native departing, Office, Chinese Inspector, NY.C., July 1, 1915 (unpublished manuscript on file with the author).