female students to embrace scientific study and research She also spoke out against the discrimination women faced in the classroom and in the laboratory Leaving her homeland and her family in China many of whom she never saw again after sailing to the United States Wu not only overcame discrimination but also showed the world that women and men are equal in the world of science Anti-Asian Sentiment Racism toward Asians in the United States began long before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 the event that dragged the United States into World War II 1939 1945 In the mid-nineteenth century anti-Asian prejudice was common throughout the United States when Chinese immigrants began arriving for the California Gold Rush A specially created foreign-miners tax was imposed in California in 1852 to discriminate against Chinese miners Two years later the California Supreme Court barred Chinese people from testifying in court making it virtually impossible to prosecute those who committed crimes against Chinese immigrants Restrictive federal laws in the late 1800s limited and even prohibited the immigration of Chinese people Anti-Asian prejudice extended to Japanese immigrants who had initially been recruited to the Pacific Northwest in the 1880s to construct railroads Tension arose over the possibility that they would take jobs and farmland from native-born Americans As a result in 1907 the United States and Japan made the Gentleman’s Agreement which suppressed Japanese immigration After the bombing of Pearl Harbor 120,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to leave their businesses and homes and were forced to live in internment camps situated largely in California 5 Wu began her career as an experimentalist at National Central University in Nanjing China Scientific research became her life’s work 9
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Chien-Shiung CHAPTER TWO A STAR IS BORN Chien-Shiung Wu was born on May 31 1912 in Liuhe China approximately 30 miles 50 km from the port city of Shanghai China Liuhe located near the mouth of the Yangtze River is a relatively small but important town in eastern China Crowded with street commerce and ships Liuhe is a major agricultural provider to the region and boasts a large fishing industry The China into which Chien-Shiung was born had recently undergone tremendous political upheaval In 1911 a revolution toppled the centuries-old rule of dynasties and made the country a republic Nevertheless many traces of the old ways remained In a nation where women were not treated as equals of men however Chien-Shiung benefited from life in a From an early age Chien-Shiung demonstrated intellectual curiosity and an aptitude for science 11
