Nancy E. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190645236
- eISBN:
- 9780190937270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645236.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Cultural History
Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations ...
More
Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations of the Carnes merchant family, whose business focused on selling inexpensive Chinese goods to middle-class Americans. Having a branch of the Carnes firm in France enabled them to select French goods which were then cheaply replicated in China for the United States market. Their ship captain, Benjamin Thorndike Obear, and his wife, Augusta, brought Afong Moy from China to the United States, entwining their lives with hers in unexpected ways. The Chinese goods that accompanied Afong Moy affected thousands of American households.Less
Chapter 1 establishes the American political and mercantile environment into which the Chinese woman Afong Moy was thrust when she arrived in 1834. It explores the lives and the economic motivations of the Carnes merchant family, whose business focused on selling inexpensive Chinese goods to middle-class Americans. Having a branch of the Carnes firm in France enabled them to select French goods which were then cheaply replicated in China for the United States market. Their ship captain, Benjamin Thorndike Obear, and his wife, Augusta, brought Afong Moy from China to the United States, entwining their lives with hers in unexpected ways. The Chinese goods that accompanied Afong Moy affected thousands of American households.
Nancy E. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190645236
- eISBN:
- 9780190937270
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190645236.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century, Cultural History
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an ...
More
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an advertisement and attraction for their Chinese imported wares. Cast by the national press as an exotic curiosity, she also provided insight on Chinese life and material culture to the general public as well as to American presidents and politicians. The everyday goods Afong Moy promoted were widely adopted by the middle class, but acceptance of these goods did not extend to her acceptance as a Chinese woman. Afong Moy’s arrival at a time of great upheaval in American cultural and economic life placed her in the crosshairs of slavery, Native American removal, the moral reform movement, and ambivalent attitudes toward women. During her three-year journey throughout the mid-Atlantic, New England, the South, Cuba, and up the Mississippi River her race provided an occasion for public scorn, jingoism, religious proselytizing, or paternalistic control. As the first researched account of Afong Moy’s life, the book presents the intertwining narrative of her coerced travel, the American merchants who initially sponsored her, and Americans’ reaction to her later presentation of Chinese culture on P. T. Barnum’s stage.Less
This book encompasses the life of Afong Moy, the first known Chinese female sojourner in America. Brought to this country by American merchants in 1834, she traveled the country on bound feet as an advertisement and attraction for their Chinese imported wares. Cast by the national press as an exotic curiosity, she also provided insight on Chinese life and material culture to the general public as well as to American presidents and politicians. The everyday goods Afong Moy promoted were widely adopted by the middle class, but acceptance of these goods did not extend to her acceptance as a Chinese woman. Afong Moy’s arrival at a time of great upheaval in American cultural and economic life placed her in the crosshairs of slavery, Native American removal, the moral reform movement, and ambivalent attitudes toward women. During her three-year journey throughout the mid-Atlantic, New England, the South, Cuba, and up the Mississippi River her race provided an occasion for public scorn, jingoism, religious proselytizing, or paternalistic control. As the first researched account of Afong Moy’s life, the book presents the intertwining narrative of her coerced travel, the American merchants who initially sponsored her, and Americans’ reaction to her later presentation of Chinese culture on P. T. Barnum’s stage.
