Exploitation of Asian Women

 While a majority of workers were Asian men, Asian women were also kidnapped, threatened and exploited in different ways.  

Crimpers would entice women and young girls with false promises of citizenship and marriage to wealthy men. These women truly believed they were getting a fair deal with a content life in America.

Other times crimpers would give these women no choice to come to America because they would threaten their lives. 

After the challenges faced on board terrible ships, they wouldn't be greeted with wealthy husbands, but brothels and forced prostitution. This of course wasn't legal but passed through immigration by pretending these women were mail order brides.

Mail Order Bride: A woman who accepts a contractual marriage arranged by an agency after long distance courtship. 

Their new pimps and madams "...had them sign what the women believed were legal work contracts although this was in fact sexual slavery."(3:48 FORGOTEN HISTORY) Some of the biggest illegal Chinese prostitution markets were found in San Francisco. 

These women entrapped in sexual slavery or domestic servitude were unable to escape from their captors due to threats of violence and death. Many women were physically bound to keep them from leaving or fighting. If a woman did happen to escape during this time, men would be sent after her to silence her from telling anyone about what happened. This intimidation tactic worked to keep these women under control to keep making profit. 

The importing of these poor Chinese women was not only done by white men, but by Asian men looking to make profit too. 

Broken Blossoms

One of these thousands of women to get swept into this American prostitution ring was nineteen-year-old, Jeung Gwai Ying. She was brought into America with promises of a new job or a nice marriage. Once she arrived the man who brought her had taken her legal papers and sold her to a prostitution business in San Francisco. 

She and others eventually found their way to freedom through the legal system with the "Broken Blossom Trials" of 1935 which revealed the truth behind these "Oriental Brothels".

Her story can be read more in depth at this link:

blossoms.pdf (archives.gov)


This woman was forced to pose as an American's wife but was actually apart of sexual slavery.

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