The White Devil’s Daughters Reader’s Guide
By Julia Flynn Siler
READERS GUIDE
During the first hundred years of Chinese immigration–from 1848 to 1943–San Francisco was home to a shockingly extensive underground slave trade in Asian women, who were exploited as prostitutes and indentured servants. In this gripping, necessary book, bestselling author Julia Flynn Siler shines a light on this little-known chapter in our history–and gives us a vivid portrait of the safe house to which enslaved women escaped. The Occidental Mission Home, situated on the edge of Chinatown, served as a gateway to freedom for thousands. Run by a courageous group of female Christian abolitionists, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violent attacks. We meet Dolly Cameron, who ran the home from 1899 to 1934, and Tien Fuh Wu, who arrived at the house as a young child after her abuse as a household slave drew the attention of authorities. Wu would grow up to become Cameron’s translator, deputy director, and steadfast friend. Siler shows how Dolly and her colleagues defied convention and even law–physically rescuing young girls from brothels, snatching them from their smugglers–and how they helped bring the exploiters to justice. Riveting and revelatory, The White Devil’s Daughters is a timely, extraordinary account of oppression, resistance, and hope.Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. Let’s discuss the title and the epigraph. What does each of them mean?
2. Before reading this book, were you aware of the history of sex-trafficking of Chinese immigrants? Do you feel it’s an important story for us to know? Why yes or why no?
3. Before reading this book, were you aware of the exclusion laws that barred many Chinese from immigrating to the US during the late 1800’s/early 1900’s? Knowing about them now, what are your thoughts?
4. Let’s discuss the factors that enabled sex-trafficking to thrive. And let’s discuss the people who enabled it to thrive. Can we relate any of this to present-day sex trafficking? What cultural norms, both in China and the US, encouraged it? Do these cultural norms still exist?
5. How do you feel about the various churches/religious people who worked to help save the victims? What do you think their primary agendas were? Does it matter? What good came out of their work besides helping the victimized women? Did anything negative result from their work?
6. Against the backdrop of recent protests over racial justice, how does the safe house at 920 Sacramento Street fit into the fight against racism in the U.S.?
7. How do you feel about prostitution? Do you feel it should be legal? Why yes or why not?
8. Let’s talk about the corruption of the officials in San Francisco. What are your thoughts on this?
9. Illegal immigration and sex trafficking are inextricably linked in this story, as they often are in present times. How does one solve this dilemma?
10. What enabled the women who were able to escape and help other victims do so?
11. Before now, most historians have focused on Dolly Cameron while ignoring the role of Tien Fuh Wu and the other Chinese activists who furthered the home’s mission. Why did this happen? How did Siler counter this narrative?
12. Chinese immigrants suffered from racist policies and actions in the United States, but some Chinese immigrants also committed crimes, as the verdict in the Broken Blossoms case showed, As readers, how do we reconcile these two realities?
13. Which characters did you connect with? Who were you inspired by?
Questions provided courtesy of LiteraryMasters.net.
