Celebrating Anna May Wong

Thursday, April 27, 2023 – Monday, June 19, 2023
East Rotunda Gallery

“I want to be an actress, not a freak.”

Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905, Wong ditched school to sneak onto film sets. She appeared in her first film at age 14 and quickly became a star. Although frustrated by the Asian stereotypes she was forced to play, she appeared in over 60 films and became the first Chinese American international star.

Records in the National Archives document one of the other realms where Wong experienced discrimination: verifying her U.S. citizenship and legal residence in the United States.

When Anna May Wong traveled overseas, she had to file documents like the one above and submit them to interrogations by immigration officials. These burdensome proof-of-citizenship requirements were established in the wake of the discriminatory Chinese exclusion laws, which greatly restricted immigration from China from 1882 until 1943 and made it harder for Chinese American citizens to travel abroad and be treated as equal citizens.

Application of alleged American citizen of the Chinese race for pre-investigation of status, December 16, 1935
National Archives, Records of the Immigration Service

Past Featured Records

80th Anniversary of V-E Day: End of WWII in Europe
World War II, the deadliest military conflict in history, erupted in Europe on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland.
The War Beneath the Waves: Mary Sears and the Navy’s Oceanographic Unit
During World War II, navigating the Pacific Ocean's perilous tides and currents posed a constant challenge to the U.S. Navy. To update their maps and intelligence, the Navy established an Oceanographic Unit in 1943. The team of scientists was led by Mary Sears, a marine biologist commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade in the women’s division of the Naval Reserve, the WAVES.
Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Records
After the Civil War, the federal government established a War Department agency to help Americans transition from slavery to freedom. The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865–72) issued rations, operated hospitals and helped establish schools and unite families. It worked to resolve labor disputes and negotiate labor contracts. It also presided over and documented marriages between freed couples.
20th Amendment: A New Inauguration Day
From George Washington’s second term through Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first, inauguration day was generally held on March 4. Without cars or computers, the four months between the election and inauguration served a purpose in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It allowed the President-elect time to settle their affairs and journey to the nation’s capital.
Mr. Santa Claus: Romance of the Postal Service
This holiday featured film is one of a series of silent movies produced by the Post Office Department in 1921. The mini melodrama shows how the postal service helps make a happy Christmas for a boy and his sister when their “Dere Sandy Claws” letter is answered by a young married couple.