The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,144

for the brainstorming sessions. Heidi also read the manuscript more than once, giving me in-depth notes and heartfelt encouragement. Special thanks goes to Chris Schoebinger of Shadow Mountain, champion of the project. I’m deeply grateful for editor Emily Watts, whose careful attention to detail built the bridge from my hands to yours. I’m blessed to work with such a talented group of people at Shadow Mountain throughout the entire publishing process.

Part of my research included traveling to San Francisco and visiting the Occidental Mission Home, which is now called the Cameron House and is still in operation, offering community and counseling services. Associate Director Cody Lee gave my daughter Kara and me the grand tour, which only drove home the remarkable work of Miss Cameron and her constituents. Kara and I also spent time walking the streets of Chinatown and visiting the places significant to the story. Thanks as well to David Pon, Marketing and Communications Director of the Cameron House, who kindly helped me with many questions.

My family has been my foundation in my writing career, and I’m grateful for their continued support. Thanks to my husband, Chris, and my children, Kaelin, Kara, Dana, and Rose. My parents, Kent and Gayle Brown, and my father-in-law, Lester Moore, have been my number-one fans.

And finally, thank you to my readers who have joined me on many journeys into history. The life of Donaldina Cameron has touched me deeply, and I hope that you will feel as moved as I have been while studying her life.

Why do you think Donaldina Cameron and the mission home employees didn’t have the prejudices or racial biases against the Chinese people that so many people of their era did?

What do you think about the contrast of Mei Lien arriving in San Francisco to start a new life, only to have it go so horribly wrong, with Donaldina’s arrival in San Francisco and her expectations of working at the mission home for only one year?

Have you, in your life, made a prayerful decision, only to be faced with extreme challenges because of it? What sort of decisions did Donaldina make that led her to experiences she had never imagined being a part of?

Considering the era in which this story takes place, when marriage was deemed a pinnacle achievement in life, it might be surprising that Donaldina called off her engagement to Charles. Why do you think she did so?

Despite the mission home having other capable employees, why do you think it was so hard for Donaldina to take a vacation or time for herself?

It’s heartbreaking to think that some of the rescued girls and women didn’t accept the help of the mission home. Why do you think some people have a hard time giving up what they know is hurting them?

How did Donaldina reconcile herself to a life that had so many unexpected events and dangers, versus the traditional path that her sisters and friends took into marriage and bearing children?

Do you think Donaldina did the right thing by teaching the Chinese girls and women English and requiring that they study the Bible, instead of letting them carry on their Chinese religious traditions?

Today, women enjoy freedoms only dreamed of in the early 1900s. What are some of the freedoms that you find significantly valuable?

Does it surprise you that even with all the work Donaldina Cameron and others in her sphere did to fight human trafficking, it is still so prevalent today?

Chapter One

Epigraph citation: Will Irvin, quoted in Woman’s Work, June 1916, vol. XXXI, no. 6, 143.

The Occidental Mission Home for Girls was founded in 1874 by the Presbyterian Church. The mission home’s purpose was to offer refuge to the young Asian immigrants who had been caught in the corrupt “yellow slave trade,” and soon the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act escalated the smuggling efforts (CameronHouse.org).

Margaret Culbertson was the superintendent of the mission home from 1877 to 1897. For twenty years, she worked tirelessly, often through the night, in rescue work. Culbertson was a champion against prostitution and focused her life’s work on establishing female morality and rescuing women and children from abuse (Yung, Unbound Feet, 34–35).

When Donaldina Cameron arrived in San Francisco in 1895 to work at the mission home, Sacramento Street was named China Street. I’ve kept the name as Sacramento Street throughout the story for consistency (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 12). The conversation between Donaldina Cameron and Mary Ann Browne is referenced in Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 6–7.

Lorna E. Logan, staff member of the mission home, explains that