Shaken is set in 1906 San Francisco. While working on research for the story, I stumbled over one of the most amazing characters in San Francisco history. I had no choice but to find a way to for her to cross paths with my character.
Donaldina Cameron was a Presbyterian missionary working out of the Occidental Mission Home on Sacramento Avenue, just blocks away from Chinatown. During this time, though slavery had long been outlawed in the United States, it was still commonplace in Chinatown. Because of resentment regarding the ever-growing Chinese population, restrictions on immigration had been placed on the Chinese. It had been tightened down so far that very few Chinese women were legally able to immigrate into the United States. This left a large population of young men with no wives.
The prostitution rings became lucrative business within this community. Young Chinese girls were purchased, deceived or stolen and smuggled into the United States as “daughters” of merchants. Then they were delivered into slavery. The youngest ended up as domestic servants who endured heavy labor and cruel punishments. The teens ended up in brothels. Most of the girls forced into this life survived less than five years from the time they entered the country.
When I toured Chinatown last year, I had to keep from snickering when the guide (reporting on the history of Chinatown) kept using and emphasizing the phrase “female boardinghouses.” She never once used the term brothel. I wondered if there was an agreement with the local shopowners that she would not use that term.
Donaldina Cameron and her predecessor Margaret Culbertson, were brave women who worked to rescue these girls and do what they could to change the system. Many times they stole into Chinatown under the dark of night, accompanied by one or two police officers. They would use axes to batter down the doors of the brothels and whisk girls away to new lives at the mission. The girls’ owners, desperate to recover their “property,” were a constant threat to the mission and its residents.
I cannot do their stories justice here, but I encourage you to read them for yourselves. They are an inspiration to me to not just let injustice prevail, but to do what I can to make changes, no matter the personal cost.
Read more about Donaldina Cameron and the Occidental Christian Mission at these websites.
http://sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/c/cameronDonaldina.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaldina_Cameron
http://www.cameronhouse.org/history.htm
http://www.sfmuseum.net/1906/ew15.html
Donaldina Cameron and her girls escaped the San Francisco fires, though the original mission house was destroyed. I feel it is a privelege to have Wanda (my main character) meet up with them on her own pilgrimmage through the burning city. Hopefully their words will inspire my readers just as their stories inspired me.
The “Cameron House” as it is now called, still exists at 920 Sacramento. It now serves various needs within the local Asian community.