Thomas Houseworth
Portrait of a Woman Rescued from Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1890
Albumen print
8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
With Houseworth's affixed credit mount recto and credit stamp verso.
With Houseworth's affixed credit mount recto and credit stamp verso.
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A rare and lovely boudoir card sized-portrait of a Chinese American woman in traditional dress, identified on the verso “Ah Yane.” The photo was taken by the important California photographer...
A rare and lovely boudoir card sized-portrait of a Chinese American woman in traditional dress, identified on the verso “Ah Yane.” The photo was taken by the important California photographer and publisher Thomas Houseworth, likely produced for fundraising efforts on behalf the Presbyterian Mission Home in Chinatown.
Chin Ah Yane, later known as Minnie, was born in Guangdong Province, and as a young girl was trafficked to San Francisco around 1874 to be sold as a “mui tsai,” a form of forced domestic labor that often involves prostitution. Ah Yane converted to Christianity by the missionaries associated with the Presbyterian Mission Home in Chinatown, who eventually secured her legal guardianship and provided her with an education. Ah Yane later formed her own Christian home for Chinese women who had gone through similar, dire circumstances.
In 1888 she married Chung Wong, a Chinese Christian merchant residing in Santa Barbara, CA. They had 11 children, of whom seven survived to adulthood. The eldest child of the Chung family, Margaret, grew up to become the first Chinese American female doctor. Margaret Chung is the subject of the biography “Doctor Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards” by Judy Wu and was profiled in the New York Times “Overlooked No More” series of obituaries.
Chin Ah Yane, later known as Minnie, was born in Guangdong Province, and as a young girl was trafficked to San Francisco around 1874 to be sold as a “mui tsai,” a form of forced domestic labor that often involves prostitution. Ah Yane converted to Christianity by the missionaries associated with the Presbyterian Mission Home in Chinatown, who eventually secured her legal guardianship and provided her with an education. Ah Yane later formed her own Christian home for Chinese women who had gone through similar, dire circumstances.
In 1888 she married Chung Wong, a Chinese Christian merchant residing in Santa Barbara, CA. They had 11 children, of whom seven survived to adulthood. The eldest child of the Chung family, Margaret, grew up to become the first Chinese American female doctor. Margaret Chung is the subject of the biography “Doctor Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards” by Judy Wu and was profiled in the New York Times “Overlooked No More” series of obituaries.