The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown

From the bestselling author of The House of Mondavi- a riveting, revelatory history of the trafficking of young Asian girls that flourished in San Francisco during the first hundred years of Chinese immigration (1848-1943)–and the safe house that became a refuge for those seeking their freedom.

Beginning in 1874, the Occidental Mission Home on the edge of San Francisco’s Chinatown served as a gateway to freedom for thousands of enslaved young Chinese women and girls. Run by Donaldina Dolly Cameron (known to her enemies as the White Devil of Chinatown), Tien Fuh Wu, and other courageous female abolitionists, it survived earthquakes, fire, bubonic plague, and violent attacks. With compassion and an investigative historian’s sharp eye, Siler tells the story of this remarkable safe house. She shows how Dolly and her colleagues defied contemporary convention–even occasionally breaking the law–by physically rescuing children from the brothels where they worked or by snatching them off ships as they were being smuggled in–and how they helped bring the exploiters to justice. She shares the moving stories of the girls and young women who sought refuge at the mission. And she writes about the lives these women went on to lead. The White Devil’s Daughters is a remarkable chapter in an overlooked part of our history, a story of exploitation, resistance, and hope.