Does Anyone Remember Us?

By Sho Kohara

Does anyone remember us?
We were called “China Mary.”
My name is Ah Yuen.
I came to the United States from Canton in 1863.
Being a prostitute.
Yes. Many of our women came to America as prostitutes.
Some people did it voluntarily, and some people were deceived.
Some people were sold by their father when they were six years old.
Some people were abducted here by people who think they liked them.
We all became prostitutes without exception.
Americans only sign contracts with healthy single Chinese male workers.
They were not willing to take care of workers with families.
There, it became a society dominated by single men.
And we became the victims.
We were illiterate, we pressed our fingerprints to sign a contract that we 
couldn’t understand.
The contract stipulates that if we take sick leave for 10 days, the contract 
will be automatically extended by one month.
We seem to be stuck here forever.
I seemed to be lucky, I ended up in Denver for a while.
1868, I went to Bear River City, Wyoming, where many Chinese immigrants and immigrant laborers were building railroads. I found a job as a chef.
I saw a lot of people being lynched.
I was scared.
Later, I was living in Park City, Utah.
I was married.
When my husband died, I moved to Evanston, Wyoming in 1900.
I married twice more.
My last marriage was to a Mormon.
There, people seemed to accept me.
There, there is still a street called “China Mary” Road.
But, they called me “China Mary.”
They did not care about me; they did not bother to call me by my name.
Anyway, in their eyes, any Chinese woman was the same.
Why can’t people say my own name?
I deserve it.
I am a woman, an Asian woman.
I am a human being.
As a human who was struggling to make a living in America.
Am I that unworthy of having a name that is remembered?
Does anyone remember us?
We were called “China Mary.”
My name is Sing Deah, Ah Fuh/Fur or Qui Fah (6).
I ran away from my home in China when I was 9 years old.
Came to Canada when I was 13 years old and worked as a maid.
I was also forced to become a prostitute.
In 1895, when I was 15 years old, I married a Chinese Gee Bang who 
had an American visa.
Therefore, I moved to Sitka, Alaska in the United States.
I helped my husband managed restaurants and bakeries,
I learned the language of the local indigenous people,
Became a midwife to the Aboriginal people,
I have never had a failed delivery.
After my husband died, I used the money he left to open a restaurant.
I also ran a laundry at home.
My second marriage was in 1903, to Sing Li.
We came to Chicago, where I met my husband’s partner, Fred.
Fred was a new immigrant and we fell in love.
For him, I sued and divorced Li.
After Fred and I got married, we moved back to Sitka, Alaska.
We were happy there until his death.
I am happy with my life because I was in control of my life.
I’ve done it all.
Dairy farmer, Fox-former, Miner, midwife, Hunter, Fisher woman.
I even served as a nurse manager in a federal prison.
I am a self-reliant, hard-working woman.
I successfully lived the life I wanted in the United States.
But, they called me “China Mary”.
They did not care about me; they did not bother to call me by my name.
Anyway, in their eyes, any Chinese woman was the same.
Why can’t people say my own name?
I deserve it.
I am a woman, an Asian woman.
I am a human being.
As a human who was struggling to make a living in America.
Am I that unworthy of having a name that is remembered?
Does anyone remember us?
Many women like us were called “China Mary” in early American.
Our history has been erased.
We are more than just “China Mary”.
We are not China Mary.
We have our own name.