When Racism and Exclusion Intersect: The Provisional Status of Asian Americans and the Ideal of E Pluribus Unum
The Chinese Question, political illustration by Thomas Nast, first published in Harper's Weekly on Feb. 18, 1871. Columbia, the female personification of the United States, with her hand on a Chinese man's head, faces an angry, armed group and says, "Hands Off, Gentlemen! American means fair play for all men." Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.