Chinese Resilience in 19th and 20th-Century Natick

Have you ever noticed the sign for Frank Lee Laundry on Main Street in Natick Center? Founded by Chinese immigrant Shuck Goon “Frank” Lee in the 1920s, this business thrived for much of the twentieth century. After Shuck Goon died in 1950, his wife, Lew Ah Tai (Lew Shee) Lee, took over the business while raising her four teenage children. The Frank Lee Laundry was one of many laundry businesses owned by Chinese immigrants in Natick during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These businesses served as anchors for Chinese individuals and families who wanted to make a life in Natick despite facing local and national discrimination. 

By the 1880s, a small community of Chinese immigrants had established laundry businesses in Natick Center. They built a community, celebrated holidays such as Lunar New Year, and started a small choir. Many non-Chinese Natick residents patronized these laundries, including recent immigrants and those who had been in Natick for generations. 

Despite the initial business success and community building, Chinese Natick residents had a hard time finding a home in Natick due to the anti-Asian racism that permeated 19th-century American life. By December 1885, many Chinese Natick residents had begun leaving town. In part, this was due to the work of a local chapter of the Knights of Labor, which encouraged people to boycott laundries owned by Chinese Natick residents using xenophobic myths that immigrant laborers were taking “American jobs.” There is some evidence that the Knights of Labor “bought out” the last laundry for $100 by bribing the business owner to leave. 

Other factors undermined Chinese businesses, too. For example, the owners of a laundry in Natick’s Walcott’s block, listed in papers as “Art Jun,” and “Grum Ebb,” received false information about their lease from the Walcott Estate. A letter stated the lease was for five years, but it was later determined not legally binding, and they were forced to leave the building. 

Natick residents publicly debated whether or not they were right to have "driven the Chinese from Natick," often by submitting letters to the editor of the local newspaper.  Members of the “Knights of Labor” and their supporters consistently and proudly defended what they had done, claiming it was an act of patriotism. 

These local events reflect the larger context of anti-Asian racism nationally in the 19th century. Chinese immigration to the United States increased during the second half of the 19th century due to a mix of complex social and political factors in China. Chinese immigrants worked any jobs they could find, often sending most of their wages to relatives still in their home country.  Many industries, such as the railroad, viewed Chinese immigrants as an abundant and exploitable “cheap” labor source.  In New England, Chinese immigrants often owned or worked in laundries. 

By 1882, increasingly widespread anti-Chinese racism led to the first significant law restricting immigration to the United States: the Chinese Exclusion Act. An upstart and influential political party called the Know Nothings popularized many hateful beliefs, including “nativism,” which urged that the United States needed to be preserved for, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Nativist politicians ushered the Chinese Exclusion Act through Congress and banned Chinese immigration to the United States for ten years (the policy was later extended and remained in place until 1965). Chinese immigrants living in the United States in 1882 could not obtain American citizenship. The act codified anti-Chinese racism, legalized discrimination, and further alienated Chinese people in communities across the country.

In 1885/1886, Natick newspapers were filled with letters to the editor that featured racist and xenophobic language. Many Natick residents scapegoated Chinese immigrants as the cause of social and personal problems. On October 8, 1885, a letter to the editor signed only as “B.F.M.” argued that supporting laundries owned by Chinese Natick residents was anti-labor, took business away from laundry attendants, and would eventually permit Chinese people to work in factories (replacing workers). B.F.M. expressed the same fears promoted by labor parties, such as the Knights of Labor, and nativist politicians serving at all levels of government. Another Natick resident, “J.W. Valentine,” wrote a letter to the editor on March 10, 1886, employing hateful stereotypes to argue that Chinese people did not belong in Natick or the United States. Valentine concluded, “Let us then keep out the Chinese in the interest of our industrial prosperity, our citizenship, and our manhood, and willingly accord to the Chinese their ‘right’ to stay in China.” 

At the same time, some Natick residents stood up for their Chinese neighbors and advocated for their right to live in the community. On Friday, February 26, 1886, the Natick Bulletin published a letter from “Foster,” who argued that the founding fathers established the United States for immigrants to find refuge and that the country had more than enough resources for everybody. Foster concluded with the question: “Why should [Chinese immigrants] not receive the same privilege and be treated as if they were our equals in the scale of humanity?” 

Throughout this period, Chinese residents of Natick also used the means they had to advocate for their rights. For example, a cryptic Natick Bulletin article from March 4, 1887, implied that owners of a laundry in Child’s Block sued its proprietor, Willard Curtis Childs. The article states that “Judge Thompson,” which may have been Charles Perkins Thompson, the judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, ruled in Childs’ favor. Other articles show several Chinese immigrants owned laundries in Child’s Block throughout the 1880s. Still, these articles generally omit details about the lives and identities of the owners of these businesses. It is unknown who participated in the lawsuit.

Despite the discrimination, some Chinese immigrants continued to move to Natick, open businesses, build communities and may have raised families. Census records from the early twentieth century indicate that Harry Leon, George Wong, Charlie Ling, Yam Yee, Charley Tung, and Lew Ah Tai (Lew Shee) Lee lived in Natick and owned or worked in laundries from 1900 to 1950. More research is needed to expand our understanding of their families and the communities they created in the aftermath of the turbulent 1880s.

The passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 opened immigration to the United States from countries that were previously excluded, including China. Asian Americans and immigrants with roots in China and throughout Asia continue to call Natick home and shape community life in the twenty-first century.

by Gail Coughlin

Works Cited

The Collections of the Natick Historical Society

Morse Institute Library Online Newspaper Database

Mimi Yang, “Tracing the Roots of Anti-Chinese Sentiments in US History,” in Global Perspectives on Non-Governmental Organizations, eds. Vito Bobek and Tatjana Horvat

“The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),” National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act