New Year, New Books Publishing Today

Near the end of the nineteenth century, after the railroads were completed and the gold mines exhausted, an economic downturn stirred up anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Capitalizing on this prejudice, the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to limit immigration and naturalization for people of Chinese descent. By 1892, Chinese were required to obtain certificates of residency or identity and carry them at all times. Those who did not could be deported or imprisoned. As the law became stricter, interrogations, affidavits, and Caucasian witnesses were required to prove Chinese people’s right to remain in America. The act wouldn’t be repealed until 1943.

Central Florida is more than theme parks and condos. Beneath the surface lies a rich and surprising past. River pirates once ruled its inland waterways. Spanish forts and Confederate hideouts marked its wild frontier.Tarpon Springs became home to the largest Greek-American community in the U.S. French pirates sailed through Pinellas County’s bays and barrier islands. During Prohibition, the Harris Chain of Lakes tied the region to Caribbean rum-runners and Gatsby-style parties. Along the Treasure Coast, lighthouse keepers risked their lives to guide sailors past deadly shoals.

 

Voodoo in New Orleans

Originally published in 1946, this intriguing book examines the rites and beliefs associated with voodoo through the legends of the art—its charms, trances, rituals, and difficult-to-explain occurrences.

Robert Tallant was one of Louisiana’s best-known authors. Born in New Orleans in 1909, he attended the city’s local public schools. Before “drifting” into writing, Tallant worked as an advertising copywriter, a bank teller, and a clerk. It was his friendship with Lyle Saxon that led Tallant to his position as editor on the Louisiana WPA Writers’ Project during the 1930s and 1940s. In that position, he coauthored Gumbo Ya-Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana with Lyle Saxon and Edward Dreyer.

 

Quakers and the Enslaved in North Carolina

Quakers settled the Carolina Colony in the 1650s, bringing their slaves and servants with them. Industrious coastal Quakers soon rose to prominence on the backs of their enslaved men and women, and Piedmont Quaker lives were enriched by the people they enslaved as well. Sparked by the observations of John Woolman, Carolina Quakers took up the battle against slavery in the 1700s, beginning with themselves. Legal conflicts, the Free Negro program, colonization, the North Carolina Manumission Society and the Underground Railroad were the results. Combining North Carolina slave narratives, runaway slave ads, digital archives, local histories and internet blogs, Tim Allen re-creates the inspiring story of Tarheel Quakers who fought each other and the state to abolish enslavement in antebellum North Carolina.

 

The Great Railroad Strike in Ohio

As the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 made its way into Ohio, the state already had its share of problems. Tramps, men who’d taken to the road looking for work because of the economic depression of the 1870s, seemed to be overrunning the state. Railroads, one of Ohio’s biggest employers, cut jobs. Those not fired suffered from repeated cuts in wages and hours, making their already unsafe work conditions worse.

Strikes in neighboring states, instigated by another 10 percent wage cut on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, became violent and destructive. When they broke out in Ohio, something remarkable happened. Strikers remained mostly peaceful, avoiding the killing, looting, and vandalism seen elsewhere. Much of the credit for the path taken by Ohio must go to its level-headed governor, Thomas L. Young, who used the Ohio National Guard to great effect. 

 

Creole Cookery

This 1885 volume is one of the two oldest cookbooks published in New Orleans.

Many of the recipes, compiled by 18 ladies from the Christian Woman's Exchange, are still used in the open-hearth kitchen at the historic Hermann-Grima House in New Orleans' French Quarter. Although over 120 years old, the recipes are still valid and adaptable for modern cooks.

 

Concord after World War II

Explosive growth after the war made Concord a popular stop for presidents, celebrities, and musical events. A small town of about 1,500 people in the 1940s now is home to more than 120,000. Jazz musician Dave Brubeck was born here, and the internationally acclaimed Concord Blue Devils still perform here. The 1960s saw the birth of the annual Concord Jazz Festival and Concord Jazz Records. Concord became sister cities with Kitakami, Japan, in the 1970s. The controversial Spirit Poles were erected in the 1980s, and De La Salle High School’s unbelievable 151-game football winning streak began in the 1990s.

 

Danville

On land that once belonged to Native peoples whose lives were upended by Spanish conquest, pioneers came for the Gold Rush and stayed for the fertile land. Farms and ranches took root, and a community arose. The Danville Grange No. 85, Patrons of Husbandry, promoted better farming practices and spurred on the founding of the town’s first library. Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O’Neill called Danville home when he wrote his final, great plays, including Long Day’s Journey into Night, twenty years before a brand-new freeway led the charge into the modern era.

 

Chinese in Tehama County

Tehama County played a crucial role in shaping California’s early statehood. Its fertile terrain presented ample opportunities to succeed. Despite harsh discriminatory laws and racially driven tunnel folklore to perpetuate a negative narrative, five original families— Foey (Wong), 謯 Chew (Yuen), 鄺 Fong, 衒 On (Liu), and 蠊 Chin—made Red Bluff their permanent home, thriving as merchants and productive citizens. Individuals like Dr. Chew Yuen and Bo Do Hong operated traditional Chinese medicine practices throughout America with Red Bluff as their headquarters. Tehama County blended cultures, with its most distinguishable townsmen attending an annual Chinese and American banquet in Red Bluff’s Chinatown, merging the two cultures together. The deep bonds formed would culminate into a powerful petition by 20 influential leaders in support of the Chew family, who were detained at Angel Island in 1916, proving that Tehama County valued the Chinese community. This single act of kindness set the stage for a 20th-century Chinese American pioneer to be born, Dr. Kenneth Kendall Chew, and his research in aquaculture would change the world.

 

Big Cypress National Preserve

Lying deep within southwest Florida, the Big Cypress National Preserve protects over 1,000 square miles of the Big Cypress Swamp. Home to namesake cypress tree swamps as well as prairies, forested islands, ghost orchids, alligators, Florida panthers, and waterbirds, its human history spans thousands of years, becoming a refuge for the unconquered Seminole and Miccosukee people. Nearly inaccessible until the 1920s, when opened by roads and the railroad, it was America’s last frontier, settled by hardy pioneers, plume and alligator hunters, farmers, smugglers, and moonshiners. Avoiding large-scale development, the preserve was established over 50 years ago to protect the swamp and Everglades water resources while facilitating compatible traditional uses. Today, the preserve continues to support its swamp heritage, both natural and cultural, enabling Seminoles, Miccosukees, backwoodsmen, recreationists, and passing motorists to appreciate its unique environment.

 

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