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Immigration through Angel Island
A letter from a Sing Fat & Company executive asking immigration officials to cancel sponsorship for two employees, 1905.

A letter from a Sing Fat & Company executive asking immigration officials to cancel sponsorship for two employees, 1905.

In this letter, Tong Bong, the president of Chinese and Japanese goods retailer Sing Fat & Company, writes to the Commissioner of Immigration in San Francisco requesting he remove two names from the company’s partnership list. Companies could provide a list of employees to immigration officials to help immigrants enter the country. Under the Chinese Exclusion Act, only merchants and other wealthy immigrants with certification paperwork were allowed into the US, so sponsorship from an employer was critical in making a case for an individual to enter the country.

Transcription:

San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 12th, 1905

Hon. H.H. North

Commissioner of Immigration

Dear Honourable,

We beg to inform you, please cancel our partnership list. The name of Wong Chong & Wong Chung no more interest in our firm. & Oblige

We remain

Very respectfully

Sing Fat & Co Inc

President

Tong Bong

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Citation Information
Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, “Letter on Sing Fat Co. Stationary to H.H. North, Commissioner of Immigration, San Francisco,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/96a985cc5dee672bb681af447e1c740b.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 2 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Immigration through Angel Island

Previous ItemNext Item
A 1901 letter from a Los Angeles banker asking US Secretary of State John Hay to reconsider a portion of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
A letter from a Sing Fat & Company executive asking immigration officials to cancel sponsorship for two employees, 1905.
An excerpt from Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West by Mary Bamford, 1917.
A photograph of immigrants arriving at Angel Island, 1939.
A photograph of young immigrants standing outside Angel Island’s hospital, 1923.
A photograph of an Angel Island dormitory room as it looked when the immigration station was in use, 2003.
A photograph of immigration officials interviewing an Angel Island detainee, 1923.
A photograph of a missionary conducting an English lesson for a group of immigrant women, 1933.
A photograph of a Chinese poem carved into an Angel Island dormitory wall by a detainee.
A photograph of the Lee family, including their “paper son,” in San Francisco, ca. 1920.
A photograph of the Angel Island administration building soon before the station’s closure, 1930s.
A photograph of the Angel Island administration building on fire, August 12, 1940.
A photograph of a note left by a Japanese prisoner of war held at Angel Island during World War II.
A poster advertising a San Francisco art gallery’s exhibition about the Chinese experience at Angel Island, 1976.
A photograph of a former Angel Island detainee returning with his family, 2003.

These sets were created and reviewed by teachers. Explore resources and ideas for Using DPLA's Primary Source Sets in your classroom.

To give feedback, contact us at info@dp.la. You can also view resources for National History Day.

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