Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among the Ghosts (1976) weaves together elements from traditional Chinese folktales and incidents from the author’s experiences or family stories in five interconnected chapters. These chapters follow the lives of several women while they lived in China and/or after immigration to the United States: Kingston, her mother Brave Orchid, and her aunts, Moon Orchid and No Name Woman. Kingston, a first-generation Chinese-American, was born in Stockton, California, in 1940. The book uses recurring consideration of voices, stories, and ghosts to develop its various themes, including the transmission of culture across generations and the importance of gender and memory to the immigrant experience. The Woman Warrior won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of the top nonfiction books of the 1970s by Time. This source set includes photographs and other items useful for exploring the book’s context, contents, and impact.
A photograph of Maxine Hong Kingston (left) with Phyllis Manocchi, 1990s.
An illustration of a Chinese family in China, ca. 1905.
A photograph of a seated Chinese woman who has undergone foot binding, ca. 1925.
A pair of women’s embroidered Chinese foot-binding shoes displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair.
A drawing depicting folk warriors in Chinese culture.
A photograph of an actor in Chinese theater portraying a woman warrior character with a weapon, 1920s.
A photograph of actors performing a Chinese theater scene in which a woman warrior in a wintry setting comes upon a woman, 1920s.
A photograph of the actor Ch'i-hsing-teng as a woman warrior holding a whip, 1920s.
A photograph of a newly-arrived Chinese “refugee” family at Los Angeles Airport, June 12, 1962.
A photograph of a group of Chinese Americans holding signs that say "Please help Chinese refugees" in English and Chinese.
A photograph of the Lee family preparing to leave Hong Kong to fly to the US, ca. 1968.
A photograph of the Lee family enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner, ca. 1970.
A poster by the Committee for True Representation of China for a protest rally in San Jose, California, 1974.
A poster announcing a celebration of International Women’s Year, 1975.
A photograph of President Nixon meeting with the chairman of the Communist Party in China, Mao Zedong, February 29, 1972.
