One of the fascinating byproducts of my foray into Chinese American history is that I have been able to help people trace their personal family history. I was able to help several people locate their parents' immigration files at the National Archives, not an easy task, but most rewarding to read the transcripts of the interrogations that Chinese immigrants had to endure and survive.
One white reader who had adopted a girl from China sought advice about how to answer her daughter's question about which water fountain, the WHITE or COLORED, would she have had to drink from if she had lived in the South during the days of Jim Crow laws.