Professor writes a sweeping tale of a ‘Lucky’ new life in America

“Ellis Island” means something special to many Americans, as the two words conjure up a series of thoughts and images, particularly for those who live in New York. Ships, hugs, diseases. The tired, the hungry, the poor. But amid all the talk about the East Coast, too many immigration stories seem to be overlooked.

In her new book, “The Lucky Ones,” Mae Ngai, professor of history and Lung Family professor of Asian-American studies, records the history of the Tape family, Chinese immigrants who settled in San Francisco shortly after the Gold Rush. In doing so, Ngai portrays fascinating “deleted scenes” of a familiar story.

The two protagonists of Ngai’s historical narrative came to California from different provinces in China in the 1860s. When they arrived, Jeu Dip and Mary McGladery had no family in the United States, spoke different dialects, and lived in different places. When they met in 1875, Jeu courted Mary in English, soon after which they changed their names and became Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Mary Tape. At a time when “Chinese” and “American” were perceived as entirely disparate things, Joseph and Mary—amusingly renamed—transcended the divide and shared something unique, being among the first true Chinese Americans.

“I think their level of acculturation is something that we would actually find unsurprising today,” Ngai said. “But, in their time, it was very unusual. I think, in some ways, they were prototypical. They were among the first to exhibit these middle-class, acculturated values.”

Indeed, the Tape family was quite Americanized. They listened to American music, wore American clothing, and drove cars. Three of the four children’s marriages ended in divorce or separation, and one daughter eloped. It was this daughter, Mamie Tape, whose denial of admission to San Francisco’s Spring Valley Elementary School at age eight on the grounds of her Chinese ancestry led her parents to sue the city’s board of education in the landmark Tape v. Hurley case, heard in the Supreme Court of California in 1885.

A saga that spans continents and generations, “The Lucky Ones” feels almost like a real-life, West Coast, Chinese-American version of “The Godfather” or “Once Upon a Time in America.” Clear and copious are the similarities between the European-American and Asian-American immigrant experiences.

“It’s definitely not just a Chinese story—it’s definitely an immigrant story,” Ngai said. “All ethnic groups have people like Jeu Dip or Joseph Tape. Labor contractors, immigrant brokers, transportation agents, language interpreters, cultural and political brokers—they’re common in every ethnic experience.”

Even the many issues that seem to be exclusively Chinese hold particular resonance with today’s national debates over immigration.

“The story of Chinese exclusion and its racial justifications are very similar to things that we hear today: ‘We don’t want them because they don’t assimilate,’ ‘We don’t want them because they don’t speak English and they don’t want to learn English,’ ‘They don’t adopt American ways,’” Ngai said. “Well, if you deny people job opportunities, and there’s residential segregation, and you don’t supply them with a decent education, how can they be incorporated fully into society? The system kind of creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Beating the odds was a reality for the Tapes, but their path to prosperity was riddled with challenges. To idealize the narrative—and to forget how relevant “The Lucky Ones” is to today’s America—might prove very dangerous.

“One of the things I was trying to show through this one family’s history is that what we think of as a normative immigrant success story is actually much more difficult,” Ngai said. “We’re led to believe that if you work hard and study hard, you overcome obstacles and you make it. You need a lot more than that.”

“The Lucky Ones” is set for release on Sept. 15.