Every Titanic survivor-705 in all-was allowed entry into the United States without question and given aid and medical relief. Here was a chance to show others the far-reaching effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act, an act that from 1882-1943, prohibited Chinese from coming to the United States.įor that is the reason you have likely never heard about these men. Here was an opportunity to bring attention to a story that had not yet been told. Hulton Deutsch // Getty Imagesīut as much as I tried to elbow away thoughts of the Chinese on the Titanic, the idea had already begun to take hold. And though I loved a good ocean-faring story, I felt ill-equipped to write one, given my propensity for seasickness and general lack of knowledge as to how ships work.

I didn’t know much about the Titanic beyond what I remembered from the movie (specifically: not enough lifeboats, major classicism, and the outrage of throwing a perfectly good diamond necklace into the sea). In fact, I didn’t think I could write a story about the Titanic at all, even once I finished the current book. But I was in the throes of writing The Downstairs Girl, a YA book centered in a different part of the world and a different century-Atlanta, 1890-and I didn’t have space in my brain to nurture a story set in the cold waters of the Atlantic. Why had I never heard of these passengers? And how did the 75% of them survive, when the survival rate for the third-class passengers was more like 25%? They were the largest group of non-European or North American passengers sailing on the ocean liner-and a remarkable six of them survived. The article informed me that there were actually eight Chinese passengers sailing on this ill-fated ship, seamen bound for a new route in the Caribbean.

The luck of the titanic