Columbia professor Mae Ngai is the author of several books. Her most recent work, The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America, explores the saga of the Tape family and three generations of Chinese American immigration brokers. “Everyone needed them, but nobody trusted them,” Ngai said of the family. She visited the Zócalo office to explain the emergence of the Chinese-American middle class in the 19th century and what it meant for future generations of their descendants.

*Photo courtesy dano_StL.

The post The Invention of Chinese America appeared first on Zócalo Public Square.