New book examines Asian immigration in U.S., British Empire

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue professor David C. Atkinson explores the history of Asian migration in the British Empire and the United States in his new book, "The Burden of White Supremacy," published by the University of North Carolina Press.

Focusing on the period 1896 to 1924, Atkinson analyzes the imperial and diplomatic implications of Asian exclusion laws in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. He shows how white activists and governments throughout these societies imagined that an "irresistible wave of Asian migration" would consume their communities unless they enacted strict, racially explicit restrictions.

Atkinson's book, which draws on archival research from five countries, concludes that white supremacy was the real "white man's burden," because Asian exclusion "inflamed dangerous tensions that threatened to undermine the British Empire, American foreign relations, and the new framework of international cooperation that followed the First World War."

Atkinson is an assistant professor of history who teaches American and international history.

Writer: Howard Hewitt, 765-494-9541, hhewitt@purdue.edu

Source: David C. Atkinson, atkinsod@purdue.edu