Historians have traditionally either denied the existence or distorted the experience of women of color in U.S. history. As a result, Chinese American women, despite the fact that they have been in the United States since 1834, have remained nearly invisible. The Chinese Women of America Research Project embarked on an ambitious journey four years ago to search for this unwritten history. Researchers traveled to major Chinese communities across the United States and to China, where they searched for documents and photographs, and interviewed 274 Chinese American women of diverse backgrounds. Photographs numbering 135 have been included. By piecing together scraps of archival research with oral histories, then placing them in the context of Chinese cultural patterns and Chinese American history, a unique story of triumphs over oppression was gradually uncovered. This book is an outgrowth of "Chinese Women of America, 1834-1982," a traveling exhibit of photographs that opened at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco in August 1983. The book is divided into three parts: "Pioneering Women, 1834-1900". "Years of Struggle, 1900-1945," and "Comtemporary Women, 1945-1985," and includes eight appendixes supplying various kinds of statistical data. (BZ)