Chinese Exclusion Act repeal influenced by Pearl S. Buck’s advocacy

On December 17, 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was formally repealed by the U.S. Congress through the passage of the Magnuson Act, ending sixty-one years of explicitly racist exclusion of Chinese immigrants.[8]

Pearl S. Buck played a significant role in the repeal campaign. A prominent public figure by the 1940s, she lent her voice and reputation to the Citizens Committee to Repeal Chinese Exclusion, wrote widely circulated articles, and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives earlier that year to urge legislators to end the discriminatory law.[8]

Buck argued that the Chinese Exclusion regime undermined America’s moral standing and its wartime alliance with China against Japan, and that it institutionalized racial hierarchies incompatible with democratic ideals.[8] Her standing as a Nobel laureate and influential interpreter of Chinese society for American readers made her advocacy particularly visible.

The repeal, though limited—it still imposed quotas—marked a historic shift in U.S. immigration policy and public attitudes toward Asians. Buck’s contribution exemplifies how literary prestige could be leveraged to challenge structural racism and reshape policy.[8]

For women, and especially for a woman writer, to exert influence on foreign policy and immigration legislation during World War II was unusual. Buck’s activism around the 1943 repeal helped broaden expectations of women’s roles in public life, linking cultural authority with political change.[11][8]