Black, Hispanic, and Chinese Americans resisted oppression in 19th century United States by maintaining a strong family unit. As second class citizens, these groups were denied rights of citizenship and protection of the law. They experienced not only economic exploitation, but political and social domination as well. Responses to cultural assaults on these racial/ethnic groups were varied. In some cases they adopted patterns of behavior in direct contradiction to the expectations and desires of the dominant group. For example, black women withdrew from field labor and focused on domestic life after slavery. Chinese families used the discriminatory legal system to their favor. Chinese laborers could not bring spouses to the United States nor could they marry whites. However, when the 1882 San Francisco earthquake destroyed municipal records, many Chinese claimed American birth and thus became eligible to bring relatives (either real or fabricated) into the country. Hispanic women sacrificed and modified traditional norms to maintain family cohesion by becoming part of the labor force in answer to a wage labor system that did not provide the man with enough money to support his family. (Author/KC)