Sidney Gulick (1860-1945)
Immigration to the US Resources | Other Resources
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| Title page of Adventuring in brotherhood: among orientals in America, by Dr. Sidney Gulick, 1925. |
Minister, educator, and writer Dr. Sidney Gulick was a third-generation missionary whose service in Japan led to a lifelong commitment to improving Japanese-American relations. Born in the Marshall Islands, Gulick was educated in the United States and graduated from Dartmouth. After earning a master's degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1886, he was ordained a Congregational minister, and, upon his marriage to Clara Fisher, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent the young couple to Japan.
In Japan, Gulick preached broad Christian doctrine and taught English, science, and other subjects. Learning Japanese, he observed the modernization of the Japanese economy, and, in numerous writings, sought to explain Japanese culture and character to an American audience. With his work in theology, this scholarship later earned him several honorary doctorates. Gulick also taught theology at Do-shisha University and at the Imperial University of Kyoto before returning to the United States for health reasons in 1913.
For the next 20 years, Gulick worked for the Federated Council of Churches, a multi-denominational, Protestant organization that promoted church unity and presented a religious perspective on public issues. Although Gulick served on numerous commissions, his primary concerns were immigration reform and fair treatment for the many Japanese who lived on America's West Coast. Under the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907-1908, further immigration from China and Japan was prohibited, and Asian residents were declared ineligible for naturalization. In California, the Issei, or first-generation Japanese, were not allowed to own land, and there had been attempts to segregate the San Francisco schools. The popular press, supported by labor unions that feared economic competition, denounced the "yellow peril" in inflammatory terms.
After his quota proposal failed, Gulick worked for the broader peace movement, calling for disarmament and for US participation in the World Court. In 1926, he founded the Committee on World Friendship Among Children, hoping that good will among children would lead to cooperation among nations. He arranged a gift of more than 12,000 dolls for the children of Japan, with accompanying notes from American children.
In 1934, Gulick retired from the Federated Council of Churches, although he continued to write about peace even as the tensions between Japan and the United States grew. An idealist, Gulick had overemphasized immigration restriction as the cause of the conflict, and his experiences as a missionary had limited his understanding of Japanese imperialism. His was, however, a persistent voice opposing racial discrimination against the Japanese, and he hoped that, after the war, beneficial change would occur in both countries. Gulick died in 1945 at his daughter's home in Idaho.
^ TOPImmigration to the US Resources
Listed below are digital resources from the Immigration to the US collection by, about, or related to Sidney Gulick. These resources represent only a selection of what exists on these topics. More physical materials on these topics may be available at the owning repositories, some of which are open to the public.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. A comprehensive immigration policy and program. New York City : Sidney L. Gulick, [1915?].
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. A comprehensive immigration policy and program : a step towards peace. Boston : American Unitarian Association, [between 1915 and 1917].
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. Adventuring in brotherhood: among orientals in America. New York : American Missionary Association, [1925?].
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. American democracy and Asiatic citizenship. New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1918.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. Anti-Japanese war-scare stories.New York : F.H. Revel, c1917.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. A permanent immigration policy. [New York City : National Committee for Constructive Immigration Legislation], c1921.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. Evolution of the Japanese : a study of their characteristics in relation to the principles of social and psychic development. New York : F.H. Revell, c1905.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. Hawaii’s American-Japanese problem : a description of the conditions, a statement of the problems and suggestions for their solution. [Honolulu : s.n., 1915] (Honolulu Star Bulletin).
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. The American Japanese problem : a study of the racial relations of the East and the West. New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. The Japanese problem : address. [United States : s.n., between 1910 and 1914].
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. Two addresses by Prof. Sidney L. Gulick, on a new immigration policy and the American-Japanese problem. [New York? : s.n., 1914].
^ TOPOther Resources
Listed below are web sites about, or related to, Sidney Gulick. These resources are listed to point users to further information outside the context of the Immigration to the US collection. The Open Collections Program and Harvard University bear no responsibility for the contents of these web sites. This list is not intended to be comprehensive.
Gulick, Sidney Lewis. The White Peril in the Far East.
Japan Cultural Center. The Friendship Doll Program.
Rochester Museum & Science Center. Nagasaki Tamako / Dr. Sidney Gulick / Friendship Dolls.
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