Who was the “John Doe Chinaman”? In 19th-century America’s West, this label appeared in court records, immigration documents, and tax files as a catch-all reference to countless Chinese immigrants, erasing their names and identities and rendering them “nameless” in historical narratives. In her recently published book, John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese life Under American Racial Law, Princeton University history professor Beth Lew-Williams uncovers this overlooked history through dusty archival records, revealing the struggles and resilience of Chinese immigrants under the pressures of racialized legal systems.