The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1882, was the first significant law restricting immigration into the U.S. Rhode Island Chinese history scholar John Eng-Wong examines how laws and social practices impacted Chinese family formation and reunification during this period and beyond. Drawing from adoption archives, Chinese Exclusion era documents, memoirs, articles and interviews with descendants, he discusses how exclusion unfolded in Rhode Island and illustrates how several Chinese-descent families negotiated these impacts.