In late 1912, he crossed the Atlantic aboard a French vessel, visiting Boston before taking a job as a laborer in New York City. Manhattan’s skyline astonished him, and he was impressed that Chinese immigrants in the United States could claim legal protection even though they were ineligible for U.S. citizenship. He expressed admiration for Abraham Lincoln’s leadership in ending slavery and preserving the Union. But Ho also saw the grim realities of America’s current race relations as he mingled with blacks in Harlem. It dismayed him that America could espouse such idealistic principles yet
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