Ellen Lu

Ellen Lu is a fourth-year student pursuing a major in History, along with minors in Asian Languages and Cultures and Gender Studies. Ellen is currently writing a History Departmental Honors Thesis under the guidance of Professor Katherine Marino. Her project explores the Page Act of 1875’s role in preventing Chinese women from immigrating to the United States seven years before the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, as well as examining white women reformers’ contribution to anti-Chinese campaigns. She seeks to explore the gendered dimensions of anti-Chinese activism from the 1870s to 1890s, with a focus on women. Her thesis studies how Chinese women were targeted on the basis of race and gender and investigates how white women of all social classes actively participated in anti-Chinese activism. Outside the Keck Program, Ellen is also the president of UCLA’s History Honor Society, and she serves on the History Department’s Undergraduate Advisory Board. She enjoys knitting, reading fantasy books, frolicking in nature, and creative writing.