Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
When the Chinese Came to California
Watercolors by Jake Lee
Excerpt from an article in Westways magazine
...
For the Chinese who came to California, it
was frequently a life of hardship, deprivation
and abuse at the hands of the white man. With
his strange dress and incomprehensible tongue,
“John Chinaman” was a natural object of
suspicion. When times were bad he often
became the target of harsh economic sanctions.
More than once, he was the unfortunate
scapegoat when a wrathful lynch mob was
looking for a victim. Like the Americans and
the Europeans, the Chinese were lured to
California by the prospects of rich mines and
high wages. In the mining camps, already
overcrowded, the reception to the Chinese was
usually hostile.
As a result, some Chinese worked abandoned
claims when the white men had moved on.
Others became laborers and domestics, or
established business enterprises such as
laundries, markets and restaurants. Through
patience, perseverance and a business acumen
that was the envy of many an American, the
Chinese survived and prospered in the new land.
Watercolors by Jake Lee. “When the Chinese Came to
California,” Westways Magazine. Automobile
Club of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA,
Vol. 55 (Sept 1963) pp. 6-7.
The “Strangers” Among Them
By, Doyce B. Nunis, Jr.
GOLD! GOLD! THERE’S GOLD IN
CALIFORNIA! The cry went round the world.
GOLD!
And as the news of the discovery reached
foreign shores, in successive waves people from
distant lands struck out for the fabled El
Dorado. When the report of President James K.
Polk’s official confirmation of the discovery
was published in the Honolulu Polynesian, June
24, the islands were quickly drained of their
susceptible adventurers. By the end of the year
twenty-two vessels departed Honolulu for San
Francisco.
...
Soon they were joined by people from all over
the world, looking for gold. People arrived
from Chile, Mexico, the British Isles, Germany,
France and China.
Among the first legislative proposals
introduced in California under American rule
was “An Act for the better regulation of the
mines and mining, until the action of the United
States Congress shall be had thereon.”
Submitted to the State Senate on February 8,
1850….The statute was labelled the Foreign
Miners’ Tax.
…(E)ach foreigner would be required to
purchase a license fixed at $20 a month. Failure
to comply would result in imprisonment for a
term not exceeding three months and a fine of
not more than $1,000. The law was to be
effective until Congress passed a similar
measure. The object was clear: only Americans
had the right to free mining.
...
The renewal of the Foreign Miners’ Tax in
1852 undoubtedly was provoked by the abrupt
increase in Chinese emigration to California. At
first the Chinese were welcomed as a ready
source of cheap labor. Gradually, Chinese preempted the Kanakas (Hawaiians) and Indians as
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
laborers. The 1850 census tabulated only 660
Chinese; the 1860 census registered 34, 935.
The few Chinese who made their way to
California at the height of the Gold Rush were
inexperienced and worked mostly the poorer
claims. To finance their passage, they signed
contracts which bound them to repay costs at
high interest rates. Poor and illiterate, their
presence in the mines was tolerated at first.
Overt hostility was extremely rare then.
J.D. Borthwick in his Three Years in
California remarked that the Chinese were
almost feminine in the way they handled their
tools, “As if they were afraid of hurting
themselves.” Their inability to work long hours
without periodic rests, coupled with their
aversion to working in water or in heat and their
inefficiency in handling mechanical devices,
limited their daily mining results. They were
content with $2 a day.
But anti-Chinese sentiment was not long in
exploding. The first incident reputedly took
place as early as 1849. A British company
employed about sixty Chinese laborers to work
under Sonoran supervisors at Chinese Camp,
Tuolumne County. A party of irate white
miners drove the laborers from the mines. In
1852 there was organized agitation—the
adoption of the Columbia Resolution—even
though Chinese emigration had been extremely
light until that year. In 1849, 325 arrivals are
recorded, 450 in 1850, and 2,700 in 1851. But
before the end of 1852, 20,000 Chinese arrived.
This sudden influx “had an electrifying effect in
California.” Governor John Bigler dispatched a
special message to the legislature on the
pressing matter of “coolie” or contract labor.
The re-enactment of the tax on foreign miners
was one result. The Chinese question was to
prove a continuing dilemma for California
throughout the remaining decades of the
nineteenth century.
Its final solution was
Congressional adoption of the exclusion policy.
The seeds of that restrictive immigration policy
were sown in Gold-Rush California.
...
The enormous influx of foreigners—strangers to
the Americans---during the California Gold
Rush greatly enriched the history of the state.
Even though a vast number of these emigrants
returned to their native land, perhaps wiser than
richer, many remained to provide the basis for
the expanded cosmopolitan population that has
distinctly marked California. No state in the
Union can point to an overnight “melting pot”
environment comparable to that of the
California Gold Rush.
Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. “The ‘Strangers’ Among Them,”
Westways Magazine. Automobile Club of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, Vol. 59 (May 1967)
pp. 24-27.
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
“The Heathen Chinee Prospecting.” Eadweard Muybridge, c1852. This photograph was probably taken near
Jacksonville, Tuloumne Co. or Mongolian Flat on the American River in California.
Library of Congress, Digital ID# cubcic chs405
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:1:./temp/~ammem_p6Tp::
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
Chinese Camp in the Mines” Artist: J.D. Borthwick.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:1:./temp/~ammem_q5Nv::
Library of Congress; Digital ID cubcic chs414
“A company of Chinese have been building a log cabin near us for several days past. They are mostly young men
apparently of good “blood” and very polite towards us. I like to talk with them and ask them hundreds of
questions about their native land, for they are intelligent and one of them speaks good English. Most of them
wear long cues (braids), neatly braided, and hung in little knots at the end. I asked one of them the reason of
wearing his hair short. “In Amelica me wear ‘em cut. In China all sem oder Chinaman.”
(Diary of Timothy Coffin Osborne. Thursday, December 26, 1850)
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
“Chinese man mining along the river.” From Views of
the American West. The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/flipomatic/cic/images@ViewImage?img=brk00002970_16a
Journal Entry with transcription of Chinese characters.
Written by Timothy Coffin Osborne. (1827-1864)
“Journal Published June 14, 1850-January 1, 1885.
Website: The Chinese in America, 1950-1925.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/flipomatic/cic/brk5262
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
"Chinese Public School Children -- About 1890." Photographed by Isaiah West Taber. Accessed through the
Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:2:./temp/~ammem_ppMl::
Digital ID: cubcic chs397
"Their First Photograph.": From San Francisco Chinatown (1895-1906):
Arnold Genthe -- Photos No. 1 (Camera Shy Chinese)
CREATED/PUBLISHED 1895-1906. California Historical Society,
Accessed through Library of Congress.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:1:./temp/~ammem_Gi9e::
Digital ID # cubcic chs9
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
“Chinese Couple, seated” c1891? Accessed through the Library of Congress.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/flipomatic/cic/images@ViewImage?img=brk00003922_16a
Chan Kwan On: certificate to enter U.S.: From Immigration documents
miscellany (c 1897-1898)
Ethnic Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Accessed through the Library of Congress
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/flipomatic/cic/brk3853
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island, San Francisco
Bay. View showing wharf and main buildings.
Photographs from the Hart Hyatt North papers:
Angel Island Created/Published: 1890-1943
The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley, Accessed through the Library of Congress.
Digital ID: cubcic brk1187
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/D?cic:12:./temp/~ammem_i7PG::
Dormitory- Angel Island
U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island, San
Francisco Bay. Dormitory. Photographs from the
Hart Hyatt North papers: Angel Island
The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley, Accessed through the Library of
Congress.
Digital ID: cubcic brk1197
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/D?cic:1:./temp/~ammem_i7PG::
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
“Searching Chinese immigrants for opium, at San Francisco” Chinese emigration to America: sketch on board the
steam-ship Alaska, bound for San Francisco: From Views of Chinese published in “The Graphic and Harper's
Weekly” (Created/Published April 29, 1876). Accessed from the Library of Congress.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:1:./temp/~ammem_IZdc::
Digital ID: cubcic brk7176
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
1848 The Gold Rush begins with the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, drawing many fortune seekers
including the Chinese to California.
The discovery of gold spurred a mass migration of people into the State of California. In 1850,
of the 57,000 people who migrated to California, only 500 were Chinese. Four years later,
approximately 20,000 Chinese migrated to the United States.
1852 20,000 Chinese enter the United States, mostly California; only 17 are women.
1861-1865
American Civil War; 51 Chinese soldiers fought.
Among the Chinese soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were Privates
Edward Day Cohota and Joseph L. Pierce.
Edward Cohota fought in the Battle of Drury’s Bluff (1864) and the Battle of Cold Harbor (1864).
Despite having served in the U.S. Army for over 30 years, he died without ever becoming
naturalized due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Joseph L. Pierce enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry in August 1862, and fought in the
famed Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
Note: Both men were recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives for their contributions in
2009.
1862 California imposes a Police Tax of $2.50 a month on all Chinese.
The Police Tax was entitled: “An Act to Protect Free White Labor Against Competition with
Chinese Coolie Labor, and to Discourage the Immigration of the Chinese into the State of
California.”
The law imposed a monthly tax only on adults of the “Mongolian race” who worked in mines or
most businesses.
1862 The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery.
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
1865-1869 The Transcontinental Railroad recruits thousands of Chinese laborers.
1866 Civil Rights Act grants persons of “every race and color” eligible for citizenship all privileges to
make contracts, hold property and testify in court. The law does not apply to Chinese.
1870 Nationality Act specifies that only “free white” and African “aliens” are eligible for
naturalization.
1876 The Southern Pacific Railroad connects San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hundreds of Chinese
railroad workers move to Los Angeles.
1879 Los Angeles County votes against Chinese immigration 98% to 2%.
Dennis Kearney establishes the Los Angeles chapter of the Workingman’s Party, known as the
Anti-Chinese Union.
The Workingman’s Party of California established chapters throughout California. The Party was
popularly known for opposing Capitalism and scapegoating the Chinese for low wages. In San
Francisco, its numerous demonstrations led to riots that attacked Chinese businesses and
homes and even threatened to burn down San Francisco’s Chinatown. Its anti-Chinese views
spread beyond California, and eventually contributed to the political climate for the enactment
of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
1882 Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act to suspend immigration of Chinese laborers.
Chinese laborers in the U.S. were also not allowed to bring their wives or children to America.
However, a small number of non-laborers, such as merchants, government officials, teachers,
students, clergy and travelers, were allowed to visit the U.S. with proper documentation. The
Act also denied the Chinese already in America the right to naturalization and established the
right to deport them.
The Chinese Exclusion Act marked the first time that the U.S. has ever barred entry of a group of
people based on their ethnicity.
Note: The act was finally repealed in 1943, when the U.S. and China were allies during World
War II.
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
1885 California law creates segregated schools for Chinese and other Asian children.
1886 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, that San Francisco’s refusal to grant Chinese
Laundrymen permits was discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In 1880, the city of San Francisco passed a law requiring all laundry operators working from
wooden buildings to obtain permits. Although 2/3 of all of San Francisco’s laundries were
operated by Chinese people, no Chinese operator was granted a permit. Yick Wo, a Chinese
immigrant, was convicted, fined, and later jailed for operating his business without a permit.
He successfully sued the City. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the administration
of the law violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1888 Scott Act prohibits the return of 20,000 Chinese laborers who had left the United States.
The Scott Act permanently banned Chinese immigration to the U.S. and denied Chinese
laborers who left the U.S. from returning. After its passage, about 20,000 Chinese who had
temporarily left the U.S. could not re-enter.
1898 Wong Kim Ark v. U.S. rules that anyone born in the United States cannot be stripped of
citizenship.
When Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese American born in San Francisco, visited China in 1894, he was
refused re-entry to the U.S., because U.S. officials considered him a Chinese national and not a
U.S. citizen. His case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that any child born in the
U.S. is granted U.S. citizenship. Since Wong was born in the U.S., the Chinese Exclusion Act
could not strip him of his citizenship.
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroys Chinese immigration records.
In 1906, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco. Damage from the earthquake and
ensuing fires destroyed most of the city’s structures, including the Hall of Records and its birth
and immigration records.
Following the disaster, thousands of Chinese claimed U.S. citizenship based on their alleged
birth in San Francisco – which could not be refuted due to the absence of the burned records.
1910 Angel Island Immigration Station opens to process all incoming Chinese Immigrants.
Approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants set foot on Angel Island. It was considered the
“Ellis Island of the West” and was primarily designed to process and detain Chinese immigrants.
Group #2 – Chinese Immigration & Working in the Mines
Excerpts and content from “A Timeline of Events,” Our American Journey, Educator’s Guide
Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2010), pp. 6-8, 14-16.