From Exclusion to Expulsion: Violence Against Chinese
Chinese Exclusion, Lesson 2
From: Understanding American Citizenship, Anne Hernon
History Standards: 11.2.3
Trace the effect of the Americanization movement.
CCSS Standards:
Reading, Grades 11-12
2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and
media in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Writing, Grades 11-12
1. Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using
advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of
the specific task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to
maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and
following a standard format for citation.
Guiding Question:
In what way(s) did the Chinese Exclusion Act impact the reaction of white Americans to
Chinese? In what way(s) was it a result of their reactions?
Overview of Lesson:
This lesson will take 2-3 days to complete.
Students will begin with a bell ringer activity, brainstorming on their journal or a separate
piece of paper. On the board, write the question “Can laws hurt people? How?” Have students
jot down their thoughts, share with an elbow partner, and then volunteer answers for the class
if time allows. This should be a 5-10 minute activity at most.
Student wills then be given a copy of the political cartoon “The Magic Washer”. With an elbow
partner, they should scrutinize the picture for details, and then decide what they think the
author’s opinion is of both Uncle Sam (America) and the washer men (Chinese immigrants).
After they have had 5-10 minutes to discuss, have them answer the accompanying questions
together, which an be debriefed with another set of partners.
Have students read from their textbook or another secondary source what the Chinese
Exclusion Act was and how it functioned. After they have taken adequate notes, discuss as a
class why such a law might have been put in place. What were the intended consequences of
the law? How were the Chinese likely to respond? How would Americans be likely to respond?
Write student opinions on the board or on butcher paper to save for the next day, and have
students begin reading, with a partner or as a group depending on their needs, the primary
source “Rock Springs Massacre”. They may finish reading it for homework.
As a warm up the following day, have students meet in groups of 4-5 and discuss the reading.
What happened in Rock Springs, and why? Give them the accompanying questions and have
them work together to find answers in the text, highlighting useful quotes and passages. Once
students are finished completing what they can, debrief as a class starting with those questions
they had trouble answering. Model appropriate reading by walking students through the
appropriate passage, reading aloud, and asking where the answer to the question may lie. This
will likely take the majority of the class period.
Assign the “Tacoma Expulsion” article as homework or use it to complete the period. Have
students annotate the text.
The following day, have students warm up by completing the Venn Diagram regarding the
Tacoma Expulsion.
Divide students into groups of 7, and have each person read one section of the Wong Kim Ark
decision. Give them 5-10 minutes to read, and then have them work as a group to piece
together what happened to this particular Chinese person. What did the court decide? When?
Allow students to work through the questions themselves until the last 10 minutes of the
period.
At this point, revisit the students’ expectations of the consequences the Chinese Exclusion Act
would have. Were they right? Were they wrong? What did they fail to account for? Assign the
writing prompt for homework and take any remaining questions on the Chinese Exclusion Act.
http://www.retrosnapshots.com/1880s-magic-washer-illustrated-advertising-poster.html
Primary Source Political Cartoon
The Magic Washer
Vocabulary: nativist
Define “nativist.”
Use “nativist” in a sentence.
Draw a picture to illustrate “nativist.”
Content
What do you see in the cartoon?
Who does the bearded man represent? How do you know this?
The men being kicked are from where?
Note the face on the sun. What country does the sun represent?
Connection
How does this cartoon connect to what you already know?
Communication
“Don’t use this if you want to be dirty.” What is the artist trying to say?
“The Chinese must go.” Where is it that the artist thinks the Chinese should go?
What side of the issue is the artist?
Conclusion
How do Nativists feel about the Chinese?
Overall, what is the cartoon trying to say?
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5043/
“To This We Dissented”: The Rock Springs Riot
Even in the late nineteenth-century American West, a notably violent region, the violence directed
against Chinese immigrants was shocking. The Union Pacific railroad employed 331 Chinese and 150
whites in their coal mine in Rock Springs, Wyoming. On September 2, 1885, Chinese and white miners,
who were paid by the ton, had a dispute over who had the right to work in a particularly desirable area of
the mine. White miners, members of the Knights of Labor, beat two Chinese miners and walked off their
jobs. That evening the white miners, armed with rifles, rioted and burned down the Chinese quarter. No
whites were prosecuted for the murder of twenty-eight Chinese and $150,000 in property damage, even
though the identities of those responsible were widely known. Although U.S. Army troops had to
provide protection before some of the Chinese could finally return to their burned-out homes in Rock
Springs, some defiantly continued to work in the Union Pacific mines into the next century. The grim
story of the riot was given in the Chinese workers’ own words in this “memorial” that they presented to
the Chinese Consul at New York.
We, the undersigned, have been in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, for periods ranging from one to
fifteen years, for the purpose of working on the railroads and in the coal mines.
Up to the time of the recent troubles we had worked along with the white men, and had not had the least
ill feeling against them. The officers of the companies employing us treated us and the white man
kindly, placing both races on the same footing and paying the same wages.
Several times we had been approached by the white men and requested to join them in asking the
companies for an increase in the wages of all, both Chinese and white men. We inquired of them what
we should do if the companies refused to grant an increase. They answered that if the companies would
not increase our wages we should all strike, then the companies would be obliged to increase our wages.
To this we dissented, wherefore we excited their animosity against us.
During the past two years there has been in existence in “Whitemen’s Town,” Rock Springs, an
organization composed of white miners, whose object was to bring about the expulsion of all Chinese
from the Territory. To them or to their object we have paid no attention. About the month of August of
this year notices were posted up, all the way from Evanston to Rock Springs, demanding the expulsion
of the Chinese, & c. On the evening of September l, 1885, the bell of the building in which said
organization meets rang for a meeting. It was rumored on that night that threats had been made against
the Chinese.
On the morning of September 2, a little past seven o’clock, more than ten white men, some in ordinary
dress and others in mining suits, ran into Coal Pit No. 6, loudly declaring that the Chinese should not be
permitted to work there. The Chinese present reasoned with them in a few words, but were attacked with
murderous weapons, and three of their number wounded. The white foreman of the coal pit, hearing of
the disturbance, ordered all to stop work for the time being.
After the work had stopped, all the white men in and near Coal Pit No. 6 began to assemble by the
dozen. They carried firearms, and marched to Rock Springs by way of the railroad from Coal Pit No. 6,
and crossing the railroad bridge, went directly to “Whitemen’s Town.” All this took place before 10:00
A.M. We now heard the bell ringing for a meeting at the white men’s organization building. Not long
after, all the white men came out of that building, most of them assembling in the barrooms, the crowds
meanwhile growing larger and larger.
About two o’clock in the afternoon a mob, divided into two gangs, came toward “Chinatown,” one gang
coming by way of the plank bridge, and the other by way of the railroad bridge. The gang coming by
way of the railroad bridge was the larger, and was subdivided into many squads, some of which did not
cross the bridge, but remained standing on the side opposite to “Chinatown”; others that had already
crossed the bridge stood on the right and left at the end of it. Several squads marched up the hill behind
Coal Pit No. 3.
One squad remained at Coal Shed No. 3 and another at the pump house. The squad that remained at the
pump house fired the first shot, and the squad that stood at Coal Shed No. 3 immediately followed their
example and fired. The Chinese by name of Lor Sun Kit was the first person shot, and fell to the ground.
At that time the Chinese began to realize that the mob were bent on killing. The Chinese, though greatly
alarmed, did not yet begin to flee.
Soon after, the mob on the hill behind Coal Pit No. 3 came down from the hill, and joining the different
squads of the mob, fired their weapons and pressed on to Chinatown.
The gang that were at the plank bridge also divided into several squads, pressing near and surrounding
“Chinatown.” One squad of them guarded the plank bridge in order to cut off the retreat of the Chinese.
Not long after, it was everywhere reported that a Chinese named Leo Dye Bah, who lived in the western
part of “Chinatown,” was killed by a bullet, and that another named Yip Ah Marn, resident in the eastern
end of the town, was likewise killed. The Chinese now, to save their lives, fled in confusion in every
direction, some going up the hill behind Coal Pit No. 3, others along the foot of the hill where Coal Pit
No. 4 is; some from the eastern end of the town fled across Bitter Creek to the opposite hill, and others
from the western end by the foot of the hill on the right of Coal Pit No. 5. The mob were now coming in
the three directions, namely, the east and west sides of the town and from the wagon road.
Whenever the mob met a Chinese they stopped him and, pointing a weapon at him, asked him if he had
any revolver, and then approaching him they searched his person, robbing him of his watch or any gold
or silver that he might have about him, before letting him go. Some of the rioters would let a Chinese go
after depriving him of all his gold and silver, while another Chinese would be beaten with the butt ends
of the weapons before being let go. Some of the rioters, when they could not stop a Chinese, would
shoot him dead on the spot, and then search and rob him. Some would-overtake a Chinese, throw him
down and search and rob him before they would let him go. Some of the rioters would not fire their
weapons, but would only use the butt ends to beat the Chinese with. Some would not beat a Chinese, but
rob him of whatever he had and let him go, yelling to him to go quickly. Some, who took no part either
in beating or robbing the Chinese, stood by, shouting loudly and laughing and clapping their hands.
There was a gang of women that stood at the “Chinatown” end of the plank bridge and cheered; among
the women, two of them each fired successive shots at the Chinese. This was done about a little past
3:00 P.M.
Most of the Chinese fled toward the eastern part of “Chinatown.” Some of them ran across Bitter Creek,
went up directly to the opposite hill, crossing the grassy plain. Some of them went along the foot of the
hill where Coal Pit No. 4 stood, to cross the creek, and by a devious route reached the opposite hill.
Some of them ran up to the hill of Coal Pit No. 3, and thence winding around the hills went to the
opposite hill. A few of them fled to the foot of the hill where Coal Pit No. 5 stood, and ran across the
creek, and thence by a winding course to the western end of the “Whitemen’s Town.” But very few did
this.
The Chinese who were the first to flee mostly dispersed themselves at the back hills, on the opposite
bank of the creek, and among the opposite hills. They were scattered far and near, high and low, in about
one hundred places. Some were standing, or sitting, or lying hid on the grass, or stooping down on the
low grounds. Every one of them was praying to Heaven or groaning with pain. They had been
eyewitnesses to the shooting in “Chinatown,” and had seen the whites, male and female, old and young,
searching houses for money, household effects, or gold, which were carried across to “Whitemen’s
Town.”
Some of the rioters went off toward the railroad of Coal Pit No. 6, others set fire to the Chinese houses.
Between 4:00 P.M. and a little past 9:00 P.M. all the camp houses belonging to the coal company and
the Chinese huts had been burned down completely, only one of the company’s camp houses remaining.
Several of the camp houses near Coal pit No. 6 were also burned, and the three Chinese huts there were
also burned. All the Chinese houses burned numbered seventy-nine.
Some of the Chinese were killed at the bank of Bitter Creek, some near the railroad bridge, and some in
“Chinatown.” After having been killed, the dead bodies of some were carried to the burning buildings
and thrown into the flames. Some of the Chinese who had hid themselves in the houses were killed and
their bodies burned; some, who on account of sickness could not run, were burned alive in the houses.
One Chinese was killed in “Whitemen’s Town” in a laundry house, and his house demolished. The
whole number of Chinese killed was twenty-eight and those wounded fifteen.
The money that the Chinese lost was that which in their hurry they were unable to take with them, and
consequently were obliged to leave in their houses, or that which was taken from their persons. The
goods, clothing, or household effects remaining in their houses were either plundered or burned.
When the Chinese fled to the different hills they intended to come back to “Chinatown” when the riot
was over, to dispose of the dead bodies and to take care of the wounded. But to their disappointment, all
the houses were burned to ashes, and there was then no place of shelter for them; they were obliged to
run blindly from hill to hill. Taking the railroad as their guide, they walked toward the town of Green
River, some of them reaching that place in the morning, others at noon, and others not until dark. There
were some who did not reach it until the fourth of September. We felt very thankful to the railroad
company for having telegraphed to the conductors of all its trains to pick up such of the Chinese as were
to be met with along the line of the railroad and carry them to Evanston.
On the fifth of September all the Chinese that had fled assembled at Evanston; the native citizens there
threatened day and night to burn and kill the Chinese. Fortunately, United States troops had been
ordered to come and protect them, and quiet was restored. On the ninth of September the United States
government instructed the troops to escort the Chinese back to Rock Springs. When they arrived there
they saw only a burnt tract of ground to mark the sites of their former habitations. Some of the dead
bodies had been buried by the company, while others, mangled and decomposed, were strewn on the
ground and were being eaten by dogs and hogs. Some of the bodies were not found until they were dug
out of the ruins of the buildings. Some had been burned beyond recognition. It was a sad and painful
sight to see the son crying for the father, the brother for the brother, the uncle for the nephew, and friend
for friend.
By this time most of the Chinese have abandoned the desire of resuming their mining work, but
inasmuch as the riot has left them each with only the one or two torn articles of clothing they have on
their persons, and as they have not a single cent in their pockets, it is a difficult matter for them to make
any change in their location. Fortunately, the company promised to lend them clothing and provisions,
and a number of wagons to sleep in. Although protected by government troops, their sleep is disturbed
by frightful dreams, and they cannot obtain peaceful rest.
Some of the rioters who killed the Chinese and who set fire to the homes could be identified by the
Chinese, and some not. Among them the two women heretofore mentioned, and who killed some
Chinese, were specially recognized by many Chinese. Among the rioters who robbed and plundered
were men, women, and children. Even the white woman who formerly taught English to the Chinese
searched for and took handkerchiefs and other articles.
The Chinese know that the white men who worked in Coal Pit No. 1 did not join the mob, and most of
them did not stop work, either. We heard that the coal company’s officers had taken a list of the names
of the rioters who were particularly brutal and murderous, which list numbered forty or fifty.
From a survey of all the circumstances, several causes may be assigned for the killing and wounding of
so many Chinese and the destruction of so much property:
1. The Chinese had been for a long time employed at the same work as the white men. While they knew
that the white men entertained ill feelings toward them, the Chinese did not take precautions to guard
against this sudden outbreak, inasmuch as at no time in the past had there been any quarrel or fighting
between the races.
2. On the second day of September 1885, in Coal Pit No. 6, the white men attacked the Chinese. That
place being quite a distance from Rock Springs, very few Chinese were there. As we did not think that
the trouble would extend to Rock Springs, we did not warn each other to prepare for flight.
3. Most of the Chinese living in Rock Springs worked during the daytime in the different coal mines,
and consequently did not hear of the fight at Coal Pit No. 6, nor did they know of the armed mob that
had assembled in “Whitemen’s Town.” When twelve o’clock came, everybody returned home from his
place of work to lunch. As yet the mob had not come to attack the Chinese; a great number of the latter
were returning to work without any apprehension of danger.
4. About two o’clock the mob suddenly made their appearance for the attack. The Chinese thought that
they had only assembled to threaten, and that some of the company’s officers would come to disperse
them. Most of the Chinese, acting upon this view of the matter, did not gather up their money or
clothing, and when the mob fired at them they fled precipitately. Those Chinese who were in the
workshops, hearing of the riot, stopped work and fled in their working clothes, and' did not have time
enough to go home to change their clothes or to gather up their money. What they did leave at home was
either plundered or burned.
5. None of the Chinese had firearms or any defensive weapons, nor was there any place that afforded an
opportunity for the erection of a barricade that might impede the rioters in their attack. The Chinese
were all like a herd of frightened deer that let the huntsmen surround and kill them.
6. All the Chinese had, on the first of September, bought from the company a month’s supply of
provision and the implements necessary for the mining of coal. This loss of property was therefore
larger than it would be later in the month.
We never thought that the subjects of a nation entitled by treaty to the rights and privileges of the most
favored nation could, in a country so highly civilized like this, so unexpectedly suffer the cruelty and
wrong of being unjustly put to death, or of being wounded and left without the means of cure, or being
abandoned to poverty, hunger, and cold, and without the means to betake themselves elsewhere.
To the great President of the United States, who, hearing of the riot, sent troops to protect our lives, we
are most sincerely thankful.
In behalf of those killed or wounded, or of those deprived of their property, we pray that the examining
commission will ask our minister to sympathize, and to endeavor to secure the punishment of the
murderers, the relief of the wounded, and compensation for those despoiled of their property, so that the
living and the relatives of the dead will be grateful, and never forget his kindness for generations.
Hereinabove we have made a brief recital of the facts of this riot, and pray your honor will take them
into your kind consideration.
When did the riot occur?
Questions
Who wrote “To This We Dissented?”
What was the dispute about?
In your opinion, why was no one arrested?
According to the memorial, up to 1885, how did the whites and Chinese men get along?
Why did animosity begin?
What was “Whitemen’s Town?”
What was the name of the area where the Chinese men lived?
A massacre is when unarmed people are attacked. Was this a massacre?
The memorial mentions the treaty between the United States and China, allowing the Chinese to
work in America. What did that have to do with the Chinese not expecting the violence?
Who ordered the Army troops to come protect the Chinese?
What was his name (You may have to do some research!)?
http://www.tacomachinesepark.org/page.aspx?nid=235
Expulsion: The Tacoma Method
On November 3, 1885, a large group of Tacoma men rounded up all the Chinese people still in the city
(about 200 people, including both individual laborers and whole families) and marched them out of
town. The next day some Tacomans ravaged Chinese businesses downtown and burned shops and
lodgings that formed the Chinese settlement along the waterfront. This dramatic set of actions was the
climax of growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the region and beyond in the 1880s, the era of the Chinese
Exclusion Act (1882) to stop Chinese immigration into the United States. In the western part of the
country, Tacoma was not the only venue of violence; but Tacoma's use of orderly force to drive out of
the city all Chinese who had not left earlier, when tensions were mounting, set an example that
became known as "The Tacoma Method," remembered for its seeming avoidance of physical harm to
the Chinese.
Lorraine Barker Hildebrand, author of Straw Hats, Sandals, and Steel: The Chinese in Washington State,
drafted the original version of the following synopsis of the expulsion of Tacoma's Chinese population.
The statement dates from fall 1992 and was part of the earliest work of what would become the
Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation.*
"In 1849, Chinese workers began to emigrate to the United States, particularly California. Lured by
tales of "Gum San," the Land of the Golden Mountains, they came seeking a better life for themselves
and their families in China.
Working the tailings left by white miners, they soon discovered that Gum San was not all they had
been told. Oppressive taxes and restrictive legislation were enacted against them by white miners and
other workers who feared a tide of foreign labor that would deprive white Californians of their
livelihoods.
During the early 1860s, ten thousand Chinese laborers were imported to California to complete work
on the Central Pacific Railroad. After the completion of the project in 1869, many of the Chinese were
without work and had to look farther afield for jobs. British Columbia and eastern Washington
Territory offered gold mining. In 1870, two thousand Chinese were hired to work on the Northern
Pacific Railroad line from Kalama in the southwestern corner of Washington Territory to Tacoma, the
western terminus of the line. Many Chinese came north, and both legislative and popular persecution
followed them, first in British Columbia, then in eastern Washington, and finally in western Washington
and the Puget Sound area.
Some say that history repeats itself, and in this instance, it did. Work that had been available for the
Chinese began to dwindle as projects reached completion and the national economy went into a slump
in 1873. As in California, Washington residents were beginning to feel the economic pinch, and they
also looked for something or someone to blame. What better scapegoat than the Chinese: They wore
odd clothes, ate different food, and, since they could “live on practically nothing,” sent most of their
earnings home to China rather than spending it in the local economy.
Several local citizens who had witnessed problems in California firsthand and knew of Californians'
efforts to send away the Chinese met with the mayor of Tacoma and members of the school board, the
legal profession, the local press, and other influential people. Together, they generated their plan for
ridding Tacoma of its Chinese population: Not a massacre but an expulsion. This, they concluded,
would assure plenty of jobs available for the locals who were without work in a sour economy.
Mass meetings, with the mayor presiding, were held at the Alpha Opera House for public debate on
the subject. As reported in the local paper, the rhetoric was passionately in favor of expulsion. The
other side of the debate was presented by some local citizens--Ezra Meeker, the Puyallup pioneer, and
an alliance of Protestant ministers--but their pleas were in vain. Swayed by civic leaders and others, the
crowds favored expulsion.
Warnings were issued to the Chinese: "You must be Gone!" Employers of Chinese workers were forced
to replace them with whites or Indians. Posters on the telephone poles said "The Chinese Must Go!"
Seattle soon followed Tacoma’s lead, and the persecution spread up and down the Puget Sound.
Final plans were made on the night of November 2, 1885. On November 3, at 9:30 a.m., the whistles
blew at Lister’s Foundry and other mills in the area. Several hundred workers assembled and began
their methodical march through Tacoma’s streets where the Chinese had businesses--wash-houses,
chop-houses, shops--and residences. On to Chinatown and the waterfront they marched. At each place
where Chinese were, the crowd stopped, hammered on the door, and told them to assemble at 7th
and Pacific Avenue by early afternoon, for they were to leave Tacoma that day.
Later in the day, about 200 Chinese--young, old, men, and women--were gathered. Then began the
forced trek to Lake View, a suburban railway station just beyond the city limit south of Tacoma. The
wind was bitter and the rain driving as the Chinese were marched through the mud.
Some of the Chinese who were quite old or ill were driven to Lake View by wagon. The station at Lake
View had only a shed for protection, and after seeing the distress of the Chinese some local people
brought food and hot water for tea. Fortunately, no one was injured or killed. However, the wife of
Lum May, a successful merchant, was so frightened by the violence that she lost her reason and
threatened to kill people with an ax.
When the 3 a.m. train came through, some Chinese bought tickets and headed for Portland, Oregon.
Later, when the morning freight train came, the engineer said "Put 'em aboard. I'll take 'em to
Portland!" For several days, forlorn Chinese stragglers could be seen walking the tracks southward. As
Lum May said, "It was a sad spectacle."
After the expulsion, the 27 key ringleaders of the event were arrested and taken to the Vancouver
Barracks. They were prosecuted but never convicted. Some years later, the United States Government
paid an indemnity of over $424,000 to the Chinese government for all damages to Chinese in the
United States in numerous anti-Chinese incidents, including those in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington;
Rock Springs, Wyoming; and elsewhere.
What became known as "The Tacoma Method" was successful, but Tacoma lost in the end. The city
lost productive Chinese residents who could have contributed much to the wider community. There
were no Chinese again in Tacoma until the 1920s, for they were discouraged for decades from coming
to town and Tacomans actively campaigned not to allow Chinese to locate here."
Lorraine Hildebrand ended her 1992 summary of the expulsion with words that look ahead, not back:
"Now, the community is in the process of creating a park to reconcile this event and to provide a lesson
for future generations--to welcome future Asian citizens to Tacoma."
Tacoma Expulsion
Questions
How is what happened to the Chinese similar to what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust in
WWII?
How is it similar to how the American government treated Native Americans?
Using the Triple Venn Diagram, compare the Los Angeles Massacre of Chinese immigrants from the last
lesson, The Rock Springs Riot and the Tacoma Expulsion.
Triple Venn Diagram
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0169_0649_ZS.html
Syllabus
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
169 U.S. 649
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT
OF CALIFORNIA
No. 18 Argued: March 5, 8, 1897 --- Decided: March 28, 1898
A child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are
subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States,
and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity
under the Emperor of China, becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States, by
virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution,
All person born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
This was a writ of habeas corpus issued October 2, 1895, by the District Court of the United States
for the Northern District of California to the collector of customs at the port of San Francisco, in
behalf of Wong Kim Ark, who alleged that he was a citizen of the United States, of more than
twenty-one years of age, and was born at San Francisco in 1873 of parents of Chinese descent and
subjects of the Emperor of China, but domiciled residents at San Francisco, and that, on his return
to the United States on the steamship Coptic in August, 1895, from a temporary visit to China, he
applied to said collector of customs for permission to land, and was by the collector refused such
permission, and was restrained of his liberty by the collector, and by the general manager of the
steamship company acting under his direction, in violation of the Constitution and laws of the
United States, not by virtue of any judicial order or proceeding, but solely upon the pretence that
he was not a citizen of the United States.
At the hearing, the District Attorney of the United States was permitted to intervene in behalf of
the United States in opposition to the writ, and stated the grounds of his intervention in writing as
follows:
That, as he is informed and believes, the said person in [p650] whose behalf said application was
made is not entitled to land in the United States, or to be or remain therein, as is alleged in said
application, or otherwise.
Because the said Wong Kim Ark, although born in the city and county of San Francisco, State of
California, United States of America, is not, under the laws of the State of California and of the
United States, a citizen thereof, the mother and father of the said Wong Kim Ark being Chinese
persons and subjects of the Emperor of China, and the said Wong Kim Ark being also a Chinese
person and a subject of the Emperor of China.
Because the said Wong Kim Ark has been at all times, by reason of his race, language, color and
dress, a Chinese person, and now is, and for some time last past has been, a laborer by occupation.
That the said Wong Kim Ark is not entitled to land in the United States, or to be or remain therein,
because he does not belong to any of the privileged classes enumerated in any of the acts of
Congress, known as the Chinese Exclusion Acts, [*] which would exempt him from the class or
classes which are especially excluded from the United States by the provisions of the said acts.
Wherefore the said United States Attorney asks that a judgment and order of this honorable court
be made and entered in accordance with the allegations herein contained, and that the said Wong
Kim Ark be detained on board of said vessel until released as provided by law, or otherwise to be
returned to the country from whence he came, and that such further order be made as to the court
may seem proper and legal in the premises.
The case was submitted to the decision of the court upon the following facts agreed by the parties:
That the said Wong Kim Ark was born in the year 1873, at No. 751 Sacramento Street, in the city
and county of San Francisco, State of California, United States of America, and [p651] that his
mother and father were persons of Chinese descent and subjects of the Emperor of China, and that
said Wong Kim Ark was and is a laborer.
That, at the time of his said birth, his mother and father were domiciled residents of the United
States, and had established and enjoyed a permanent domicil and residence therein at said city
and county of San Francisco, State aforesaid.
That said mother and father of said Wong Kim Ark continued to reside and remain in the United
States until the year 1890, when they departed for China.
That during all the time of their said residence in the United States as domiciled residents therein,
the said mother and father of said Wong Kim Ark were engaged in the prosecution of business,
and were never engaged in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China.
That ever since the birth of said Wong Kim Ark, at the time and place hereinbefore stated and
stipulated, he has had but one residence, to-wit, a residence in said State of California, in the
United States of America, and that he has never changed or lost said residence or gained or
acquired another residence, and there resided claiming to be a citizen of the United States.
That, in the year 1890 the said Wong Kim Ark departed for China upon a temporary visit and with
the intention of returning to the United States, and did return thereto on July 26, 1890, on the
steamship Gaelic, and was permitted to enter the United States by the collector of customs upon
the sole ground that he was a native-born citizen of the United States.
That after his said return, the said Wong Kim Ark remained in the United States, claiming to be a
citizen thereof, until the year 1894, when he again departed for China upon a temporary visit, and
with the intention of returning to the United States, and did return thereto in the month of August,
1895, and applied to the collector of customs to be permitted to land, and that such application
was denied upon the sole ground that said Wong in Ark was not a citizen of the United States.
[p652]
That said Wong Kim Ark has not, either by himself or his parents acting for him, ever renounced
his allegiance to the United States, and that he has never done or committed any act or thing to
exclude him therefrom.
The court ordered Wong Kim Ark to be discharged, upon the ground that he was a citizen of the
United States. 1 Fed.Rep. 382. The United States appealed to this court, and the appellee was
admitted to bail pending the appeal.
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
Questions
When was the court case?
How long did it take before there was a verdict?
What does the 14th Amendment say about persons born in the United States?
Where was Wong Kim Ark born?
Where were his parents born?
At what point was Wong Kim Ark questioned about his citizenship?
Why was he not allowed to re-enter the United States?
What is the argument given by the District Attorney that denies Ark his citizenship? List at least 3
of his points.
The Supreme Court looked at the facts to determine its verdict. What were the 8 facts given?
Based on those facts, do you think he was or was not a citizen? Explain.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
Why do you think the DA argued the case in the first place?
When parents come to America from another country to have their baby, should that baby born in
the United States automatically be a citizen? Explain.
In your opinion, should race be considered when determining citizenship in the United States?
Writing Prompt
Chinese immigrants and their families were not simply “excluded”, as the legislation wording implies –
they were often victims of violence. To what extent was the Chinese Exclusion Act responsible for
these violent acts against Chinese? Would these incidents have occurred without the legislation?
Respond in a single paragraph beginning with a thesis statement. Use as many details as you can in your
evidence.