{"id":1602,"date":"2022-02-18T15:35:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T20:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/?page_id=1602"},"modified":"2022-07-26T12:41:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T16:41:48","slug":"the-chinese-in-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/the-chinese-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Incidents of Racism, Discrimination, Prejudice, and Bias against the Chinese in America: A Digital History Timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\t\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
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Timeline<\/h2><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t
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1851<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese arriving in big numbers<\/a><\/div>
\"Ross<\/a><\/div>

By 1851, when the Chinese began arriving by the thousands, San Francisco was one of the largest cities in the United States (Chang 34). The photo shows the bachelor society of San Francisco Chinatown. Most of the nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants were men. (Library of Congress, Arnold Genthe collection). (Chang, photo…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1851<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese gold mining life: rough and lawless<\/a><\/div>
\"The<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese gold mining life was very similar to all life in the American West\u2014rough and lawless. An English-Chinese phrase book, published in San Francisco, reflected their experience through its selection of what a Chinese prospector needed to be able to say in English: He assaulted me without provocation. He…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1852<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese were singled out<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese, more dissimilar from Americans in appearance and cultural norms than other immigrant gold rushers, were singled out for particularly harsh criticism, and the Committee on Mines and Mining of the California state legislature declared that \u201ctheir presence here is a great moral and social evil\u2014a disgusting scab upon…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1852<\/div><\/div>
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Imposed heavy taxes on the Chinese \u201ccoolies\u201d<\/a><\/div>

A week after the assembly\u2019s declaration, Governor John Bigler went a step further, urging the legislators to impose heavy taxes on the Chinese \u201ccoolies\u201d and stop the \u201ctide of Asiatic immigration.\u201d In response, in 1852, the California legislature enacted two new taxes, the first to discourage other Chinese from coming…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1852<\/div><\/div>
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The first expression by a public official of an emerging anti-Chinese sentiment<\/a><\/div>

As the Chinese population grew, so did consternation among certain whites. In April 1852, Governor John Bigler called for an exclusionary law to bar future Chinese immigration. Although ignored by the federal government, his request may have been the first expression by a public official of an emerging anti-Chinese sentiment.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1853<\/div><\/div>
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Newspaper editorials swiveled to a virulently racist position<\/a><\/div>

In 1853, the San Francisco Daily Alta California changed editors, and its tone swiveled from pro-Chinese to a virulently racist, pro-Bigler position. The Chinese, asserted a series of editorials, were \u201cmorally a far worse class to have among us than the negro. They are idolatrous in their religion\u2014in their disposition…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1853<\/div><\/div>
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Barring Chinese from testifying against whites<\/a><\/div>

While these first two tax laws unfairly burdened the Chinese miners, the most damaging government action was a legal decision barring them from testifying against whites in court. In 1853, a grand jury in Nevada County indicted George W. Hall and two others for the murder of a Chinese man…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1853<\/div><\/div>
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The Naturalization Act of 1790 prohibited the Chinese and other nonwhites from becoming U.S. citizens<\/a><\/div>

Chief Justice Hugh\u00a0Murray declared that even if Asians were not the same as American Indians, the word \u201cblack\u201d should be understood to include all nonwhite races. Noting that the Naturalization Act of 1790 prohibited the Chinese and other nonwhites from becoming U.S. citizens, Murray further justified his decision as necessary…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1853<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese had to pay much higher rent than a white man<\/a><\/div>

As a group, the Chinese were mostly tenants, not homeowners, renting from white landlords who preferred the Chinese because of their willingness to pay more than Caucasians. For instance, one house that rented to a white man for $200 a month (an exorbitantly high figure at that time) went to…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1855<\/div><\/div>
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Anti-Chinese sentiments echoed in Washington<\/a><\/div>

During this time, a few federal lawmakers began to express concern that the Chinese would not only remain in the United States, but would eventually demand their rights as Americans. Religious differences were cited as justification for exclusion. In 1855, for instance, William Russell Smith, a congressman from Alabama, raised…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1856<\/div><\/div>
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Legalized persecution of the Chinese<\/a><\/div>

In 1856, the people of Mariposa County gave the Chinese ten days\u2019 notice to vacate the area: \u201cAny failing to comply shall be subjected to thirty-nine lashes, and moved by force of arms.\u201d In El Dorado County, white miners torched Chinese tents and mining equipment and turned back stagecoaches filled…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1858<\/div><\/div>
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Chinese-white relationships were ridiculed in the media<\/a><\/div>

More frequently, Chinese-white relationships were ridiculed rather than described portentously. In New York, the comedy of actor\/theater manager Edward Harrigan featured stereotypical characters like Mrs. Dublin, the Irish washerwoman, and Hog-Eye, the Chinese laundryman. Store windows displayed mechanical toys of Chinese men dancing with Irish women. In March 1858, Yankee…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1859<\/div><\/div>
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In 1859, San Francisco school board members, making no secret of their contempt for the Chinese (referring to them even as \u201cbaboons\u201d and \u201cmonkeys\u201d), shut down a public school for Chinese children, even though their parents were required to pay school taxes along with other residents of the city.<\/a><\/div>

But immigrant Chinese parents learned from painful experience that an American education\u2014even public education\u2014was not a right for their children, but a privilege that had to be fought for. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, state authorities tried to exclude Chinese American children from attending white public schools, over the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1860<\/div><\/div>
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The white fishing lobby convinced the government and legislation to impose special taxes on their Chinese competitors, to impose monthly fishing license fee on the Chinese, to limit the size of Chinese nets, and even to withhold the fishing licensed from all Chinese and only Chinese<\/a><\/div>

The nets of Chinese fishermen were cast all along the West Coast, from the state of Oregon to Baja California. Hundreds of Chinese moved to Monterey, California, building cabins on the beach, laying abalone meat on rooftops and railings to dry. They failed, however, to anticipate the strength of the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1862<\/div><\/div>
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Some white doctors lent credibility to the anti-Chinese movement by suggesting that the Chinese brought inexplicable diseases to the United States<\/a><\/div>

But none of this stopped the opponents of the Chinese from making outrageous claims. Some white doctors lent credibility to the anti-Chinese movement by suggesting that the Chinese brought inexplicable diseases to the United States. Back in 1862, Dr. Arthur Stout had published Chinese Immigration and the Physiological Causes of…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1862<\/div><\/div>
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Leland Stanford\u2019s position on the Chinese was governed by expedience<\/a><\/div>

Leland Stanford, the railroad\u2019s president, and later the founder of Stanford University, praised the Chinese as \u201cquiet, peaceable, patient, industrious and economical.\u201d (Stanford\u2019s position on the Chinese was governed by expedience. In 1862, to please the racist sentiments of the state, he called the Chinese in California the \u201cdregs\u201d of…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1865<\/div><\/div>
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The Central Pacific created disharmony between the whites and the Chinese by offering the Chinese the least pay for the riskiest work.<\/a><\/div>
\"The<\/a><\/div>

Fortunately for the Central Pacific, Chinese immigrants provided a vast pool of cheap, plentiful, and easily exploitable labor. By 1865, the number of Chinese in California reached close to fifty thousand, at least 90 percent of them young men. In the spring of that year, when white laborers demanded higher…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1865<\/div><\/div>
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Prejudice against the Chinese railroad workers<\/a><\/div>

Of course prejudice against the Chinese railroad workers did not start with the white laborers. Initially, Superintendent Strobridge was unhappy with their being hired. \u201cI will not boss Chinese!\u201d he roared, suggesting that the Chinese were too delicate or the job. (The Chinese averaged four feet ten inches in height…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1865<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese were persecuted not for their vices but for their virtues<\/a><\/div>

The large number of Chinese made white workers uncomfortable. As Lee Chew, a railroad laborer, later recalled in a spasm of national pride, the Chinese were \u201cpersecuted not for their vices but for their virtues. No one would hire an Irishman, German, Englishman or Italian when he could get a…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1866<\/div><\/div>
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Even the strongest of the Chinese railroad workers fainted from exhaustion<\/a><\/div>

In the summer of 1866, to move farther faster, the railroad kept several shifts of men going day and night. Shoulder to shoulder, hour after hour, the Chinese railroad workers chipped away at the rock, breathing granite dust, sweating and panting by the dim flickering glow of candlelight, until even…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1866<\/div><\/div>
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The overseers treated the Chinese workers like slaves by whippings<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese worked longer and harder than whites, but received less pay: because the Chinese had to pay for their own board, their wages were two-thirds those of white workers and a fourth those of the white foremen. (Even the allocation for feed for horses\u2014fifty dollars a month for each\u2014was…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1867<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese rebelled in June 1867<\/a><\/div>

Finally, the Chinese rebelled. In June 1867, as the Central Pacific tottered on the brink of bankruptcy (Leland Stanford later described a two-week period when there was not a dollar of cash in the treasury), some two thousand Chinese in the Sierras walked off the job. As was their way…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1868<\/div><\/div>
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California Republican senator Cornelius Cole warned, that \u201cIf the Chinese were allowed to vote,\u201d it would \u201ckill our party as dead as a stone.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Until the Civil War, racial injustice was legally codified in most states, and only after the war did the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee all citizenship rights, including the right to vote, to \u201call persons born or naturalized in the United States,\u201d while the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed the right…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1869<\/div><\/div>
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The tension between the Chinese and the Irish<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese were certainly capable, however, of violence. As the railroad neared completion, the Chinese encountered the Irish workers of the Union Pacific for the first time. When the two companies came within a hundred feet of each other, the Union Pacific Irish taunted the Chinese with catcalls and threw…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1869<\/div><\/div>
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The Central Pacific Railroad cheated the Chinese railway workers of everything they could upon the completion of the transcontinental railroad<\/a><\/div>

On May 10, 1869, when the railways from the east and west were finally joined at Promontory Point, Utah, the Central Pacific had built 690 miles of track and the Union Pacific 1,086 miles. The two coasts were now welded together. Before the transcontinental railroad, trekking across the country took…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1870<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese became the scapegoat in a nationwide degression<\/a><\/div>

In the 1870s, when America slid into a nationwide depression, the Chinese became that scapegoat, especially in regions where they clustered in the greatest numbers. During an earlier era of prosperity, some Chinese might have been lulled into a false feeling of security when they moved into white neighborhoods or…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1870<\/div><\/div>
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Discriminatory ordinances targeting the Chinese<\/a><\/div>

One was the 1870 Cubic Air law, which required lodging houses to provide at least five hundred cubic feet of open space for each adult occupant. On its face the law was not discriminatory, but it was flouted in poor white neighborhoods across the city while rigorously enforced in the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1870<\/div><\/div>
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Chinese immigrants were especially vulnerable during this time because they could not vote<\/a><\/div>

Chinese immigrants were especially vulnerable during this time because they could not vote. Although the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed that \u201cthe right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1871<\/div><\/div>
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For fourteen years, from 1871 to 1885, Chinese children were the only racial group to be denied a state-funded education.<\/a><\/div>

For fourteen years, from 1871 to 1885, Chinese children were the only racial group to be denied a state-funded education. Some Chinese parents home-schooled their children, sent them to private schools, or arranged for missionaries to tutor them individually, while others were too poor to exercise these options. The Chinese…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1871<\/div><\/div>
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Anti-Chinese clubs soon flourished throughout California, pressuring officials in San Francisco to pass a series of municipal ordinances against Chinese residents, designed to drive them out of the city<\/a><\/div>

Everything about the Chinese\u2014their physiognomy, their language, their food, their queues\u2014struck many whites as bizarre, making it easy to demonize them. Large numbers of whites, seeing their livelihoods threatened by Chinese competition, began to feel as if the Chinese were somehow part of a giant, secret conspiracy to undercut the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1871<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese Massacre in Los Angeles on October 24, 1871<\/a><\/div>

On October 24, 1871, the Chinese in Los Angeles fell victim to mob violence following an episode of gang warfare. It was believed that the incident, known as the Chinese Massacre, started when two Chinese tongs battled over a beautiful Chinese woman. A white police officer, hearing gunfire in Chinatown,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1875<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese were regularly turned away from hospitals and most other public institutions in San Francisco<\/a><\/div>

In such emotionally driven conflicts, reason is often an early casualty. Some whites tried to blame a myriad of social problems on the Chinese, arguing that they filled American prisons, almshouses, and hospitals. The statistical reality was precisely the opposite: the Chinese, so often singled out for discriminatory taxes, shouldered…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1876<\/div><\/div>
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Denis Kearney rose to power by ending his speeches with the rallying cry of \u201cThe Chinese must go!\u201d<\/a><\/div>

During the winter of 1876, there were already some ten thousand unemployed men in the city; now more people roamed the streets, competing for what little work existed. As always in dire times, newcomers\u2014bankrupt miners, former farm laborers, immigrants from Europe\u2014drifted into the cities, desperate for a little income, angry…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1877<\/div><\/div>
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The harassment that the Chinese newcomers endured from whites was like \u201crunning the gauntlet among the savages of the wilderness\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Some Chinese immigrants had the misfortunate to arrive in San Francisco at the very peak of this hysteria. In an 1877 account, one observer painted a vivid picture of what the Chinese newcomers faced as they stepped off the docks. On their way to Chinatown, he said, the harassment they…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1877<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese lived in fear, knowing they could be killed at any moment, quite likely with no punishment for the assailants<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese lived in fear, knowing they could be killed at any moment, quite likely with no punishment for the assailants. \u201cWe were simply terrified,\u201d Huie Kin recalled of San Francisco in the 1870s. \u201cWe kept indoors after dark for fear of being shot in the back. Children spit upon…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1877<\/div><\/div>
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Armed white men broke into a cabin in Chico, California, where they shot to death five Chinese farm workers under orders from the Workingmen\u2019s Party<\/a><\/div>

The small towns of California were getting to be as dangerous as the cities\u2014perhaps even more so, because of their isolation. Threatened by the inexpensive labor provided by the Chinese, white workers began to burn down Chinese homes in central California and to torch the barns and fields of landowners…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1877<\/div><\/div>
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With cries of \u201cOn to Chinatown!\u201d agitators rampaged through the city, wrecking Chinese laundries, setting fire to Chinese buildings, and shooting Chinese bystanders in the streets<\/a><\/div>

In July 1877, the mounting tension exploded into a full-fledged pogrom, perhaps the worst disturbance in the history of San Francisco. Ten thousand agitators gathered in the city to voice their support for an eastern railway strike that had spilled over into a nationwide labor rebellion. The meeting deteriorated into…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1877<\/div><\/div>
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Cigar manufacturers exploited ethnic antagonism to keep their workers in line by spreading rumors that they would import Chinese scabs to brake the strike<\/a><\/div>

During an 1877 strike of cigar makers in New York City, manufacturers exploited ethnic antagonism to keep their workers in line. Although the striking cigar makers included Chinese (\u201cEven CHINAMEN,\u201d the New York Labor Standard declaimed, \u201chave asserted their manhood in this strike and have risen to the dignity of…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1879<\/div><\/div>
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Laws were passed to make it difficult for the Chinese to find any work at all in California<\/a><\/div>

Soon, laws were passed to make it difficult for the Chinese to find any work at all. They could still work for themselves, or for individually owned companies, but not, according to a new law passed after the second California constitution was ratified in 1879, for a corporation: \u201cAny officer,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1879<\/div><\/div>
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The anti-Chinese movement achieved a major victory when the Grant administration, under pressure from California politicians, modified the Burlingame Treaty of 1868 to give the United States the right to limit, regulate, and suspend Chinese immigration<\/a><\/div>

Even this exodus, however, did not satisfy western politicians bent on purging the region of all Chinese presence. Some were determined to pass federal legislation prohibiting the Chinese from entering the United States at all. The anti-Chinese movement achieved a major victory when the Grant administration, under pressure from California…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1881<\/div><\/div>
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California senator John F. Miller, known for anti-Chinese sentiments, introduced a bill to bar Chinese immigration for the next twenty years<\/a><\/div>

In February 1881, a furious debate raged in the United States Congress when California senator John F. Miller, known for anti-Chinese sentiments, introduced a bill to bar Chinese immigration for the next twenty years. His arguments, intended to damn the Chinese with scorn and disgust, today read like a reluctant…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1881<\/div><\/div>
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Massachusetts senator George Frisbie Hoar denounced racism as \u201cthe last of human delusions to be overcome,\u201d a force that \u201cleft its hideous and ineradicable stains in our history.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Many of Miller\u2019s colleagues wholeheartedly agreed with him, but one senator from Massachusetts rose above the passion of the moment and tried to remind his colleagues of the larger issues involved. George Frisbie Hoar, a progressive-minded leader who had opposed slavery and championed the civil rights of workers, believed that…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1881<\/div><\/div>
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The press like the New York Times and The New York Tribune condemned Hoar for his speech of denouncing racisim by putting him in the class of \u201chumanitarian half thinkers.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Few agreed with Hoar, either in Congress or across the nation. His speech provoked condemnation from both the press and the political establishment. \u201cIt is idle to reason with stupidity like this,\u201d the New York Times proclaimed. The New York Tribune put Hoar in the class of \u201chumanitarian half thinkers.\u201d…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1881<\/div><\/div>
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President Chester Arthur vetoed John F. Miller’s bill by claiming the twenty-year ban was too long<\/a><\/div>

Despite popular support for the bill, President Chester Arthur vetoed it. He claimed the twenty-year ban was too long, but it seems clear that he feared the Qing government might respond to such a law by shutting Chinese ports to American trade. In a speech no doubt intended to fortify…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1882<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law by President Chester Arthur on May 6, 1882 based the bill introduced by Representative Horace Page, another Republican from California known for his anti-Chinese attitudes<\/a><\/div>

The public swiftly retaliated against Arthur. Across the West the president was hanged in effigy, his image burned by furious mobs. Representative Horace Page, another Republican from California known for his anti-Chinese attitudes, immediately introduced a compromise bill that shortened the ban from twenty to ten years. In addition, under…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1884<\/div><\/div>
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The Chinese turned to the courts. The school officials argued that \u201cthe association of Chinese and white children would be demoralizing mentally and morally to the latter\u201d and tried to label Mamie as a child of \u201cfilthy or vicious habits suffering from contagious or infectious diseases.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Finally, the Chinese turned to the courts. In 1884, Joseph Tape, an interpreter for the Chinese consulate, and his wife, Mary, a photographer and artist, sued the San Francisco Board of Education when their daughter Mamie was denied admission to a public white primary school. The school officials argued that…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1885<\/div><\/div>
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The new restrictions of the Chinese Exclusion Act inflamed the fanatics and the anti-Chinese bloc began a campaign to expel the remaining Chinese from the United States<\/a><\/div>

Far from appeasing the fanatics, the new restrictions inflamed them. Having succeeded in barring the majority of new Chinese immigrants from American shores, the anti-Chinese bloc began a campaign to expel the remaining Chinese from the United States. During a period of terror now known as \u201cthe Driving Out,\u201d several…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1885<\/div><\/div>
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It is difficult to assess which posed the greater threat to the Chinese, the mob or the troops. Some soldiers decided to collect a \u201cspecial tax\u201d from the residents of Chinatown, seizing cash from the people they were sent to protect.<\/a><\/div>

The secretary of war dispatched troops to Seattle, preventing, temporarily at least, another anti-Chinese pogrom. But it is difficult to assess which posed the greater threat to the Chinese, the mob or the troops. Some soldiers decided to collect a \u201cspecial tax\u201d from the residents of Chinatown, seizing cash from…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1885<\/div><\/div>
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White miners, unable to compete with the low wages the Chinese accepted, conspired to drive out their competition. Arming themselves with knives, clubs, hatchets, and guns, they headed for the local Chinatown, robbing and shooting the Chinese they met along the way. In the end, the massacre claimed at least twenty-eight lives.<\/a><\/div>

In 1885, far worse occurred in a mining community in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The end of the silver boom had created a labor excess in the area, and white miners, unable to compete with the low wages the Chinese accepted, conspired to drive out their competition. Arming themselves with knives,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1885<\/div><\/div>
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Later, the American government grudgingly paid $147,000 in indemnities to the Chinese for destroyed property, but failed to bring any of the murderers to justice.<\/a><\/div>

Outraged Chinese diplomats demanded proper action from the United States government, but Thomas Francis Bayard, the U.S. secretary of state, explained that Washington was not responsible for crimes committed in a territory. Later, the American government grudgingly paid $147,000 in indemnities to the Chinese for destroyed property, but failed to…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1887<\/div><\/div>
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The Snake River Massacre of 1887, which the historian David Stratton calls \u201cone of the worst, yet least known, instances of violence against Chinese,\u201d thirty-one Chinese miners in Hell\u2019s Canyon, Oregon, were robbed, killed, and mutilated by a group of white ranchers and schoolboys intent on stealing their gold and cleansing the region of their presence.<\/a><\/div>

Then, in the Snake River Massacre of 1887, which the historian David Stratton calls \u201cone of the worst, yet least known, instances of violence against Chinese,\u201d thirty-one Chinese miners in Hell\u2019s Canyon, Oregon, were robbed, killed, and mutilated by a group of white ranchers and schoolboys intent on stealing their…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1888<\/div><\/div>
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The Congress amended the Chinese Exclusion Act, Congress by passing the Scott Act, which canceled all certificates granting Chinese laborers their right of reentry. Twenty thousand Chinese who had the misfortune to be out of the country when the legislation was enacted were unable to return, despite the previous guarantee from the United States government and the fact that many owned property and businesses here and had families here as well.<\/a><\/div>

Initially, the Exclusion Act had restricted only new Chinese immigration. But two years later, in 1884, Congress amended the act, now permitting only those Chinese laborers who had lived in the United States before November 1880\u2014the date of the last treaty signed with China\u2014the right to travel freely between the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1888<\/div><\/div>
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The Supreme Court upheld the discriminatory Scott Act and decided the Chinese in America were \u201cstrangers in the land.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

The Chinese minister in Washington strongly protested the Scott Act with the U.S. State Department, which ignored him. As for the discriminatory intent of the act, President Cleveland made it clear that this was its purpose: the experiment of mixing the Chinese with American society had, he noted, proved \u201cunwise,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1892<\/div><\/div>
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The Geary Act extended the Exclusion Act due to expire in 1892 for another ten years. All Chinese laborers in the United States were now required to register with the government within one year, in order to obtain certificates of lawful residence.<\/a><\/div>

Four years later, in 1892, the Exclusion Act expired, but if anyone had hopes that it would be allowed to die a quiet death, they were disillusioned. Under the Geary Act, which replaced it, Chinese immigration was suspended for another ten years and all Chinese laborers in the United States…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1893<\/div><\/div>
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John Wise, the collector of customs in San Francisco, would accept testimonials only from Caucasians to verify the U.S. citizenship of Chinese Americans.<\/a><\/div>

In this era of unchecked anti-Chinese passion, even Americans of Chinese descent found themselves subject to extralegal attempts to strip them of their rights\u2014and their citizenship. John Wise, the collector of customs in San Francisco, would accept testimonials only from Caucasians to verify the U.S. citizenship of Chinese Americans. In…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1894<\/div><\/div>
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Stereotyping minorities was nothing new to Hollywood.<\/a><\/div>

Stereotyping minorities was nothing new to Hollywood. Since the dawn of film, the movie industry had made them the butt of cruel jokes, and Chinese Americans had played their part. In an 1894 silent film, Chinese Laundry Scene, a Chinese character entertains white audiences by eluding an Irish cop. In…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1896<\/div><\/div>
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By the turn of the century, racially segregated schools were legal not just in California but nationwide.<\/a><\/div>

By the turn of the century, racially segregated schools were legal not just in California but nationwide. In the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the U.S. Supreme Court ratified racial segregation as constitutional by accepting the doctrine of \u201cseparate but equal,\u201d saying that states had the right to exclude…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1898<\/div><\/div>
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To the credit of the Supreme Court, the majority opinion ruled on March 28, 1898, in Wong Kim Ark\u2019s favor, declaring that all children born in the United States are American citizens, even if their parents are ineligible for naturalization.<\/a><\/div>

In 1894, Wong Kim Ark, a twenty-one-year-old Chinese American born in San Francisco, visited his parents in China. Returning the following year, he was denied permission to reenter the country. Once again, despite two setbacks, the Chinese took their case to the courts. Filing a writ of habeas corpus, Wong…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1899<\/div><\/div>
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The board of health burned down a section of the city\u2019s Chinatown in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1899<\/a><\/div>

Although the Chinese community was relieved by this Supreme Court decision, victory in the courts did not always translate into a new respect for the Chinese community or for the Chinese in America as a people. To the contrary, by the turn of the century, a shameful series of local…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1901<\/div><\/div>
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Chinese continued to protest the American policies that targeted them.<\/a><\/div>

Nonetheless, the Chinese continued to protest the American policies that targeted them. \u201cWe helped build your railroads, open your mines, cultivated the waste places, and assisted in making California the great State she is now,\u201d one group of petitioners would write to the president of the United States. \u201cIn return…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1902<\/div><\/div>
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Congress passed yet another exclusion law, this time extending the period of exclusion indefinitely and continuing to deny naturalization to the Chinese already in the United States<\/a><\/div>

But nothing changed, either in the West or in Washington, D.C. When the Geary Act expired in 1902, Congress passed yet another exclusion law, this time extending the period of exclusion indefinitely and continuing to deny naturalization to the Chinese already in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1904<\/div><\/div>
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“all Chinese whether they are merchants or officials, teachers, students or tourists, are reduced to the status of dogs in America.”<\/a><\/div>

In 1904, Ng Poon Chew, founder of Chung Sai Yat Po, San Francisco\u2019s first Chinese-language daily newspaper, described what it felt like to be Chinese in America: \u201call Chinese,\u201d he wrote, \u201cwhether they are merchants or officials, teachers, students or tourists, are reduced to the status of dogs in America.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1905<\/div><\/div>
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The Supreme Court announced its decision in United States v. Ju Toy: Chinese immigrants denied entry to the United States, even if they alleged American citizenship, could no longer gain access to the courts to appeal the decision.<\/a><\/div>

In 1905, just when it seemed things could not get any worse, the Supreme Court announced its decision in United States v. Ju Toy. The Exclusion Acts, both the first and those that followed, it must be remembered, had never fully excluded the Chinese. Even the first act made exceptions…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1905<\/div><\/div>
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High academic achievement of Chinese students inflamed white envy.<\/a><\/div>

A few Chinese American children managed to find ways to attend Caucasian schools. An unwritten rule was that they could enroll if the local community did not object\u2014a situation that doubtless encouraged the ethnic Chinese students to be docile, respectful, and studious. This strategy could backfire, however, when high academic…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1906<\/div><\/div>
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At 5:13 A.M. on April 18, 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco. White looters had a field day. The Chinese were not permitted to return to protect their belongings, thieves rifled the vaults and safes of Chinese-owned banks, homes, and businesses. Army officials stood by with \u201cshoot to kill\u201d orders to prevent the wholesale pillage of the city, but they refused to enforce discipline in Chinatown.<\/a><\/div>

At 5:13 A.M. on April 18, 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco. \u201cMy cousin and I were asleep in the basement of the store on Washington Street,\u201d recalled Hugh Leung, a high school student at the time. \u201cHe woke me and I felt the trembling and saw pieces of plaster…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1909<\/div><\/div>
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Exclusion-era policies gave immigration officials enormous discretion to seize and detain the Chinese as they wished. One crime committed by one Chinese individual could tarnish the entire Chinese American community.<\/a><\/div>

Release from Angel Island did not guarantee the Chinese freedom from further harassment by the Immigration Service, for exclusion-era policies gave immigration officials enormous discretion to seize and detain the Chinese as they wished. As the Chinese would soon learn, all it would take was one crime committed by one…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1910<\/div><\/div>
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American immigration officials repeatedly raided homes and businesses, without warrants or just cause and at all hours, in searches for illegal aliens. Most of these unjustified searches were failures.<\/a><\/div>

Even without a sensational murder case in the background, all throughout the 1910s American immigration officials repeatedly raided homes and businesses, without warrants or just cause and at all hours, in searches for illegal aliens. Most of these unjustified searches were failures. In Cleveland, the Chinese complained that more than…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1910<\/div><\/div>
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Many Chinese were detained for hours, without food or water, sometimes in \u201csolitary, dark confinement.\u201d Often they were not permitted access to counsel or even to learn the charges filed against them.<\/a><\/div>

The public rarely saw the treatment of the Chinese once they were in government custody. Many Chinese later claimed that they were detained for hours, without food or water, sometimes in \u201csolitary, dark confinement.\u201d Often they were not permitted access to counsel or even to learn the charges filed against…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1910<\/div><\/div>
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The immigration inspectors confiscated the Chinese residence certificates without providing receipts, causing the owners months of agony, knowing they could not prove their legitimate right to reside in the United States.<\/a><\/div>

During raids, inspectors often demanded to see the residence certificates the Chinese needed to stay in the United States. In some cases, the inspectors confiscated them without providing receipts, causing the owners months of agony, knowing they could not prove their legitimate right to reside in the United States. If…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1910<\/div><\/div>
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Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay, as an immigration facility was described as \u201ca prison with scarcely any supply of air or light. Miserably crowded together and poorly fed, the unfortunate victims are treated by the jailers no better than beasts. The worst is that they are not allowed to carry on correspondence with the outside.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

In 1910, the government fenced off ten acres of Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay, as an immigration facility. This island had previously served as a military depot for recruits as well as a detention center for prisoners of the Spanish-American and Indian wars. Officials found its location advantageous for…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1913<\/div><\/div>
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The Seattle immigration facility was no better. Inspectors treated Chinese immigrants like \u201ccattle.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

The Seattle immigration facility was no better. Chinese immigrants complained that inspectors treated them like \u201ccattle,\u201d that they were \u201cthrown into a big room with about 75 people,\u201d where they were forced to \u201cpack ourselves like sardines\u201d and \u201csleep on the floor beside an open toilet.\u201d \u201cThis,\u201d they wrote, \u201cwas…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1913<\/div><\/div>
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The deportation process was horrendous. The Chinese deportees were packed into railroad cars \u201cunfit for the transportation of cattle,\u201d poorly fed, and then herded into the holds of ships, where they endured \u201creal torture, especially in the summertime,\u201d when the ship sailed close to the equator.<\/a><\/div>

The deportation process was horrendous. According to a 1913 report compiled by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Chinese-American League of Justice of Los Angeles, the Chinese deportees were packed into railroad cars \u201cunfit for the transportation of cattle,\u201d poorly fed, and then herded into the holds of ships, where…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1913<\/div><\/div>
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The 1913 Alien Land Act barred aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning land even if they could afford to buy it.<\/a><\/div>

In California, any Chinese who aspired to be landowning farmers found their dreams thwarted by a state law called the 1913 Alien Land Act, which barred aliens ineligible for citizenship from owning land, even if they could afford to buy it. Without the right to purchase and own land, some…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1916<\/div><\/div>
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Some American immigration authorities garnered as much as $100,000 a year by charging $1,400 to admit each illegal alien.<\/a><\/div>

In 1916, when Washington could no longer ignore rumors of corruption at Angel Island, the federal government appointed John Densmore, a labor attorney, to head a special investigation. Densmore discovered a smuggling ring and system of graft within the Immigration Service that had been thriving since as early as 1896.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1919<\/div><\/div>
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The government suppressed the inmates riot by dispatching troops to Angel Island.<\/a><\/div>

And sometimes there wasn\u2019t enough to eat. At Angel Island, officials tried to justify scanty meals by claiming that it was customary for the Chinese to eat only twice a day. To protest these conditions, young immigrants held angry demonstrations in the dining room, prompting the Immigration Service to post…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1920<\/div><\/div>
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The American medical establishment, viewing practitioners of herbal business like Leung as serious competition, conspired with authorities to drive them out of business.<\/a><\/div>

Some herbalists owed their success more to marketing than medical knowledge. Tom Leung, who operated a booming herbal business in Los Angeles in the 1910s and 1920s, was particularly gifted at publicity. Though he claimed to be descended from a famous line of physicians in China and trained at the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1922<\/div><\/div>
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American-born Chinese women who married native Chinese men would lose their citizenship.<\/a><\/div>

In addition, some immigrant parents wanted their daughters to marry native-born Chinese nationals, but often the legal and cultural barriers proved overwhelming. American-born Chinese women who married native Chinese men would lose their citizenship. The Expatriation Act of 1907, which forced all women to adopt their husband\u2019s nationality upon marriage,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1924<\/div><\/div>
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The interrogations were the worst of all. \u201cThere are many cases at the Immigration Station now where the Chinese wife of an American-born Chinese citizen is denied admission, while her little infant children are admitted.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

But the interrogations were the worst of all. The immigration process deteriorated into a mind game between inspector and immigrant, whereby American officials tried to identify paper sons or daughters through extensive questioning about their past history and home villages. Many questions were excessively detailed and had nothing to do…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1924<\/div><\/div>
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The Immigration Act of 1924 was enacted, prohibiting the entrance of any foreign-born Asian woman. From 1924 to the end of the decade, not a single Chinese woman was admitted to the United States.<\/a><\/div>

The numbers alone tell a discouraging tale. Back in 1880, on the eve of the Exclusion Act, the male-female ratio in the ethnic Chinese community was more than twenty to one\u2014100,686 men and 4,779 women. By 1920, deaths and departures had reduced the male Chinese population, while a small number…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1924<\/div><\/div>
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In 1924, an immigration act prevented American citizens of Chinese heritage from importing alien Chinese brides.<\/a><\/div>

Before the war, many Chinese men could not find wives because of the terrible shortage of Chinese women. In 1924, an immigration act prevented American citizens of Chinese heritage from importing alien Chinese brides, and as a result, no Chinese immigrant woman\u2014not one\u2014gained admission for the next six years. Then…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1924<\/div><\/div>
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It was in the white or integrated public schools that many Chinese American children felt the sting of racism most sharply.<\/a><\/div>

It was in the white or integrated public schools that many Chinese American children felt the sting of racism most sharply. Esther Wong of San Francisco remembers a French-language teacher who made no effort to hide her hatred of the Chinese. After asking Wong to read aloud in class, she…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1924<\/div><\/div>
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Racism also pervaded the curricula and textbooks, driving a wedge between Chinese Americans and their white classmates. One Chinese kid remembered one particularly terrible ancient history lesson; it told in awful detail about \u201cqueer little Chinamen, with pigtails and slanting eyes\u201d … and went on to describe the people as though they were inhuman, and at best, uncivilized.<\/a><\/div>

Racism also pervaded the curricula and textbooks, driving a wedge between Chinese Americans and their white classmates. \u201cIn grade school I was fairly successful in being admitted to the \u2018inner circles,\u2019 as it were,\u201d one ABC recalled of her childhood in the 1910s. \u201cChildren are not prone to think a…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1925<\/div><\/div>
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Chang wrote… \u201cIf your uncle comes back to America, he might make a little money, but his reputation and social rank will be low; and his knowledge will be wasted. He will never become a respected man as America is the most racist society and very prejudiced against the Yellow race of people.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Even before the depression, some Chinese immigrant parents had encouraged their American-born children to straddle both countries: to obtain their education in the United States but build their careers in China. This was the message that Sam Chang, a southern California farm pioneer, passed down to his son in 1925.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1928<\/div><\/div>
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A white community in Mississippi decided to bar all Asians from attending the local white school after a Chinese boy graduated at the top of his class.<\/a><\/div>

In 1928, a white community in Mississippi decided to bar all Asians from attending the local white school after a Chinese boy graduated at the top of his class. The specter of segregation always lurked in the background, with the constitutionally protected right of school boards to expel Chinese students…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1928<\/div><\/div>
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\u201cIt is almost impossible to place a Chinese or Japanese of either the first or second generation in any kind of position, engineering, manufacturing or business,\u201d per the Stanford University Placement Service report.<\/a><\/div>

Mainstream society thought of Chinese males as workers in service industries such as laundries, restaurants, and produce markets. Those who aspired to break into the professions\u2014that is, college graduates with degrees in fields such as engineering, architecture, or the sciences\u2014faced difficulty in trying to secure positions at large, Caucasian-controlled firms.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1928<\/div><\/div>
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Chinese American college graduates were sometimes barred not only from professional positions but even from the lowliest jobs at white firms.<\/a><\/div>

Chinese American college graduates were sometimes barred not only from professional positions but even from the lowliest jobs at white firms. During the exclusion era, even companies outside of California had strict policies against hiring Asians. \u201cRecently two friends of mine wrote to no less than fifty firms throughout the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1928<\/div><\/div>
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Sexism magnified the problems of race. White firms hired young Chinese women simply to capitalize on their physical appearance…But for every Chinese American woman hired, countless others met a wall of resistance\u2014they could not obtain even the lowest-paid, most dead-end jobs; they were told flatly that the company didn\u2019t \u201chire Orientals.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Landing work outside Chinatown, however, remained a challenge. A few found employment in so-called pink-collar positions: as secretaries, clerks, or stock girls for large white corporations, largely because of the popular view that the Chinese were a hardworking and docile people. Sexism magnified the problems of race. White firms hired…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1930<\/div><\/div>
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Some Chinese engineers and scientists were demoralized at finding themselves back in Chinatown working at menial jobs in laundries and restaurants.<\/a><\/div>

The Great Depression seemed to ratify those words. In the 1930s, the Oriental Division of the United States Employment Service in San Francisco reported that more than 90 percent of their placements were in the service sector, mainly the food industry. Some Chinese engineers and scientists were demoralized at finding…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1933<\/div><\/div>
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In 1933, New York city aldermen proposed that U.S. citizenship be a requirement for operating a laundry, and set high license fees and security bonds that were far beyond the means of the majority of Chinese laundries, which for the most part were small operations.<\/a><\/div>

During the Great Depression, Chinese laundry owners in New York City successfully battled white competitors trying to drive them out of business with restrictive municipal codes. In 1933, city aldermen proposed that U.S. citizenship be a requirement for operating a laundry, and set high license fees and security bonds that…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1935<\/div><\/div>
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The whites\u2019 practice of adopting yellowface in Hollywood not only robbed ethnic performers of starring roles but also promoted Chinese caricatures.<\/a><\/div>

Because the best dramatic roles went to whites, it was difficult for Chinese American actors to depict their people as genuine human beings. The whites\u2019 practice of adopting yellowface in Hollywood not only robbed ethnic performers of starring roles but also promoted Chinese caricatures. Smothered in heavy makeup and wearing…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1937<\/div><\/div>
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A white police sergeant in Charlie Chan at the Opera (1937) refers to Chan as \u201cegg foo yung\u201d and tells him, \u201cYou\u2019re all right. Just like chop suey. A mystery, but a swell dish.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

During the depression, white audiences embraced Charlie Chan, a character who combined the contradictory stereotypes of Chinese mystic and Chinese buffoon. Between 1925 and 1932, six Charlie Chan detective novels, written by Earl Derr Biggers, appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in serial form and spawned forty-eight films. Chan was…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1937<\/div><\/div>
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At the pinnacle of her career, Anna May Wong failed to land the starring role of O\u2019Lan in The Good Earth, a movie based on the novel by Pearl Buck, and one of few films that depicted China favorably to American audiences.<\/a><\/div>

At the pinnacle of her career, Anna May Wong failed to land the starring role of O\u2019Lan in The Good Earth, a movie based on the novel by Pearl Buck, and one of few films that depicted China favorably to American audiences. The role went to Luise Rainer, who won…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1941<\/div><\/div>
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Ethnic profiling would hurt the entire Asian American community<\/a><\/div>

But ethnic profiling would hurt the entire Asian American community. Inevitably, some whites refused to distinguish between foreign Japanese nationals serving Japan\u2019s imperialist designs and Americans of Japanese and Chinese ancestry; it was easier to lump all Asians into a single despised group, \u201cthe Japs.\u201d Yu-shan Han became the target…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1943<\/div><\/div>
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Enjoying wide support and passed on December 17, 1943, the bill abolished exclusion, provided for an annual quota of 105 Chinese immigrants, and gave Chinese who had entered the country lawfully the right to naturalization. While the quota was extremely low, especially compared to admission rates for many European countries, the Magnuson Act was a landmark in Chinese American history: for the first time in six decades, foreign-born Chinese could become American citizens.<\/a><\/div>

Some Chinese Americans saw a silver lining in this shift of racial antipathy and used the newly favorable Chinese image to bring about the repeal of the exclusion laws. After Pearl Harbor, several influential Americans, both ethnic Chinese and Caucasian, lobbied to overturn the ban on Chinese immigration that had…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1944<\/div><\/div>
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An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese served in the military in World II, representing about 20 percent of the Chinese population in the continental United States; the comparable figure for the general population was 8.6 percent.<\/a><\/div>

Chinese Americans also went to the front lines. Today, anyone envisioning men parading in World War II American military uniforms would see no Chinese faces, yet during the war, ethnic Chinese men gave their lives in numbers disproportionate to their presence in the country. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1944<\/div><\/div>
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Although the new Chinese American troops wore their uniforms with pride, these uniforms did not always shield them from outright hostility.<\/a><\/div>

Although the new Chinese American troops wore their uniforms with pride, these uniforms did not always shield them from outright hostility. One Chinese American was labeled a \u201cgoddamn Chink\u201d and assigned the dirty work in his unit; another had all his possessions thrown out the window by a GI who…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1948<\/div><\/div>
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It was not uncommon for Chinese American families in prestigious suburbs to find unpleasant notes tacked on their doors, or garbage thrown into their yards.<\/a><\/div>

For generations, racist laws, mostly in California, had barred the Chinese from living in white neighborhoods or attending white schools, though some Chinese were informally integrated into white society. After World War II, these laws, both state and federal, were rapidly disappearing from the books. In 1948, the Supreme Court…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1950<\/div><\/div>
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During this period of national hysteria (the McCarthy era) Chinese were particularly vulnerable, because they looked foreign and were presumably linked to a country that had chosen communism over freedom.<\/a><\/div>

In January 1950, the American public\u2019s deepest fears were confirmed when Dr. Klaus Fuchs, a British atomic scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, was arrested for passing secrets to the Soviets. The Chinese Communist revolution and the developing Sino-Soviet alliance subjected the Chinese American community…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1950<\/div><\/div>
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A white mob tore apart a Chinatown restaurant in San Francisco to avenge American deaths in Korea. Reports began to appear of ethnic Chinese being physically attacked, their property vandalized.<\/a><\/div>

For Americans of Chinese descent, the Korean War meant something else entirely. As the American public heard reports of white soldiers being slaughtered, imprisoned, and tortured in POW camps, they were baffled that their government did not drop nuclear bombs on China, as General MacArthur had suggested before Truman relieved…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1950<\/div><\/div>
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<\/div>
As the shadow of the cold war fell over their communities, Americans of Chinese heritage found their finances scrutinized.<\/a><\/div>

As the shadow of the cold war fell over their communities, Americans of Chinese heritage found their finances scrutinized. The Korean War led to a U.S. trade embargo of the PRC, which not only prohibited Chinese imports but also prevented American money from entering China. On December 17, 1950, the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1952<\/div><\/div>
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The Justice Department charged that Eugene Moy, the managing editor, and four others had violated the Foreign Assets Control Regulation, the only time anyone had been prosecuted under this law since its passage in 1917.<\/a><\/div>

The regulation did more than choke off the pipeline of funds between the United States and China. On at least one occasion, it helped silence pro-Communist voices in Chinatown. In 1951, in a crackdown that ruined careers, the Treasury Department subpoenaed several staff members of the China Daily News, the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1952<\/div><\/div>
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The distraught Tan later jumped off\u2014or was pushed from\u2014the Brooklyn Bridge, his body buried under river mud for days before it finally surfaced.<\/a><\/div>

To undermine leftist newspapers, the U.S. government launched a campaign to intimidate subscribers. Throughout the country, FBI agents visited Chinese Americans, warning them to drop their subscriptions to the China Daily News. In New York, the FBI interrogated Tan Yumin, the English-language secretary of the left-wing Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1952<\/div><\/div>
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American authorities even probed the lives of U.S. World War II veterans of Chinese heritage, and interrogated children in Chinatown playgrounds.<\/a><\/div>

As they found their mail opened, their phone lines tapped, their movements shadowed in the streets, some Chinatown residents felt trapped in a police state. American authorities even probed the lives of U.S. World War II veterans of Chinese heritage, and interrogated children in Chinatown playgrounds. One Chinese man had…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1955<\/div><\/div>
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<\/div>
Another group vulnerable to accusations of espionage were Chinese intellectuals at the universities who were capable of designing technology vital to national security.<\/a><\/div>

Another group vulnerable to accusations of espionage were Chinese intellectuals at the universities who were capable of designing technology vital to national security. As Communist China developed into a world power and technologically competent cold war opponent, many American officials failed to distinguish between Chinese Americans and foreign Chinese nationals,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1955<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Drumwright not only leveled a host of broad-brush charges (trafficking in narcotics, using fake passports, counterfeiting American currency, and illegally collecting Social Security and veteran\u2019s benefits), but also suggested that a network of Chinese spies had exploited the paper sons system to infiltrate the country.<\/a><\/div>

Even the end of the Korean War in 1953, and the cessation of open hostilities between China and the United States, brought no respite. Indeed, the darkest moment may have come in December 1955, when Everett F. Drumwright, the U.S. consul in Hong Kong, released a report in his Foreign…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1956<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cOnly once before in modern times, has an entire race been charged with \u2018a criminal conspiracy,\u2019 \u201d wrote Dai-ming Lee, editor of the China World.<\/a><\/div>

After Drumwright\u2019s report was released, virtually the entire Chinese community fell under federal scrutiny. No one was immune from investigation: if you were Chinese it was likely that you would soon receive that knock on the door and be subjected to a long series of questions about every aspect of…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1956<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Business activity dropped when investigators raided Chinatowns on both coasts; Chinese merchants in New York City lost $100,000 a week in sales.<\/a><\/div>

Chinatown leaders fought back by appealing to politicians for help and by posing legal challenges to the constitutionality of the Justice Department investigations. Fortunately, in March 1956 a federal judge threw out the subpoena attack, calling it a \u201cmass inquisition.\u201d But by then, much damage had been done. Business activity…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1956<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Long after the Drumwright-inspired inquisition was over, its shadow remained over Chinatown, instilling in the Chinese American community a terror of government authority and a legacy of silence.<\/a><\/div>

In 1956, three years after the end of the Korean War, the U.S. government initiated a \u201cconfession program\u201d to encourage the Chinese who had immigrated illegally to voluntarily confess their true status. Each confession, however, could implicate dozens of Chinese relatives, who in turn would be compelled to cooperate with…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1956<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Chang-Lin Tien found that racism permeated not just street life, but academia as well.<\/a><\/div>

One Taiwanese American professor, Chang-Lin Tien, became the first Chinese American, as well as the first Asian American, to head a major research university in the United States. His career was propelled by personal determination and a fierce reverence for education\u2014a reverence to which his family had introduced him by…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1957<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Underneath the placid surface of suburbia, some Chinese American families would soon learn, lay a dormant xenophobia.<\/a><\/div>

Underneath the placid surface of suburbia, some Chinese American families would soon learn, lay a dormant xenophobia. In an era when homeowners erected fallout shelters in anticipation of nuclear war, when children practiced \u201cduck and cover\u201d exercises in schools in the event of a nuclear missile attack, fear was often…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1960<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In the 1960s, anti-Chinese discrimination remained strong,…the fact that America, whose Declaration of Independence held as self-evident that \u201call men are created equal,\u201d was about to confront the fearful reality of its own racism.<\/a><\/div>

In the 1960s, anti-Chinese discrimination remained strong, but the ethnic Chinese were also no longer bottled up in Chinatowns, as they once were, dependent upon community organizations to protect their rights, their livelihood, and at times their lives. Indeed, some newer arrivals\u2014the intellectuals and those members of the educational and…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cIt\u2019s really amazing how the Chinese exploit themselves,\u201d one worker noted.<\/a><\/div>

These new arrivals weakened the negotiating position of the ethnic Chinese who were already living in Chinatown but still working as laborers. The original inhabitants were also insufficiently fluent in English to take other jobs or to start their own businesses. With a fresh pool of labor available, local Chinese…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
For some families, even minimum wage was an unattainable American dream, and some \u00e9migr\u00e9s made desperate, almost pathetic attempts to learn English, to help them break out of a ruthless job market.<\/a><\/div>

For some families, even minimum wage was an unattainable American dream, and some \u00e9migr\u00e9s made desperate, almost pathetic attempts to learn English, to help them break out of a ruthless job market. In San Francisco and New York, they enrolled in federally funded adult education courses to study English, but…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Trying to make do on very little, many immigrants crowded into unfurnished single-room apartments, with no furniture or heat.<\/a><\/div>

Trying to make do on very little, many immigrants crowded into unfurnished single-room apartments, with no furniture or heat. \u201cWe each slept on a small piece of plywood which we put on top of two oil cans or chairs right before bedtime,\u201d one recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s how we all learned to…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
San Francisco Chinatown suffered the greatest tuberculosis rate in the country, six to seven times higher than the national rate at the time.<\/a><\/div>

Neglect and exhaustion soon bred disease and despair. Immediately after the influx of the refugees, San Francisco Chinatown suffered the greatest tuberculosis rate in the country, six to seven times higher than the national rate at the time. The most despairing resorted to drugs, alcohol, and even suicide. San Francisco…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
The crusading spirit of the 1960s prompted some American-born children of Chinese immigrants to respond to Chinese calls for help. Two forces in particular stoked the fires of activism.<\/a><\/div>

The crusading spirit of the 1960s prompted some American-born children of Chinese immigrants to respond to Chinese calls for help. Two forces in particular stoked the fires of activism. One was the civil rights movement led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., which began as a grassroots effort among…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
During the 1960s, Chinese immigrant parents in San Francisco had complained that their children were unable to follow classroom instruction in English.<\/a><\/div>

One unexpected and controversial legacy of ABC activism in Chinatown was the growth of the bilingual education system in the United States. During the 1960s, Chinese immigrant parents in San Francisco had complained that their children were unable to follow classroom instruction in English. The Chinese for Affirmative Action, founded…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cIf you sided with the whites, the blacks would be all over you, but if you sided with the blacks, the whites could crucify you,\u201d said Sam Chu Lin, a California radio and television broadcaster who grew up in Mississippi.<\/a><\/div>

All this required a delicate balancing act, especially since blacks formed most of the customer base for Chinese stores. For decades, the Chinese community had survived in the South by appearing to be friendly to both black and white interests. However,. as the 1960s went on, this fa\u00e7ade was difficult…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1969<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Gradually, the South witnessed an exodus of the American-born Chinese, who left the small towns of their childhood for the cities of the North and West.<\/a><\/div>

An undertone of bitterness can be detected in many interviews of American-born Chinese who grew up in the South during this era. Like the Jewish community in the region, the Chinese had successfully adopted white culture, yet they could not earn full acceptance by the white elite, not even as…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Most interesting, many Chinese Long Islanders exuded confidence in the face of prejudice. Contempt, rather than fear or hurt, was the most frequent response to racist white Americans: \u201cI would not let those ignorant people bother me,\u201d one immigrant told Kuo. \u201cAfter all, we have had four thousand years of civilization. You just can\u2019t reason with fools and little people, as Confucius once said.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

After earning their degrees, only one in four students returned to Taiwan to settle down permanently. The majority remained in the United States, accepting positions at universities, government laboratories, and corporations, swiftly moving into upper-middle-class American society. Whereas previous generations of Chinese were forced by law or social custom to…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
During the 1970s, Chinese American professionals began voicing complaints of racial discrimination, and of exploitation by white employers.<\/a><\/div>

During the 1970s, Chinese American professionals began voicing complaints of racial discrimination, and of exploitation by white employers. Some felt they were treated like honorary whites rather than as fully equal fellow Americans, and believed their advancement in academia, government, and corporate America had been arrested by an artificial barrier,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In 1970, five Asian American health inspectors claimed to be victims of racial discrimination at the San Francisco department of public health.<\/a><\/div>

In 1970, the California State Fair Employment Practice Commission (FEPC) held hearings to investigate charges of job discrimination against Chinese and other Asian Americans, the first such hearing of its kind. That year, five Asian American health inspectors claimed to be victims of racial discrimination at the San Francisco department…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Female clerical workers of Chinese descent of that era, seen as docile \u201coffice wives,\u201d received low returns on their education compared to whites.<\/a><\/div>

Judy Yung, author of Unbound Feet, wrote that female clerical workers of Chinese descent of that era, seen as docile \u201coffice wives,\u201d received low returns on their education compared to whites. A Chinese American woman had to work twice as hard to be judged the equal of a Caucasian. \u201cIn…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Though Chinese Americans soon earned a reputation for being talented, diligent workers, they were viewed as shunning power, uninterested in management.<\/a><\/div>

Though Chinese Americans soon earned a reputation for being talented, diligent workers, they were viewed as shunning power, uninterested in management. Many considered this perception about Chinese Americans more of an impediment to career advancement than outright anti-Chinese racism, and they resolved first to document it and then to address…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1970<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Some white managers expressed genuine surprise that Chinese and Asian American employees wanted executive positions.<\/a><\/div>

In the 1970s, a group of Chinese Americans and other minorities conducted an in-house study at Bell Labs that concluded that Asian American employees were grossly underrepresented in management. And the few Asian American managers working at Bell Labs tended to occupy the lower rungs of the corporate ladder. As…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1982<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Even as Sino-American relations thawed, anti-Asian hostility smoldered in certain regions of the United States, for reasons that had nothing to do with China.<\/a><\/div>

Even as Sino-American relations thawed, anti-Asian hostility smoldered in certain regions of the United States, for reasons that had nothing to do with China. The Japanese\u2014or Asians in general\u2014were widely perceived to be the source of America\u2019s troubles, foreign competitors who stole American jobs by working cheaply. \u201cMany of Detroit\u2019s…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1982<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In June 1982 in Detroit, Vincent Chin, the adopted son of a Chinese laundry owner, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two disgruntled auto workers who mistook him for Japanese.<\/a><\/div>

In June 1982 in Detroit, Vincent Chin, the adopted son of a Chinese laundry owner, was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two disgruntled auto workers who mistook him for Japanese. Chin, a twenty-seven-year-old Chinese American engineering student about to be married, had gone to a topless bar…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1982<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Stigmatized by NASA\u2019s treatment of him, Dr. Chih-Ming Hu acted like a rape victim, withdrawing from society to hide the shame that had been inflicted upon him.<\/a><\/div>

\u00c9migr\u00e9s, even those reared and educated in Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, were soon being accused of passing information to Communist China. The new climate of suspicion prompted people to come out of the closet and speak frankly about their past treatment by the U.S. government. In 1982, Dr. Chih-Ming Hu had received…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1983<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
An \u201calarming barrier\u201d had been erected to prevent ethnic Asian students from \u201cseeking higher education and better lives.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

In 1983, the East Coast Asian Student Union, a coalition of Asian American student organizations at schools like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, analyzed the admissions data at twenty-five universities and concluded that an \u201calarming barrier\u201d had been erected to prevent ethnic Asian students from \u201cseeking higher education and better lives.\u201d…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1983<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
The discrimination even extended to the high school level… in reality, asserted Henry Der, head of Chinese for Affirmative Action, \u201cAsian applicants are competing with white applicants.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

The discrimination even extended to the high school level. In 1983, prestigious Lowell High School in San Francisco adopted different admissions standards for different ethnic groups, with the harshest ones reserved for Chinese Americans. To settle a lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1986<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in another country,\u201d a white resident of Monterey Park complained…<\/a><\/div>

One affluent enclave was Monterey Park, near Los Angeles, nicknamed the \u201cChinese Beverly Hills.\u201d Toward the end of the twentieth century, Chinese constituted more than one-third of Monterey Park\u2019s population and more than one-quarter in the nearby communities of Alhambra and San Marino. Before long this region of southern California,…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div>
In an increasingly class-conscious America, Chinese academic ability would create another source of anxiety.<\/a><\/div>

Another way the nouveau riche Chinese disturbed their neighbors was their children\u2019s success in school classrooms. In an increasingly class-conscious America, Chinese academic ability would create another source of anxiety. By the 1980s, ethnic Chinese children no longer had to struggle for educational opportunities. Generations of civil rights activists had…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1986<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
If Chinese achievement provoked awe in some quarters, it incited fear in others. Anti-Chinese hate graffiti suddenly appeared on college campuses<\/a><\/div>

If Chinese achievement provoked awe in some quarters, it incited fear in others. Anti-Chinese hate graffiti suddenly appeared on college campuses: \u201cStop the Yellow Hordes\u201d; \u201cStop the Chinese before they flunk you out\u201d; \u201cChink, Chink, Cheating Chink!\u201d And by the 1980s, some ABCs began to feel victimized by their own…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1989<\/div><\/div>
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<\/div>
Robert Piche struck Ming-Hai Loo, a twenty-four-year-old immigrant from China, in the back of the head with a gun, causing him to collapse onto a broken beer bottle. The glass forced a bone fragment through his brain, killing him.<\/a><\/div>

Jim Loo (also known as Ming-Hai Loo) was a twenty-four-year-old immigrant from China, working in a restaurant to save enough money for college. In 1989, Loo and several Vietnamese friends were playing pool in a Raleigh, North Carolina, billiards hall when two whites started to push them around. Robert Piche…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1990<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
As late as 1990, Cliff Kincaid, a radio host in Washington, D.C., would call Connie Chung \u201cConnie Chink.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to U.S. society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another. Connie Chung, the second woman in…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1990<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Critics soon denounced the H1-B visa program as \u201cwhite-collar indentured servitude.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Some Chinese immigrants found themselves in a quandary when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1990, introducing the H1-B visa program for highly educated and skilled immigrant workers, but restricting the time such visa holders could work in the United States to a maximum of six years. The act abruptly…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1991<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cHow can you let a gook design this?\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Maya Lin, now the most famous female architect in the United States, was viciously attacked when, as a Yale undergraduate in 1980, she won a nationwide contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. \u201cHow can you let a gook design this?\u201d some veterans asked. \u201cHow did it…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1992<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
A \u201cyellow high-tech peril\u201d kind of fear<\/a><\/div>

In 1992, the NASA Ames Research Center fired Raymond Luh, an aerospace engineer and immigrant from Taiwan, for possessing \u201ca paper with Chinese writing on it.\u201d The following year, a court order confined Andrew Wang, a computer scientist, to his Denver home for almost a year after he e-mailed computer…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1993<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cThere are Americans in it. They just don\u2019t look like you.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

After her novel The Joy Luck Club became a literary blockbuster, author Amy Tan had to struggle to get it produced in Hollywood. Before the movie was released, one film executive complained to Chris Lee, the Chinese American president of Columbia TriStar, that there were \u201cno Americans\u201d in The Joy…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1998<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
\u201cAmerican beats Kwan.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

At the 1998 Olympics, when U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan finished second after her teammate Tara Lipinski, the headlines on MSNBC read, \u201cAmerican beats Kwan.\u201d Many Chinese Americans were distressed that the media automatically considered Kwan a foreigner when in fact she had been born, reared, and trained in the…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1999<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In addition to the H1-B visa system, another development worked against the interests of the \u201chigh-tech\u201d Chinese…Historically, the fate of the Chinese American community has always been linked to the health of Sino-American relations, and the 1990s were no exception.<\/a><\/div>

In addition to the H1-B visa system, another development worked against the interests of the \u201chigh-tech\u201d Chinese. The sudden demise of the Soviet Union left a vacuum in the arena of international politics, helping China emerge from the cold war as the second greatest military power in the world after…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1999<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
The most notorious case of unjustified treatment involved Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese American scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.<\/a><\/div>

The most notorious case of unjustified treatment involved Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese American scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In March 1999, a New York Times article claimed that Los Alamos was the source of the W-88 nuclear warhead technology that the People\u2019s Republic…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

1999<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Unfortunately, too many people today still view Asian Americans as foreigners in America<\/a><\/div>

In June 1999, Ted Lieu, a United States Air Force captain who grew up in Ohio and attended college in California, wrote the following for the Washington Post: \u201cAre you in the Chinese Air Force?\u201d the elegantly dressed lady sitting next to me asked. For a moment I was left…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2000<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Joel Wong, an immigrant engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, spoke for thousands of other Chinese Americans in Science magazine: \u201cThe term going around now among us is that we\u2019re high-tech coolies\u2014if we work hard, we\u2019re given more work.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

The Wen Ho Lee case served as a wake-up call for the Chinese at the national laboratories. The case and its aftermath forced many Chinese American scientists\u2014particularly those in the second wave\u2014to rethink their priorities. Why devote their energies to supporting institutions that regarded them as untrustworthy? Would their talents…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2000<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Many ethnic Chinese scientists asserted that this racism existed at such a deep, visceral level that the perpetrators themselves were often unaware of it. \u201cSubconsciously, you become the enemy,\u201d said one Taiwanese American employee at the lab. \u201cThe moment they hear your accent, they distrust you.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

According to their analysis of lab salaries, the average Asian American physics Ph.D. earned as much as $12,000 less than other employees with similar credentials. In fact, Asian American compensation was often lower than white compensation by as much as 15 to 20 percent. Pointing out that racial discrimination violated…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
This neighbor could not figure out the difference between Chinese Americans and Chinese foreign nationals\u2014despite the fact that many Chinese Americans were U.S. citizens whose families had lived here for generations.<\/a><\/div>

A telling incident occurred in April 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea, apparently flying too close to an American navy spy plane on a routine U.S. surveillance mission, caused the American pilot to take sudden evasive action, resulting in a midair collision. The Chinese pilot…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Some members of the media recommended the mass dismissal or expulsion or even imprisonment of the entire Chinese American community.<\/a><\/div>

Some members of the media recommended the mass dismissal or expulsion or even imprisonment of the entire Chinese American community. In Springfield, Illinois, two radio deejays urged the boycott of all Chinese American restaurants, suggested that all Chinese Americans be shipped out of the country, and telephoned people with Chinese…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Surveys have demonstrated the depth of anti-Chinese sentiment. A 2001 Gallup poll found that more than 80 percent of Americans viewed the PRC as \u201cdangerous.\u201d<\/a><\/div>

Surveys have demonstrated the depth of anti-Chinese sentiment. A 2001 Gallup poll found that more than 80 percent of Americans viewed the PRC as \u201cdangerous.\u201d In another poll, a national telephone survey commissioned by the Committee of One Hundred and the Anti-Defamation League of 1,216 randomly selected adult Americans, close…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In May 2001, David Wu, the first Chinese American ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was stopped when he tried to enter the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.<\/a><\/div>

In May 2001, David Wu, the first Chinese American ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was stopped when he tried to enter the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. \u201cMost strikingly I was asked a couple of times whether I am a U.S. citizen or not,\u201d Wu later…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2001<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
When Elaine Chao’s critics attacked her business ties with China, her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saw \u201csubtle racism,\u201d \u201cyellow fever,\u201d and xenophobic attitudes in the media.<\/a><\/div>

In 2001, Elaine Chao, a Harvard Business School graduate who had served as chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and assistant secretary of transportation, made history as the first Chinese American to accept a Cabinet position when President George W Bush named her secretary of labor. When her critics attacked…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2002<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
In March 2002, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of hundreds of Asian American employees at Lawrence Livermore who alleged they were victims of discrimination.<\/a><\/div>

Many Chinese immigrant scientists had originally entered the labs because they appeared to offer not only an intellectual environment, but also the secure haven that had eluded their early years. As immigrants who had fled war and revolution since childhood, many longed for a certain measure of peace and stability.…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2002<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
Only time will tell if the racial profiling tactics and obsessive security measures of the late 1990s have jeopardized U.S. national security more than protecting it.<\/a><\/div>

Only time will tell if the racial profiling tactics and obsessive security measures of the late 1990s have jeopardized U.S. national security more than protecting it. According to Michael May, a Stanford University physicist, the United States evolved as the world\u2019s leader in technology because for more than a century…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

2002<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
The adoption process sensitized thousands of parents to subtle racism in America. Suddenly they noticed the often cruel stereotypes of the Chinese in the media,…<\/a><\/div>

The adoption process sensitized thousands of parents to subtle racism in America. Suddenly they noticed the often cruel stereotypes of the Chinese in the media, even in children\u2019s television programs like Sesame Street, which featured a female worm-puppet named \u201cLo Mein.\u201d They became more attentive to the treatment of foreign…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3228,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1602","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1602\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/baoxuemi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\"\"<\/th>Chang, Iris. The Chinese in America: A Narrative History <\/i>. Viking. 2003. Click here to read the whole book<\/a>.
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\nThis non-fiction based on Iris Chang's extensive research narrates a 150 years of history of how Chinese people came to live in the United States and how they struggled for a better life. This timeline displays the incidents of racism, discrimination, prejudice and bias against the the Chinese in America as reported in the book. I will further analyze the identified incidents to better understand (1) what happened, (2) how the Chinese in America suffered, struggled, and survived; and (3) what can be done to prevent such incidents from happening again. This is Bao's research project in progress.<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n