-
beginning of gold rush
Gold was discovered in California in 1848, eventually attracting thousands of Chinese miners and contract laborers. -
first huge wave of asian immigrants
over 1,000 Asian immigrants entered the U.S. All of them wanted to work or just wanted to start a new live since hunger and poverty took place in Asia. -
creation of minor taxes
-
Foreign miners tax
California imposes Foreign Miner's Tax and enforces it mainly against Chinese miners, who were often forced to pay more than once.
This tax is not required from US citizens. -
end of the gold rush
-
Chinese first appear in court in California.
-
People vs Hall
The ruling freed Hall, a white man, from the conviction and death sentence for killing Ling Sing, a Chinese man. Three Chinese had testified to the murder. Since than, Chinese cannot give testimony in court against whites. -
School for Chinese
San Francisco opens a school for Chinese children -
California passes a law to bar entry of Chinese and “Mongolians.”
The anti-immigrant era that is strengthening in the East over the newly arriving Irish manifests
itself on the West Coast in discrimination against Chinese.The majority of Chinese
immigrants at this time are young single men who came to make some money before returning
home to get married and have families, but unfortunatelly the anti-immigration movement strengthens to a point where it effects legislation: California
passes a law to bar entry of CHINESE and “Mongolians.” -
Exclusion of Chinese from public schools in San Francisco.
As a result of a petition by thirty chinese parents, a separate school for chinese children is opened in San Francisco. -
Another Tax ..
California imposes a "police tax" of $2.50 a month on every Chinese. -
Central Pacific Railroad Co. recruits Chinese workers for the transcontinental railroad.
In March, the Central Pacific employs 50 Chinese workers to work between Chinese Railroad workersAuburn and Clipper Gap, to break a strike by white workers. Initially believing the Chinese to be far too delicate for the tough work, their superintendent refuses to have them, but his superior insists on hiring them with the argument that the race of people who built the Great Wall can surely build a railroad. The Chinese workers, who are paid less, turn out to be far more efficient than Caucasian. -
50 chinese are killed.
The Chinese on the way to work's camps are made to travel without the armed escorts normally afforded to whites.
As a result 50 Chinese on their way to Idaho City are killed by Native Americans. -
Two thousand Chinese railroad workers strike for a week.
Delighted with the performance of Chinese workers, railroad executives advocate the immigration of an additional 500,000 Chinese to California to ease the labor shortage.
Some 2,000 Chinese railroad workers, tired of being whipped as slaves organize a peaceful and orderly strike, walking off their jobs in the Sierras. They politely present a list of demands to the their employers but the Central Pacific cuts off their food supply, effectively starving them back to work. -
U.S. and China: recognizing right of their citizens to emigrate.
China and the US government sign the Burlingame Treaty, granting China “Most-Favored Nation” trading status in return for China’s agreement to recognize, among other things, the “inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance” and the right of Chinese subjects to “free migration and emigration” to the US “for the purposes of curiosity or trade or as permanent residents.” The Central Pacific sends labor recruiters to Canton province, so Thousands of Chinese arrived in SF -
California passes law against importation of CHINESE, JAPANESE, & “Mongolian” woman
California passes law against importation of CHINESE, JAPANESE, & “Mongolian”
women for prostitution. All women immigrating to the U.S. from Asia are therefore subjected to
humiliating questioning at the hands of the immigration officials which means that many women
chose to remain in their home countries. -
Anti-Chinese riots break out in LA and other cities
A brutal race riot breaks out in Los Angeles that comes to be known as the Chinese Massacre of 1871. One out of ten people in the city participate. Every Chinese-occupied building is ransacked and virtually every Chinese resident is attacked or robbed. The county coroner confirms 19 Chinese deaths at the hands of the mob (some estimates put the number of deaths at 23). -
The Page Law
The Page Law bars the entry of Chinese, Japanese, and “Mongolian” prostitutes, felons and contract laborers. Effectively criminalizing contract labor, the law is applied to any and all Asians, except for a handful of special-status merchants and diplomats.
Los Angeles & Independence Railroad hires 67 Chinese workers. -
California civil code section 69
California civil code section 69 prohibits the issuing of licenses for marriages between whites and Mongolians, Negroes and persons of mixed blood. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese Exclusion Act prevents any Chinese without family already in the United States
from immigrating. This law drastically reduces the number of Chinese immigrants entering the U.S.
and creates the “paper sons” phenomenon. -
Anti-Chinese violent in Rock Springs
In what comes to be known as the Rock Springs Massacre, white immigrant miners in Wyoming riot against Chinese miners who are paid less and historically recruited as strikebreakers), killing 28, wounding 15 and destroying 75 of their homes. Mutilated bodies are found in the aftermath. The US Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard responds indifferently, asserting that the Chinese brought it upon themselves by being “different” and “inassimilable". -
Geary Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act is renewed by the Geary Act, leaving exclusion laws intact for an additional 10 years. All Chinese are required to have residence certificates carried with them on their person at all times in case of inspection by police. -
murder of the president W.McKinely
President William McKinley is assassinated by a POLISH anarchist, which leads Congress
to enact the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which allows immigrants to be excluded on the basis of their
political opinions. -
inter-marriage forbidden
Immigration law can be used to perpetuate the values that the government supports during a
particular time. One of those values at the turn of the century was to be strongly opposed to “intermarriage”—women
marrying outside of their ethnic group. To give this value legal standing, The
Expatriation Act took away the citizenship of American women who marry foreign nationals. -
The California Alien Land Law
Californiaʼs Alien Land Law prohibits “aliens ineligible for citizenship” (CHINESE and
JAPANESE) from owning property in the state. It provides the model for similar acts in other
states. -
Pearl Harbor
Even before Pearl Harbor, Japanese were discriminated against in the U.S. After the attack, this discrimination grew to monumental proportions. -
Magnuson Act
China is officially listed as an Allied Nation. US and it sign a treaty of alliance, allowing US troops to use China as a base against the Japanese. In exchange, Congress repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, replacing it with the Magnuson Act, allowing the entry into the US of a token 105 Chinese per year. Although Chinese immigration and naturalization is allowed for the first time since 1790 and the Magnuson Act is propagandized as a relaxation of restrictions, the quota of 105 is low.
