“By sanctioning racism, it perpetuated racism,
and by sanctioning racist policy at the highest levels of government,
it helped legitimize racist action at every level of society.”
- Andrew Gyory, author of Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act
“153 anti-Chinese riots erupted throughout the American West in the 1870s and 1880s.”
- Huffington Post
Wyoming Rock Spring Massacre of 1885
(Courtesy of Wyoming State Historical Society) |
Seattle Riot of 1886
(Courtesy of Museum of History & Industry) |
“Gangs of roughnecks began attacking any Chinese they saw on the streets. It became popular to catch Chinese and chop off their queues. Many hoodlums wore these 'pigtails' on their belts and caps.”
- Ruthanne Lum McCunn, author of An Illustrated History of Chinese in America
“Mary accompanied her eight year-old daughter Mamie—dressed in a checkered pinafore,
with ribbons in her hair—to her first day at Spring Valley Primary School.
When they arrived, Mamie was denied admission at the schoolhouse door because she was Chinese.”
- New York History Society Museum and Library
“Citing state education codes that allowed school to exclude children
who had 'filthy or vicious habits, or children with contagious or infectious diseases,'
the school board refused their application.”
- Erika Lee, author of The Making of Asian American
“The Tape family sues the principal and takes the case to the California Supreme Court.
School officials defend their position by arguing that the California constitution declared Chinese to be
'dangerous to the well-being of the state,' and thus the city had no obligation to educate Chinese students.”
- Museum of Chinese in America in New York City
“We tried to walk unconcernedly home from school, always with a larger and larger crowd of our tormentors around us shouting, “Chink, Chink, Chinaman. Chink, Chink, Chinaman.”
Yanking our “pigtails” as they called our straight black braids of hair.
Pushing us off the sidewalk into the street.
Pinching us. Slapping us…. Every day was one of torture for us.”
- Anna May Wong, first Chinese American movie star
New York Historical Society, Chinese American Exclusion/Inclusion Collection
“Chinatowns were formed because Chinese Americans were not allowed to live anywhere else as well as through legal segregation.” |
“The Bingham Ordinance creates a ghetto, declaring that Chinese people, including citizens, must not live or work in San Francisco, except in 'a portion set apart for the location of all the Chinese.'” |
“It strengthened Chinatown that whites basically refused to work with the Chinese. |
“That’s really how Chinatowns came into being, not how we think about them now, as a fun place to get a meal or buy some tchotchkes, but as a way to contain a very threatening population in American life.” |
“Many Chinese immigrants moved east to escape the attacks.
That’s really how Chinatowns on the East Coast got their start.
At the same time, Chinese immigrants who remained on the West Coast
sought safety in numbers in the Chinatowns there.”
- Beatrice Chen, Public Programs Director for the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City
“In terms of structural aspects, they were denied the right to own land, housing,
access to better paying jobs,and access to higher education.
In terms of ideological aspects, they were depicted in the media as subhuman and savage
such as the “yellow horde,” the heathens, unintelligible, inscrutable.
As such, the basic human right of living a full life was denied to them.”
- Kathleen Yep, Professor of Asian American Studies, Pitzer College, Email Interview