What was the Chinese Exclusion Act? Intense social conflicts divided economic classes, ra- the political contest between those eager to ban Chinese cialized groups, and immigrants from the native born laborers and those interested in trading with China. The as America industrialized in the 1870s, and economic act also forbade Chinese from naturalizing as citizens, depressions spawned widespread hardship and insecu- closing previous loopholes. rity. A search for culprits began. Fear and envy of the The Chinese Exclusion Act marked the first time Chinese—too industrious, too different—started in the the US explicitly restricted immigration based on race West but spread nationally as political parties used the and class. Chinese and their commercial, religious, and “Chinese Question” to lure supporters and win power. diplomatic allies reacted swiftly, and often successfully, In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act mounting civil disobedience campaigns and suing for after revising and weakening the Burlingame Treaty. The their civil rights. act and the new Angell Treaty excluded Chinese laborers Despite these challenges, Congress repeatedly au- from entering the United States but exempted students, thorized Chinese Exclusion and tightened its exemp- teachers, merchants, and diplomats in order to protect tions. President Theodore Roosevelt made it permanent US trade and treaty interests. This compromise resolved in 1904, and the law was enforced until 1943.
1875 1870s–1880s
The Page Act Racial Stereotypes
National debate over the “Chinese Question” led This pesticide advertisement capitalized on Congress to pass the Page Act, directed at Chinese the racial stereotype that Chinese ate rats. and other Asians. The act enforced the 1862 ban Such depictions became popular sales techniques, on the “coolie trade,” even though Chinese migrants creating indelible images for white Americans came to the US voluntarily. It also required that and a belief that Chinese people were unable to women prove they were not prostitutes. Prostitutes assimilate. Untrue! wrote shopkeeper Wong Ar of every background worked the American West, Chong to abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison but the Page Act slashed immigration rates for all in 1879: If allowed to “enjoy the same privileges,” Chinese women for decades to come. Chinese would become “as good citizens as E.S. Wells Chemicals, Rough any other race.” “Among the Chinese on the Pacific on Rats advertisement, ca. Coast,” in Harper’s Weekly, May 27, 1870s–80s. Chinese Historical 1893. New-York Historical Society. Society of America Collection. 1882 1880s
Chinese Exclusion Act Anti-Chinese Violence
President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese The political campaigns that evoked economic Exclusion Act after months of negotiation and anxieties and racial animosities to achieve debate. The act barred Chinese laborers from Chinese Exclusion also fueled waves of violence immigrating for 10 years, but was not supposed against the Chinese. Across the American to affect merchants, diplomats, students, teachers, West and Midwest, cold-blooded beatings and or laborers already in the US. murders, arson of Chinese-owned property, and riots and mass expulsions in cities like Denver, CO (1880), Eureka, CA (1885), and Seattle, WA (1886) unleashed years of terror on Chinese An act to execute certain treaty The Chinese Must Go! poster, Americans. stipulations relating to Chinese [The 1885. Washington State Chinese Exclusion Act], May 6, 1882. Historical Society. National Archives. Timeline continues on reverse side >
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Yick Wo v. Hopkins The Scott Act & Chae Chan Ping v. United States Yick Wo’s legal victory established that under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, laws Chae Chan Ping challenged a revision to the could not be enforced in a discriminatory manner. Exclusion Act (the Scott Act, passed in 1888) that After requiring that all laundries obtain licenses, barred all Chinese laborers, regardless of prior San Francisco refused to issue them to Chinese residence. Chae had attended his father’s funeral proprietors and arrested those who stayed in in China, returning a week after Congress passed business. Represented by top lawyers, Lee Yick the new law. Denied reentry, Chae sued and lost. “Phases of Chinese labor in and Wo Lee sued the sheriff, winning a landmark The law stranded nearly 20,000 Chinese Americans San Francisco,” in Frank Leslie’s Supreme Court ruling for equal protection under “The Chinese Question again,” who were abroad at the time, separating many Illustrated Newspaper, in The Wasp, November 16, June 7,1879. New-York the law. from property and family in the US. 1889. Courtesy of The Bancroft Historical Society. Library, University of California, Berkeley.
The Chinese American [newspaper]. Chicago History Museum. Identification photograph from affidavit, “In the Matter of Wong Kim Ark, Native Born Citizen of the United States [detail],” 1904. National Archives at San 1900–1901 Francisco.
Boxer Rebellion
Widespread resentment in China against foreign encroachments and worsening conditions led to the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers, a secret society, attracted broad support for their effort to force all Westerners out of China. Anger over the insulting policy of Chinese Exclusion partly fueled attacks on The English and French forces have a land battle with the Boxers [detail], Americans. Two thousand US soldiers joined 1900. National Archives, College the 20,000-strong contingent of Western Fei Chi Hao and Kung Park, MD. Hsiang Hsi [Kong Xiang and Japanese troops sent to put down the Xi, 孔祥熙]. Oberlin uprising. The American consul in China College Archives. sent home this Boxer-produced battle image.
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“Over 300 Chinamen arrested in big round-up by police,” in The Boston Herald, October 12, 1903. Boston Public Library.
Source: Exhibition, Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion. On view at Chinese Historical Society of America.