Historical Background

Overview of Chinese Immigrants in the Pacific Northwest U.S.

During the mid-1850s, there was an influx of people entering the United States from China, the majority of which were men from the southeastern province of Guangdong (Yung, 2006). At the time, ongoing issues of overpopulation, deteriorating living conditions, natural disasters, and rebellion, caused many in this area to leave China in the hopes of finding better opportunities abroad (Yung, 2006). Attracted to states such as California and Oregon by stories of the gold rush (Yung, 2006), these individuals found work as miners and were often employed by Euro-American firms who recruited Chinese workers due to their dependability and use as a cheap labor force (Liestman, 1998). In addition to mining, Chinese immigrants were also found working in the railroad, agriculture, and fishing industries (Yung, 2006). They aided in the construction of the transnational railroad, helped lay the foundation for California’s wine industry, and worked at various commercial fish canneries along the Pacific Northwest (Yung, 2006).

However, life for Chinese immigrants became increasingly difficult during the 1870s when an economic depression hit the United States (Yung, 2006). Despite their great contributions of labor to the U.S., anti-Chinese sentiment and violence against Chinese immigrants rose during this time (Yung, 2006) when the Chinese became scapegoats for the country’s economic troubles. As support for the anti-Chinese movement grew, so too did the implementation of policies that undermined Chinese individuals’ ability to work within the United States (Yung, 2006). The main objective of the movement was finally realized with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the entry of Chinese laborers for 10 years and banned Chinese immigrants, already situated in the United States, from working (Yung, 2006). Segregated and discriminated against, the Chinese, during this period of exclusion, were kept in “marginal areas of the American economy and society,” (Yung, 2006, p. 104) isolated and left to fend for themselves in a hostile environment that sought to remove their presence from the country entirely.

The Anti-Chinese Movement in Oregon

By the end of the 1800s, more than one-fourth of Oregon’s foreign-born population was from China (Tracy, 1980). This Chinese population consisted largely of young men between the ages of 20 and 30-years-old whose main goal in the state was to earn a living (Corbett, 1977). In Portland, the four most common occupations held by the Chinese were common laborers, laundry workers, domestics, and as cooks and dishwashers (Tracy, 1980). The majority of these jobs were commonly considered to be “women’s work,” so Chinese laborers were not thought to have been competing intensely with white males for work (Corbett, 1977). That being said, while the Chinese were not an immediate threat to working Euro-American men, their employment did create a conflict with urban white women, who competed directly with the Chinese for jobs in domestic service, tailoring, and work at mills (Holden, 1994). Although the actual number of Chinese in these occupations was relatively small, their employment in these sectors led to the belief that they were stealing jobs from white women (Holden, 1994).

Proponents of the anti-Chinese movement in Oregon latched onto this belief and circulated it throughout the public to attract more support for their cause. Gradually, this assumption shifted to the belief that the Chinese were not only stealing jobs from white women, but were taking jobs away from all white laborers in the state (Holden, 1994). The movement gained many powerful supporters, one of which was Councilman Edwin Russell, of the Portland Common Council, who advocated for a proposal that would prevent Chinese from being employed through city contracts (Wong, 2004). His view of the Chinese was as follows:

The Chinese do not add to the moral, social, political or intellectual status of the community or the wealth of our state, but on the contrary they are monopolizing many of the situations in our midst that could and would be profitably filled by our own citizens. (Wong, 2004, p. 40)

A similar sentiment was expressed by the Knights of Labor union, who advocated for the exclusion of Chinese laborers in the state on the grounds that their race was “antithetical to the social, cultural, and economic values of Americans” (Holden, 1994, p. 231). Therefore, in order to resolve their issues regarding the Chinese in Oregon, anti-Chinese adherents sought to oust the Chinese from the state by restricting the jobs available to them and enforcing local and federal policies meant to limit their economic activities (Holden, 1994). They also boycotted Chinese-employed businesses, led mass protests against the Chinese, and in some cases, used violence as a means to terrorize the Chinese and urge their departure from Oregon (Holden, 1994).

In particular, violence against the Chinese in Portland came to a climax in 1886, when Euro-American men took it upon themselves to evict the Chinese (Holden, 1994). During this period, the Chinese were greatly abused and threatened. On one occurrence, thirty armed white men stormed a camp of 180 Chinese laborers, ordering them to leave the state. The following week, the Oregonian reported another raid on fifty Chinese ranchers and gardeners, in which thirty white men committed robbery and arson, destroying the vegetable gardens and hog ranches of the Chinese, attacking them and ordering them out of their establishment (Holden, 1994, p. 241). Even law enforcement could not be trusted to remain professional and impartial to Chinese individuals. There were multiple instances in which charges were brought against immigration inspectors for abusing their office. In one case, Chinese residents mobilized to protest the mistreatment they had received from an inspector, Benjamin Jossey (Wong, 2004, p. 87). This inspector was said to have committed many acts of harassment against the Chinese in Portland; among his acts were criminal prosecutions of Chinese individuals that lacked evidence to support the charge and unlawful searching of residences and stores of Chinese people (Wong, 2004, p. 89). Inspectors such as Jossey, were almost never reprimanded or removed as representatives of the federal immigration service, which clearly shows that the government was biased in its review of matters concerning the ill treatment of Chinese immigrants in the United States (Wong, 2004, p. 91).

The anti-Chinese movement caused many hardships for the Chinese in Oregon. They had to contend with racial prejudice on a daily basis and faced discrmination on both a local and federal level. It was during this period of exclusion, that Chinatowns emerged in cities such as Portland. Within these communities, Chinese individuals found protection from racial persecution and also had access to a variety of resources to assist them in fulfilling their social, economic, and political needs (Yung, 2006). Efforts were made to establish order within Chinatown:

Merchants and social reformers established new institutions, including Chinese schools, churches, hospitals, and newspapers, as well as Western-style organizations like the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinese-American Citizens’ Alliance (CACA), and the Chinese YMCA and YWCA. (Yung, 2006, p. 105)

During the exclusion period, the Chinese worked hard to improve the public image of their community. The Chinese Exclusion Act remained in place for over 50 years and it was only during World War II that the act was finally repealed (Yung, 2006).

Image credit: https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/chinese_americans_in_oregon/#.XvzOfedlB7M

References

Corbett, P., & Corbett, N. (1977). The Chinese in Oregon, c. 1870-1880. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 78 (1), 73-85. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from

www.jstor.org/stable/20613559

Holden, M. K. (1994). Gender and protest ideology: Sue Ross Keenan and the Oregon Anti-Chinese Movement. Western Legal History: The Journal of the Ninth Judicial

Circuit Historical Society, 7(2), 223-244. https://heinonline-org.libproxy.uoregon.edu/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals /wlehist7&i

d=237&collection=journals&index=

Liestman, D. (1998). Nineteenth-Century Chinese and the Environment of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 90 (1), 17-29. Retrieved June 15, 2020,

from www.jstor.org/stable/40492442

Tracy, C. (1980). Race, Crime and Social Policy: The Chinese in Oregon, 1871 – 1885. Crime and Social Justice, (14), 11-25. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from

www.jstor.org/stable/29766097

Wong, M. R. (2004). Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: The Chinatowns of Portland, Oregon. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-

com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/lib/uoregon/detail.action?docID=3444324

Yung, J., Chang, G., & Lai, H. (Eds.). (2006). Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present. University of California Press. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from