[Detail] "Sing Fat Co., Inc.": From San Francisco Chinatown (post-1910)
Historical Research Capabilities: Discriminatory Legislation, The 1906 Earthquake, Governor John Bigler, and The Rock Springs Massacre
Primary source materials often raise many questions, providing excellent catalysts for research projects driven by genuine curiosity. Items from this collection offer starting points for investigating several important topics in the history of the Chinese in the United States.
In 1880, the California legislature added sections to the state's penal code forbidding the employment of Chinese laborers by corporations operating within the state. Read selections from the Ninth Circuit Court's decision in In re Tiburcio Parrott on the rights of Chinese laborers in reference to Section 178 of the California Penal Code, included in the Court records. Research other discriminatory ordinances such as San Francisco's Cubic Air Ordinance, Laundry Ordinance, and Queue Ordinance. Explain the statutes and their intended effect and how Chinese businessmen worked through community associations to challenge the constitutionality of such restrictive legislation.
- Why do you think the attorneys for Parrott and the Chinese Consulate, which became a party to the case, argued that Section 178 violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
- How effective was the Chinese community in fighting discrimination through the courts?
On April 18, 1906, an earthquake shook the western United States from southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and inland as far as central Nevada. The epicenter was near San Francisco where the quake also started a fire, destroying much of the city including Chinatown. Search on earthquake for a series of photographs documenting the damage. Research the impact of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 on the city's Chinese community and attempts to use the earthquake as an excuse to destroy Chinatown. For more resources on the earthquake, refer to the American Memory collection, Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897-1916 .
- What was the rationale for destroying Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake?
- How was the destruction of San Francisco's Chinatown evaded?
In 1855, the Chinese Merchants of San Francisco published a pamphlet responding to a message by California Governor, John Bigler . Read the merchants' response and research the governor's call for Chinese exclusion as early as 1855.
- What arguments do the Chinese merchants of San Francisco use in their response to Governor Bigler's message?
- What can you infer about Bigler's message based on this response?
On September 2, 1885, a mob of coal miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, attacked their Chinese co-workers, killing 28 and wounding 15 more. The mob also set fire to 79 homes owned by Chinese people into which they threw many of the dead and wounded bodies. Examine the illustration in Harper's Weekly, "Massacre of the Chinese at Rock Springs, Wyoming" and the Thomas Nast cartoon, "Here's A Pretty Mess! (In Wyoming)." Investigate the causes of the Rock Springs Massacre of 1885.
- What were the results of the massacre?
- What efforts did the Chinese government take to secure redress?
- Was the attack on Chinese laborers at Rock Springs an isolated incident? Explain.
