Historical References in
Interior Chinatown
Embedded Files
Context
The 11th grade History PLC worked to create some contextual information for your reading. Interior Chinatown often cites specific moments in history, and you can review some of these references below to learn more about them!
Why Chinatown Looks the Way it Does | p.1
Why Chinatown Looks the Way it Does | p.1
Two good resources that look at the history of Chinatowns.
Two good resources that look at the history of Chinatowns.
"Historical Newsreel Montage" | p.140
"Historical Newsreel Montage" | p.140
On page 140, Charles Yu writes a "Historical Newsreel Montage" that chronicles and contextualizes the 2/28 Incident . Click the dropdown for more information on this moment in history.
What is the 2/28 Incident? “2/28 Incident” places Taiwan in the context of the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists (Guomindang/Kuomintang) and the CCP or Chinese Communist Party. Of importance, too, is the position of native Taiwanese vs mainlanders, many of whom moved/fled to Taiwan with the retreating remnants of the Nationalist forces as the Communists won the war and the control over mainland China.
The incident itself deals with the native Taiwanese pro-democracy and native autonomy protests against Nationalist policies which were being directed from the mainland. The brutal crackdown against these protests and the “White Terror” period that followed created an autocratic government system driven by the Guomindang.
“The scars from the White Terror are still felt throughout Taiwan
today. Martial Law did not end in Taiwan until 1987; the first free
and fair legislative elections took place in 1992; and the first fully
democratic presidential election was held in 1996. Now, for the
first time in the country’s history, the Democratic Progressive Party,
not the KMT [Guomindang], controls both the executive and
legislative branches of government—something that protesters
never would have imagined possible during the White Terror.”
-From the Foreign Policy Research Institute
Further Resources
Further Resources
Taiwan's White Terror: Remembering the 2/28 Incident (Foreign Policy Research Institute)
The Chinese Revolution of 1949 (US Department of State Office of the Historian)
"Laws of the United States" | p.215
"Laws of the United States" | p.215
Page 215-216 list a few of the discriminatory laws passed in US at the local, state and federal level. While Charles Yu provides the basics, please click the dropdown for more information.
1859--Oregon Constitution
Some important Oregon laws that preceded this Constitution include: 1843 Champoeg territorial government adopted a measure “prohibiting slavery” that required slave holders to free their slaves with the added requirement that all Blacks must leave the territory within three years.
A Brief History of Chinese in Oregon
1879 --California Constitution
Specific language includes restrictions on Black, Mexican, Native American, and Chinese. Jim Crow laws in California
1882 -- Federal Chinese Exclusion Act
Economic downturn in the 1870s led to unemployment which in turn led to increased persecution of Chinese people. Signed into law on May 6th, 1882, the act resulted in a 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. It was the first law that prevented all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating into the United States. Chinese Exclusion Act (image of doc on site)
1886 -- Washington Territory Constitution, which was enacted in 1889, built on earlier bigotry toward non-White residents of the territory (specific groups targeted were Native Americans, Black Americans, and Chinese Americans). Further restrictions were enacted in 1921. https://www.historylink.org/file/2124
1890--San Francisco Bingham Ordinance was an attempt to move Chinese residences and businesses from the city center to the undesirable slaughterhouse district. In the case of Re Lee Sing, the ordinance was struck down as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
1892 -- The Geary Act extends the 1882 Exclusion Act another 10 years.
1920 -- From Immigration History: “After women gained suffrage with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, Congress swiftly enacted this law to restore citizenship to U.S.-born women who had married non-citizen husbands and thereby lost their citizenship under the Expatriation Act of 1907. This law addressed the discriminatory law that set married women’s citizenship according to that of their husbands and enabled white women to retain their U.S. citizenship despite marriages to foreign men. This right did not, however, extend to women who married “aliens ineligible for citizenship,” especially Asian immigrant men.”
1924 -- The Johnson-Reed Act completely excluded immigrants from Asia. Senator David Reed of Pennsylvania proudly proclaimed, “The racial composition of America at the present time thus is made permanent” (Smithsonian Magazine).
"Laws of the United States, Part II" | p.259
"Laws of the United States, Part II" | p.259
Page 259 lists two laws that attempted to remediate the effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act. For more on each, click the images below.
General Historical Information
General Historical Information
Chinese Immigrations in the mid-late 19th Century (Asia Pacific Curriculum)
The Opium Wars In China (Asia Pacific Curriculum)
Impact of Pearl Harbor on China and Chinese Americans (Oakland Museum of California)
Crash Course World History #37 Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions (Crash Course)
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