HISTORIES OF ANTI-CHINESE RHETORIC AND VIOLENCE IN CALIFORNIA
A Community Conversation
with Scripps College Racial Justice and Equity Faculty Fellow
Dr. Hao Huang
Professor of Music & Bessie and Cecil Frankel Endowed Chair in Music
Join in to learn about Professor Huang’s important work!
The first recorded instances of anti-Chinese violence occurred during the California gold rush in 1850. Along with Black Americans and Native Americans, Chinese were barred from testifying against whites in California’s courts. As a result, assaults on Chinese people in California generally went unpunished from the very beginning of their immigration history, that includes massacres, riots, expulsions and other violent actions that were directed at Chinese-American communities during the mid and late 19th century. In October 1871, the largest race riot on the West Coast, the LA Chinatown massacre of 20 Chinese, took place during one night. Less than a decade later, the San Francisco anti-Chinese 3 day pogrom took place in 1877 where Chinatown was burned to the ground, followed by killings in Chico, Weaverville and Yreka. Later in the 1880s pre- and post-Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese communities were attacked in 34 towns in California.
The current anti-Asian American violence during the COVID pandemic demonstrates that “self-evident inalienable Rights” such as Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness have been systematically denied to Asian Americans for over a century and a half.
Wednesday, April 12th 4:00 p.m.