The Rumbling in the Mines Chinese Immigration in the 1800s By: Brett, Garrett, and Rachel

Vocabulary Words Sojourners - One who temporarily resides in an area, like the Chinese did in the United States. Scapegoat - One that is made to bear the blame of others.

Distrust at the Mines  American workers planned a strike  Railroad company would fire the English and Irish workers if plan continued  When the strike started as planned, the company brought in Chinese workers to replace the strikers and made it very clear that no future work stoppages would be allowed  The differences of the Chinese in language and culture as well as appearance divided them from the American miners.

Racism against the Chinese  Racism and hatred led to many outbursts around the western region  A mob in Los Angeles in 1870 protesting Chinese Immigration killed 23 innocent Chinese people  Suspicion from the Chinese’s enthusiasm to work for less pay also led to fear and distrust  Compared to the wages that they made in China, Americans were very magnanimous so the Chinese workers were very willing to work for low wages

The Rock Springs Massacre  Several Chinese and white miners were fighting over digging spots at Mine number Six  Two Chinese sojourners arrived early the next morning and “stole” the white’s location  A violent fight broke out between the two groups  Hearing the news, a band of outraged whites gathered and started off to Hong Kong, the small Chinese community outside Rock Springs  The rioters only stopped to purchase more weapons and warned the Chinese to be out in an hour  Thinking the company would protect them, the sojourners didn’t heed their warning  The protesters shot several Chinese men as spectators cheered

Transcontinental Railroad  Limited amount of people were willing to build the Transcontinental Railroad  Insufficient labor force from Americans so the mining company was encouraged to hire Chinese Laborers  The Americans saw that even though the Chinese were small, they were hard workers with great architectural skills

Reasons for immigration  The United States needed more resources of labor for the Transcontinental Railroad  Not enough whites or free blacks were interested, and even with the help of the Natives, there weren’t enough people to do the job  The Chinese made more money in America  For doing cooking, laundering, or other services, the Chinese earned ten times the average amount they were paid in China

After the Completion of the Railroad  The Chinese were greatly resented while unemployment was high and served as a scapegoat for the Americans  In the west, an anti-Chinese campaign grew quickly to support the labor movement  Many “special” taxes were created to harass the Chinese  After the strike at Union Pacific Railroad, many Chinese laborers were employed to work mining coal

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Bibliography "A Rumbling in the Mines." Us and Them A History of Intolerance in America 1995: Gilder Lehrman History Online. 2 Oct Gilder Lehrman History Online. 2 Oct Issues in Global Education Newsletter of the American Forum for Global Education. 10 Oct The Massacre Of The Chinese At Rock Springs, Wyoming. 2 Oct MassacreOfChineseMain.htm 0MassacreOfChineseMain.htm

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