On September 2, 1885, white miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming decided to exterminate the town’s entire Chinese community. Whites killed at least 28 Chinese miners in the Rock Springs Massacre, demonstrated the power of white supremacy to the Gilded Age white working class, and is a prime example of how employers have fomented racial tension throughout much of American history.
White Americans hated the Chinese.
There isn’t really much reason to complicate the above sentence when talking about the 19th century. Its truth is indisputable. From the moment, whites crossed the deserts in search of California gold and realized, what!, there are Chinese people here! (and Mexicans and Indians and Chileans and a lot of other non-whites), they wanted to eliminate them. In California, they very quickly stole the mine claims from the Chinese and forced them do to traditional female labor in this all-male society (this is the root of the Chinese laundry and ubiquitous small-town Chinese restaurant). The Chinese, desperate to find economic opportunities not existent in their home country, still continued to come to the United States, despite the racism and violence they faced.
This led to the first successful labor movement in the American history–the working-class led movement to end Chinese immigration. This is an important point–the Chinese Exclusion Act was the culmination of a working-class movement. That 1882 act ended Chinese immigration for 10 years, but was no guarantee to the permanent dominance of white supremacy.
Of course, employers understood how they could take advantage of this racial animosity to divide their labor forces. The railroads jumped all over Chinese labor. The Central Pacific Railroad used the Chinese as nearly slave labor to build the Transcontinental Railroad, starving them when they protested over their terrible conditions. 10% of the 12,000 Chinese laborers who worked on building that railroad over the Sierra Nevada died on the job. The conditions weren’t that much better for the Chinese in Wyoming in the 1870s and 80s.
The Union Pacific Railroad, who owned a tremendous amount of western land thanks to federal handouts to entice railroad construction, first brought in the Chinese to their western Wyoming coal mines in 1875 after white labor struck over low wages. When Union Pacific broke the white union, only 50 whites were hired back to go with the 150 Chinese laborers. The numbers of Chinese miners grew over the next few years, with whites angry first that the Chinese were taking away jobs that rightfully belonged to whites and second that they took jobs for less money and worse conditions than whites would tolerate. Many of the white miners belonged to the Knights of Labor, which opposed Chinese immigration (as did most labor organizations during these years). Throughout 1885, beatings of the Chinese increased in towns throughout Wyoming. In August, miners placed notices across the western Wyoming mining camps demanding the expulsion of the Chinese.
On September 1, white miners met at night and while we don’t know exactly what happened in that meeting, it seems clear that the plans for the next day were set. The next morning, 10 members of the Knights walked up Chinese laborers in a mine and told them they had no right to work. They then beat 2 Chinese miners, 1 to death. Over the next few hours, a mob gathered in the center of town. Armed with rifles, around 150 whites marched into Chinatown.
At first, the miners gave the Chinese an hour to pack up and leave. But they got tired of waiting around. 30 minutes later, they opened fire, killing a Chinese miner named Lor Sun Kit. The Chinese panicked and began fleeing out of town in any possible direction while the whites beat, robbed, or killed everyone they could find.
Said the survivors in a report to the Chinese consulate in New York:
Whenever the mob met a Chinese they stopped him and, pointing a weapon at him, asked him if he had any revolver, and then approaching him they searched his person, robbing him of his watch or any gold or silver that he might have about him, before letting him go. Some of the rioters would let a Chinese go after depriving him of all his gold and silver, while another Chinese would be beaten with the butt ends of the weapons before being let go. Some of the rioters, when they could not stop a Chinese, would shoot him dead on the spot, and then search and rob him. Some would overtake a Chinese, throw him down and search and rob him before they would let him go. Some of the rioters would not fire their weapons, but would only use the butt ends to beat the Chinese with. Some would not beat a Chinese, but rob him of whatever he had and let him go, yelling to him to go quickly. Some, who took no part either in beating or robbing the Chinese, stood by, shouting loudly and laughing and clapping their hands
That night, nearly every building in Chinatown was burned. The majority of the dead were burned in their homes, either unable to leave because of illness or injury, or unwilling to leave and tried to hide in a cellar or some other seemingly safe place.
The survivors fled to Evanston, after being picked up by passing Union Pacific trains, but that town was no more welcoming to the Chinese than Rock Springs. The governor of Wyoming appealed to President Grover Cleveland for federal troops to quell the rioting; the latter, always willing to send in federal troops to crush organized labor (even if in this case they deserved it), obliged. Six companies of troops arrived in Rock Springs a week later to escort the Chinese back to Rock Springs where they found ashes and the unburied bodies of their friends and family, half-eaten by dogs and vultures. The Chinese just wanted out of Wyoming at this point, but Union Pacific had no interest in giving up their cheap, exploitable labor. They first asked for railroad tickets to another state and then asked for two months of back pay the company owed them. Union Pacific refused all requests. The Chinese at first refused to work, fearful for their lives, but then the company stopped feeding them, leaving them a choice of whether to work or leave Wyoming on their own.
White miners throughout Wyoming went on strike to protest the return of Chinese labor to the mines, but the strike was defeated and the Chinese remained. A few whites were arrested, but all were released in a month. No one ever faced charges for the murders.
The expulsion of Chinese laborers from workplaces and towns around the West continued through the 1890s.
On a closely related note, I sadly must mention the passing of Alexander Saxton, author of The Indispensable Enemy: Labor and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California. This powerful book opened new doors in American labor history, complicating traditional narratives of a heroic labor movement bound by democracy, noting that racial ideology was absolutely central to any understanding of working-class history. One of my critiques of the field of labor history is that, more than any other U.S. history subfield and the social movements to which they relate, many of its practitioners seek to serve the labor movement. This is often deeply problematic, as a lot of labor historians buy into the myths and grand narratives of labor’s past. Saxton helped defuse some of these myths. I also didn’t know his own personal history, which is pretty amazing.
This is the 41st post in this series. The other posts are archived here.
Mnamo Septemba 2, 1885, wachimbaji weupe huko Rock Springs, Wyoming waliamua kuangamiza jamii nzima ya Wachina wa mji huo. "Wazungu waliwaua wachimbaji wa madini wa China 28 katika mauaji ya Rock Springs, na kuonyesha nguvu ya utawala wa wazungu kwa jamii ya wafanyakazi wazungu wa enzi ya dhahabu, na ni mfano bora wa jinsi waajiri wamechochea mvutano wa rangi katika historia ya Marekani.""" Wamarekani weupe waliwachukia Wachina. Hakuna kweli sababu kubwa ya kuchanganya sentensi ya juu wakati wa kuzungumza juu ya karne ya 19. Ukweli wake hauwezi kupingwa. Tangu wakati huo, wazungu walivuka jangwa wakitafuta dhahabu ya California na kutambua, nini!, kuna watu wa Kichina hapa! (na Wamexico na Wahindi na Wachile na wengi wengine wasio wazungu), walitaka kuwaondoa. Katika California, waliiba haraka sana madai ya mgodi kutoka kwa Wachina na kuwafanya kufanya kazi ya jadi ya wanawake katika jamii hii ya wanaume wote (hii ni mizizi ya kufulia nguo za Kichina na mkahawa wa Kichina wa mji mdogo). Wamarekani waliotafuta fursa za kiuchumi ambazo hazikuwepo nchini mwao waliendelea kuja Marekani licha ya ubaguzi wa rangi na vurugu waliokabiliwa nazo. Hii ilisababisha harakati ya kwanza ya wafanyakazi yenye mafanikio katika historia ya Marekani - harakati iliyoongozwa na darasa la wafanyakazi kumaliza uhamiaji wa Wachina. Hii ni uhakika muhimu <unk> Sheria ya Uondoaji wa Wachina ilikuwa kilele cha harakati ya darasa la wafanyakazi. Sheria hiyo ya mwaka 1882 iliwazuia Wenyeji wa China kutoka kuingia nchini Marekani kwa miaka kumi, lakini haikuhakikishia kwamba utawala wa wazungu ungeendelea kudumu. Bila shaka, waajiri walielewa jinsi wangeweza kutumia uhasama huo wa rangi ili kugawanya wafanyakazi wao. Reli zilipiga kazi ya Wachina kila mahali. Kampuni ya reli ya Central Pacific ilitumia Wachina kama watumwa kujenga reli ya Transcontinental, na kuwaua kwa njaa walipopinga hali zao mbaya. Zaidi ya wafanyakazi 12,000 wa China waliofanya kazi kwenye ujenzi wa reli hiyo ya Sierra Nevada waliuawa. Hali hazikuwa bora sana kwa Wachina huko Wyoming katika miaka ya 1870 na 1980. Union Pacific Railroad, ambayo ilikuwa na ardhi kubwa ya magharibi kwa sababu ya misaada ya serikali ya kuvutia ujenzi wa reli, iliwaleta Wachina kwa mara ya kwanza kwenye migodi yao ya makaa ya mawe ya Wyoming ya magharibi mnamo 1875 baada ya wafanyakazi weupe kupiga kura juu ya mishahara ya chini. Union Pacific ilivunja muungano wa wazungu, na wazungu 50 tu waliajiriwa tena kwenda na wafanyakazi 150 Wachina. Idadi ya wachimbaji wa madini ya Kichina iliongezeka katika miaka michache iliyofuata, na wazungu waliwakasirisha kwanza kwa sababu Wachina walikuwa wakichukua kazi ambazo zilikuwa za wazungu kwa haki na pili kwa sababu walichukua kazi kwa pesa kidogo na hali mbaya kuliko wazungu wangeweza kuvumilia. Wengi wa wachimbaji wa migodi weupe walikuwa wa Knights of Labor, ambao walipinga uhamiaji wa Wachina (kama vile mashirika mengi ya wafanyakazi wakati wa miaka hii). Katika mwaka wa 1885, mapigano dhidi ya Wachina yaliongezeka katika miji ya Wyoming. Mnamo Agosti, wachimbaji wa madini waliweka matangazo katika kambi za uchimbaji wa madini magharibi mwa Wyoming wakidai kufukuzwa kwa Wachina. Mnamo Septemba 1, wachimbaji weupe walikutana usiku na wakati hatujui hasa nini kilitokea katika mkutano huo, inaonekana wazi kwamba mipango ya siku iliyofuata ilikuwa imewekwa. Asubuhi iliyofuata, askari kumi wa jeshi la askari-jeshi wa China waliwakamata wafanyakazi wa mgodi na kuwaambia kwamba hawakuwa na haki ya kufanya kazi. Kisha wakapiga wachimba-migodi wawili Wachina, mmoja hadi akafa. Katika muda wa saa chache zilizofuata, umati ulikusanyika katikati ya mji. Wakiwa na bunduki, watu 150 waliingia katika Chinatown. Mwanzoni, wachimba-migodi waliwapa Wachina saa moja ili wapange na kuondoka. Lakini walichoka kungoja. Baada ya dakika 30 walianza kupigana na kumuua mchimbaji wa China Lor Sun-Kit. Wachina waliogopa na wakaanza kukimbia nje ya mji katika mwelekeo wowote uliokuwapo huku wazungu wakipiga, kuiba, au kuua kila mtu waliopata. "Waliokoka waliripoti kwa ubalozi wa China huko New York: ""Wakati wowote umati ulipokutana na Mchina, walimzuia na, wakimwelekeza silaha, wakamuuliza kama alikuwa na revolver, kisha wakamkaribia na kumtafuta, wakamnyang'anya saa yake au dhahabu au fedha yoyote ambayo angeweza kuwa nayo, kabla ya kumruhusu aende.""" Baadhi ya waasi hao walimruhusu Mchina mmoja aende baada ya kumnyang'anya dhahabu na fedha zake zote, huku Mchina mwingine akipigwa kwa ncha za silaha kabla ya kuachiliwa. Baadhi ya waasi waliposhindwa kumzuia Mchina, walimpiga risasi na kumuua mahali hapo, kisha wakamtafuta na kumnyang'anya. Wengine wangemkamata Mchina, kumtupa chini na kumtafuta na kumnyang'anya kabla ya kumwachilia aende. Baadhi ya waasi hao hawakufyatua risasi, bali walitumia tu ncha za silaha ili kuwapiga Wachina. "Wengine hawangewapiga Wachina, bali wangemnyang'anya chochote alichokuwa nacho na kumwacha aende, wakipiga kelele kwa haraka.""" Baadhi yao, ambao hawakujihusisha na kupiga au kuiba Wachina, walisimama kando, wakipiga kelele, wakicheka na kupiga makofi. Wengi wa waliokufa walichomwa moto nyumbani kwao, ama hawakuweza kuondoka kwa sababu ya ugonjwa au jeraha, au hawakuweza kuondoka na walijaribu kujificha katika chumba cha chini ya ardhi au mahali pengine pa kuonekana salama. Waokokaji walikimbilia Evanston, baada ya kukusanywa na treni za Union Pacific zilizopita, lakini mji huo haukuwa wa kukaribisha Wachina zaidi ya Rock Springs. Gavana wa Wyoming alimwomba Rais Grover Cleveland kwa majeshi ya shirikisho ili kukomesha ghasia; mwisho, daima tayari kutuma katika majeshi ya shirikisho ili kukandamiza kazi ya shirika (hata kama katika kesi hii walihitaji), wajibu. Vikosi sita vya askari vilikuja Rock Springs wiki moja baadaye kuwaleta Wachina nyuma Rock Springs ambapo walipata majivu na miili isiyozikwa ya marafiki na familia zao, nusu-iliyokula na mbwa na vultures. Wachina walitaka tu kutoka Wyoming wakati huu, lakini Union Pacific haikuwa na nia ya kuacha kazi yao ya bei nafuu, inayoweza kutumiwa. Kwanza waliomba tiketi za reli kwenda jimbo lingine na kisha wakaomba malipo ya miezi miwili ambayo kampuni hiyo ilikuwa imewakopesha. Union Pacific ilikataa maombi yote. Mwanzoni, Wachina walikataa kufanya kazi kwa kuogopa maisha yao, lakini baadaye kampuni hiyo iliacha kuwapa chakula, na kuwapa chaguo la kufanya kazi au kuondoka Wyoming peke yao. Wafanyabiashara wa migodi wa Wyoming walianza mgomo wa kupinga kurudi kwa wafanyakazi wa China kwenye migodi, lakini mgomo huo ulishindwa na Wachina wakabaki. Wazungu wachache walikamatwa, lakini wote waliachiliwa baada ya mwezi mmoja. Hakuna mtu aliyewahi kushtakiwa kwa mauaji hayo. Uhamisho wa wafanyakazi wa Kichina kutoka maeneo ya kazi na miji ya Magharibi uliendelea hadi miaka ya 1890. "Kutokana na taarifa ya hivi karibuni, Alexander Saxton, mwandishi wa ""The Indispensable Enemy: Kazi na harakati ya kupambana na Wachina katika California.""" Kitabu hiki chenye nguvu kilifungua milango mpya katika historia ya kazi ya Marekani, ikizidisha hadithi za jadi za harakati ya kazi ya mashujaa iliyofungwa na demokrasia, ikigundua kwamba itikadi ya rangi ilikuwa muhimu kabisa kwa uelewa wowote wa historia ya darasa la wafanyakazi. Moja ya upinzani wangu wa uwanja wa historia ya kazi ni kwamba, zaidi ya uwanja mwingine wowote wa historia ya Marekani na harakati za kijamii ambazo zinahusiana, wengi wa watendaji wake wanatafuta kutumikia harakati ya kazi. Hii mara nyingi ni tatizo kubwa, kama wengi wa historia ya kazi kununua katika hadithi na hadithi kubwa ya kazi ya zamani. Saxton alisaidia kuondoa baadhi ya hekaya hizo. Pia sikujua historia yake binafsi, ambayo ni ya kushangaza sana. Hii ni chapisho la 41 katika safu hii. Machapisho mengine yamehifadhiwa hapa.