Los Angeles Chinese Massacre 1871

[Anonymous]

I was not familiar with the Chinese Massacre of 1871. Thank you for posting the links. The post and readings have been insightful. As I read, it raises questions that require further reading. It reminds me that there is a lot that I have yet to learn. Once again, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the links, Kurt. As per our discussion before class, I think these articles will tie into the discussion my class is having regarding immigration and hardships immigrants often face. I'm certain the students will find it extremely interesting to see some of the immigration history of Los Angeles. They had an interesting discussion regarding Chinese railroad workers and present-day San Francisco so these links are a great source for Chinese history in LA.

[Anonymous]

I read about this years go; I believe the location was known as, "Nigger Alley"

[Anonymous]

These problems in Los Angeles history are indeed what inspired Lisa See to begin writing about her Chinese ancestors and her family history in Los Angeles.
Chinese people in China Town faced a lot of discrimination in Los Angeles....Lisa see also tells the story of how some mixed race couples in her extended family were forced to marry in Mexico across the border because of miscenagation laws in Los Angeles.
The book is "Gold Mountain", Lisa See and her family are from Los Angeles.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

In doing preliminary research for my lesson plan I discovered that there was a horrible act of anti-Chinese violence here in Los Angeles in 1871. "Old Chinatown" was located near the Plaza and Olvera Street. It was torn down in the 1930s to build Union Station. On October 24, 1871 over 500 angry people men entered Chinatown. Eighteen Chinese immigrants were lynched by the mob. Eight men were convicted for the crime but had their verdicts thrown out in short order. Looking at the list of names of the guilty, they seem to represent a variety of ethnicities, probably immigrants themselves. There are Italian, Irish, and Hispanic surnames; one of them might even be Jewish.

Here are some links to interesting articles:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-los-angeles-covered-up-the-massacre-of-17-chinese-2169478

http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi06d.htm

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/06/chinese-massacre-1871/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871

[Anonymous]

What I read was that underlying causes were the anti-Chinese thee discrimination in late 19th century. Some of the causes were primarily economic after the civil war. High unemployment in California and neighboring states led to this sentiment toward the Chinese. From what I learned, was that this riot was triggered after rival Chinese criminal factions that resulted in the death of a prominent businessman. Some of the responsible were "Original Californios" (Dark skinned, mixed race and Spanish speaking). It happened in a once prominent area that around this time of the massacre, deteriorated into a tough area of bars, saloons and gambling.
As history has informed, during tough economic times, usually foreigners or different ethnic groups are the first to blame for local/national issues.

[Author]

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