104: The Chinese Exclusion Act

In the 1850s, thousands of Chinese immigrants came to the US for the gold rush. Many white Americans did not like that. In the 1880s, Congress passed legislation limiting the immigration and rights of an entire ethnic group, the first and only time to do so. Listen how immigrants persisted anyway, despite the violence and discrimination they faced. 

 

Follow us on Instagram! 

https://www.instagram.com/illequippedhistory/

 

Join our Facebook group! 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/illequippedhistory

 

Email us! 

illequippedhistory@gmail.com

 

Check us out on TikTok! 

https://www.tiktok.com/@illequipped.histo

 

Find us on YouTube! 

https://www.youtube.com/@Ill-EquippedHistory 

 

Donate to our Patreon! 

https://www.patreon.com/illequippedhistory

 

 

Sources:

 

“Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts” 

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration

 

“Chinese Immigrants in the United States” by Madeleine Greene and Jeanne Batalova (Jan 15 2025)

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/chinese-immigrants-united-states

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans

 

“Chinese Immigration” 

https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/chinese-immigration/

 

“Chinese migration to US is nothing new - but the reasons for recent surge at Southern border are” (Apr 10 2024)

https://umbc.edu/stories/chinese-migrants-to-us/

 

“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)”

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act

 

“The History of Chinese Immigration to the U.S.” by Qin Wan (2005)

https://www2.hawaii.edu/~sford/alternatv/s05/articles/qin_history.html

“What drove last year’s surge in Chinese migrants at the southern border?” by Huo Jingnan (Aug 9 2024)

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/07/nx-s1-5032835/chinese-migrants-southern-border

“Untold History of Chinese Immigration to America” by the American Old West Tales channel on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzaFH7TBUfU

 

“Becoming American: The Chinese Experience” 2003 PBS documentary by the P O’Brien channel on YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IkDn08i-A4&t=5024s 

 

“Qing China’s Internal Crisis: Land Shortage, Famine, Rural Poverty”

https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_demographic.htm

 

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/resources/data/cigarette-smoking-in-united-states.html#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20an%20estimated%2011.6,every%20day%20or%20some%20days. 

 

https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/coffee-survey/ 

 

“Chinese Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History”

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/chinese/searching-for-the-gold-mountain/

 

“Chinatowns” The Stories of Its History and Community” by World Channel 

https://worldchannel.org/press/article/chinatowns-films-viewers-guide/ 

 

“Looking Like the Enemy: Political Identity & the Vietnam War” by Karen L. Ishizuka (May 7 2019)

https://www.pacificcouncil.org/newsroom/looking-enemy-political-identity-vietnam-war

 

“Our History”

https://www.aafe.org/our-history/ 

 

“Vincent Chin”

https://www.nps.gov/people/vincent-chin.htm 

 

“Opposition to Chinese Exclusion (1850-1902)” by Edward O’Mahoney (Spring 2022), Volume 27:1 Asia in World History: Comparisons, Connections, and Conflicts Pt. 2.

https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/opposition-to-chinese-exclusion-1850-1902/ 

 

“The Forgotten History of the Purging of Chinese From America” by Michael Luo (Apr 22 2021)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-forgotten-history-of-the-purging-of-chinese-from-america 

 

“Angel Island State Park” 

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=468 

Sound Credits:

LargeWoodenShip.mp3 by PimFeijen -- https://freesound.org/s/195193/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

seagulls.....waves....july08...2of4..freesound..wav by juskiddink -- https://freesound.org/s/56533/ -- License: Attribution 4.0