Chinese Massacre of 1871
The largest mass lynching in American history didn’t happen in the South, and it didn’t involve African-Americans. Just one more reason why white supremacists should be shut down at every turn.
Today is October 24, 1871, and on this date, 147 years back, in 1871, a mob of 500 white men marched into the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles to beat, tortured, and lynch up to 20 Chinese immigrants.
In the mid-19th century, there was a massive surge in Chinese emigration. This was due in large part to problems in China — famine, war, political strife, etc. — combined with the British Empire’s abolition of slavery. Without slaves, the British Territories were facing a shortage of man-power. The Chinese, desperate for a better life than China could offer them, answered the call for work as laborers, ostensibly signing up to a new indentured servitude scheme.
Some of the Chinese found their way to America, but their numbers exploded following the American Civil War for the same reason. America needed cheap labor to fill the vacuum left behind by Abolition. Add to that the population boom that the West Coast experienced following the California Gold Rush, and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad in the late 1860’s, and there was no shortage of opportunity for immigrant laborers.
The Chinese immigrants, being culturally, religiously, and verbally isolated from Americans, chose to live together in enclaves where they could carry on their own traditions and speak their own language. This gave rise to the formations of Chinatown districts in most large cities.
Of course, as the number of Chinese immigrants grew, the more white Americans hated them. The racial hate grew steadily over the years, and in 1882 the federal government passed a law, the Chinese Exclusion Act, that specifically prohibited immigration by Chinese laborers.
But the riot occurred in 1871. In addition to generic hatred, which no doubt fueled many of the 500 rioters, there was a specific event that set it off. Two rival Chinese groups, feuding over the abduction of a woman, engaged in a gunfight, and Robert Thompson, a white rancher and innocent bystander, was killed in the crossfire.
That was all it took for the 500 man posse to march into Chinatown, going door to door, terrorizing the residents. Almost every home was looted. Dozens were beat or assaulted. And between 17 and 20 were lynched.
Out of the hundreds of participants, only ten of the men ever stood trial, eight of which were convicted of manslaughter.
The convictions were all overturned on a technicality, because of course they were.
The episode led East Coast newspapers to describe Los Angeles as a “blood-stained Eden”.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check back tomorrow for one of the most famous battles, which inspired one of the most famous speeches, of all time.
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