Existing comment:
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act:
From the late 1840s through the 1860s, many Chinese come to the Pacific Coast in search of gold and help build the transcontinental railroad. Anti-Chinese feelings, stemming in part from competition over jobs, lead to this law, which bans Chinese from entering the US and prevents them from becoming citizens. It will stand until 1943.
"I am a Chinaman, a republican, and a lover of free institutions; am much attached to the principles of the government of the United States... You argue that this is a republic of a particular race -- that the Constitution of the United States admits of no asylum to any other than the pale face. This proposition is false to the extreme, and you know it. The declaration of your independence, and all the acts of your government, your people, and your history are all against you."
-- Norman Asing, letter to the Daily Alta California, May 15, 1852
1886 "Types of the Races of Man":
Popular illustrations such as this one, from Cram's Universal Atlas, reinforce the idea that the world's peoples could easily be classified and ranked by race.
1890s-1910s World's Fairs:
Vast fairs such as the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition (1893) an the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) are billed as important educational experiences, and they draw millions of people from across the United States.
At the St. Louis fair, race and human progress are prominent themes, and exhibits include entire "living villages." According to WH McGee, an anthropologist who organizes what he calls a "Congress of Races," these exhibits are intended to reaffirm the hierarchy of races.
"The aim of the Department of Anthropology at the World's Fair will be to represent human progress from the dark prime to the highest enlightenment, from savagery to civic organization, from egotism to altruism."
-- WJ McGee, World's Fair Bulletin 4 (August 1903)
"When a white man comes to our country, we give him presents, sometimes of sheep, goats or birds, and divide our elephant meat with them. The Americans treat us as they do our pet monkey. They laugh at us and poke their umbrellas into our faces."
-- Latuna, Pygmy village resident, quoted in the St. Louis Republic, August 6, 1904 |