Pacific Coast race riots of 1907

The Pacific Coast race riots of 1907 were a series of riots against both Americans and Canadians of Asian descent that took place within the United States and Canada. The riots, which resulted in violence and destruction of property, were the result of anti-Asian tension caused by white opposition to the increasing Asian population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most notable riots that took place were in San Francisco, California; Bellingham, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Each city and anti-Asian activist group claimed its own unique reasoning for their specific riots, which were encouraged by the Asiatic Exclusion League.

Pacific Coast race riots
DateMay 20; September 4, 7–9, 1907
Location
Canada and the United States, specifically at Bellingham, Washington, San Francisco, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia
Caused byAnti-immigration sentiment, Anti-Asian racism, White supremacy
Parties to the civil conflict
Casualties
Death(s)Unknown
Injuries>100, total number unknown
ArrestedTotal number unknown

History

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, both the United States and Canada were experiencing a wave of Asian immigration. As more Asian immigrants continued entering North America, a growing number of citizens on the Pacific Coast became concerned due to economic fears and racist attitudes. American and Canadian citizens grew fearful that Asian immigrants would compete for jobs seen "only" for whites. The immigrants were regarded as "cheap labor", and some employers were accused without evidence of firing Caucasian workers and replacing them with immigrants. "By [the] 1880s, more than 100,000 Chinese were employed in a wide array of occupations, ranging from work on the railroads, in agriculture, and in mining, to work as domestics, in restaurants, and in laundries".[1] Shortly after the Chinese immigration wave, Japanese citizens followed suit and migrated to the United States. By the late 1880s, the number of Japanese immigrants was equivalent to the number of Chinese immigrants.[1]

As the 19th century came to a close, immigration continued to increase along with Nativism, the idea of preserving the current "American social values".[2] Many nativists viewed immigrants who were not Protestant, white or from select regions of Europe as "un-American" and therefore were unable to assimilate into society.[3] It was claimed that if such citizens were seen as "unfit for society", they were considered a threat to the preservation of "American values".[3] Many white Canadian and American citizens engaged in violent actions to force Asians out of jobs and certain cities in the spring, summer and fall of 1907.[3]

Riots
Boarded windows and storefronts on Pender Street in Chinatown after the September 1907 riots in Vancouver

The Pacific Coast race riots consisted primarily of three major riots. These riots took place in San Francisco, Bellingham, and Vancouver.

San Francisco riots

The San Francisco riot began May 20, 1907 and lasted for several nights. It was led by European-American nativists who used violence to advance their goals of excluding Japanese immigrants and maintaining segregated schools for Caucasian and Japanese students. The conflicts over segregated schools for Japanese students and the San Francisco riot led to negotiations between the United States, Canada, and Japan, culminating in the Gentlemen's Agreement.[4] The Japanese government agreed to not issue passports for entry into the United States to any skilled or unskilled labor if they had not previously been to the United States.[5]

Bellingham riots
Main article: Bellingham riots

The Bellingham riots took place on September 4, 1907. As Asian immigrants migrated to Bellingham, employers saw an opportunity to employ Asian immigrants at cheaper wages than Caucasian workers. This added to the racial and ethnocentric hostilities in the community as Caucasian lumber workers feared that the South Asian immigrants would displace them. [6]

Vancouver riots
Main article: Vancouver anti-Asian riots

The Vancouver riot took place two days after the Bellingham riot, on September 7 and 8, in response to Whites becoming concerned with the growing Asian population during the summer of 1907. The Vancouver race riots resulted in restrictive legislation, In 1907–1908, 2,623 Indians and South Asians entered Canada. In 1908–1909, only six South Asian immigrants entered Canada.[7]

The riots resulted in more attention focused on Asian immigration policies within the United States and Canada.

See also

References
  1. Gutiérrez, David. Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. Berkeley: University of California Press, (1995):43
  2. Daniels, Roger, and Otis L. Graham. Debating American Immigration, 1882-Present. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, (2001): 3
  3. Daniels, Roger, and Otis L. Graham. Debating American Immigration, 1882-Present. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, (2001): 13
  4. Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian America. New York: Simon & Schuster, (2015): 129-130.
  5. Erika Lee, "The "Yellow Peril" and Asian Exclusion in the Americas," Pacific Historical Review 76, no. 4 (November 2007):553
  6. Erika Lee, "The "Yellow Peril" and Asian Exclusion in the Americas," Pacific Historical Review 76, no. 4 (November 2007):551
  7. Jensen, Joan M. Passage from India: Asian Indian Immigrants in North America. New Haven: Yale University Press, (1988):82
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