5 Construction of race for Chinese Oregonians
Chinese immigrants were a very large ethnic group in Oregon at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Originally migrating from China during the Gold Rush which began in 1848, by the 1870s, Chinese migrants worked on railroads, in canneries, fisheries, on farms in commercial agriculture, as vegetable gardeners in Portland, as merchants, loggers and service workers.. The vast majority of migrants were men who planned to return to China after gaining wealth in the U.S., sold to the migrants as “gold mountain.”
A great deal of harassment and violence was inflicted upon the Chinese population, ultimately leading to the exclusion of Chinese from immigration to the U.S. at all in 1882 (the first law in the United States restricting immigration based on national origin). Since the vast majority of migrants were laborers and could not marry given racial restrictions and immigration law (The Page Act) which closed off the migration of Chinese women who were not already married, their population declined as immigrant men died. Please view the history link slides below:
- History Project Slide Chinese Vegetable Farmer
- History Project Slide Oregon City Massacre
- Oregon Encyclopedia, The Exclusion Period
During WWII, the United States was allied with China in fighting against Japan. This began a change for Chinese Americans in Oregon. In 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was repealed. However, the McCarren-Walter Act of 1952 limited Chinese immigration to only 105 per year. This was changed when immigration quotas were no longer tied to race in 1965. The 1965 Immigration Act reform also prioritized the reunification of families.
By clicking on the link below you can see where Oregonians were born in different Census resports from 1850 – 2017. There is a box that will allow you to search for particular racial groups and you can also click on the different boxes marked by year of the Census.
Migration history in Oregon by James Gregory
What did you learn from the link?
How did the countries of origin for different racial groups correspond with the immigration histories that you’ve learned about?
