The first of the Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco in the early 1800’s to work as servants. By 1851, 25,000 Chinese people were working in California, and most had settled in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Fleeing famine and Opium Wars, they had come seeking the good fortune promised by the “Gold Mountain” of California, and hoped to return with wealth to their families in China. For the majority, the reality of life in California did not live up to the promise. First employed as workers in the gold mines during the gold rush, they later built the railroads, working as little more than slaves and facing constant prejudice. Yet the community, segregated in the Chinatown ghetto, thrived. Growing prejudice led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which halted all Chinese immigration for 10 years and severely limited it thereafter (the Chinese Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943). Chinese people were also denied the opportunity to buy homes outside the Chinatown ghetto until the 1950s.
Click Here> for recent article about a California lawmaker who is seeking state, federal apologies for decades of mistreatment of Chinese
Click Here> to be directed to the Angel Island State Park official website - The “Ellis Island of the West” for Chinese Immigration 1910-1940