From The Wasp of May 26, 1882, promoting common racist myth that diseases were rampant in Chinatown (Trauner, 2015)
The second wave began when the Transcontinental Railroad was finished and thousands of men were jobless (Wang, 2015). Times were hard and men were laid off. No one had money. The Chinese were blamed for the bad economic times.
Encounter Twenty four Chinese men were killed in a race riot in Los Angeles in 1871 (Chang, 2015). Anti-Chinese violence increased. 322,000 Chinese immigrated to the US from 1850-1882. Fearing overpopulation and anti-Chinese feelings, the US Congress enacted The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 where Chinese immigration was halted and they were denied citizenship and rights while in the country. This kept them from assimilating so they formed their own Chinatowns with restaurants, laundries, groceries, and gift shops. Chinatowns were blamed for diseases and some were burned down.
San Jose's downtown Chinatown burnt to the ground in 1880 (San Jose Research Center, 2015)
c. 1892 Courtesy of Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma. 1892
The US Congress and states continued to enact laws discriminating against Chinese in America.
Exchange During this period, Chinese submitted at least 10,000 lawsuits challenging the laws. In 1943, President Roosevelt repealed all the Chinese Exclusions Acts because of pressure from China, our Asian ally. Chinese were now allowed to be citizens. The 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act allowed immigration of Chinese families connected to Chinese American citizens and skilled workers. The 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act allowed more skilled workers and did away with the old quota system that favored Europeans.
Chinese War Brides Act 1946 exempted Chinese brides from the quota system