This Day in History: 0000-06-22

June 24, 1867 – “Thousands of Chinese Railroad Laborers Strike in Western U.S.” Between 5,000-7,000 thousand Chinese laborers working on the Transcontinental Railroad staged a strike in the Sierras to protest overseers who whipped and restrained them from seeking other work. They won the right not to be whipped or beaten. A second strike in Nevada desert won Chinese laborers the right to receive the same pay as their White counterparts.  But the Chinese were still required to buy their own supplies while Whites got free room, board and supplies.

History Spotlight

2017 April 12, 1847 - "First Asians Arrive in the United States" - A group of three Chinese students arrived in New York City and became the first Asians to officially enter the United States. However, Chinese records show that Chinese Buddhist priests traveled along the West Coast and present-day British Columbia down to Baja California in 450 A.D. Also, Spanish records show the existence of Chinese shipbuilders in present-day Southern California between 1541 and 1746 and Chinese shopkeepers were already in present-day Los Angeles when the first Anglo Americans arrived. Though conventionally thought to have played a pivotal role in American history only from the 19th century forward, Asians have been in what's now considered the U.S. longer than Europeans."

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