Chinese Migration Timeline

      1850s-1864 – China was in a state of civil war and so many Chinese decided to leave and try to find gold in California.

      1851 – The first Chinese laundry is opened in San Francisco. It is such a huge success that dozens more open up within months. The laundry owners were mostly Chinese people who had come to America in search of gold but were unable to successfully mine because of racism in the mining camps.

      1852 – This year was the height of the Gold Rush immigration, and 20,000 of those immigrants were Chinese. Due to racism, this group was forced away from the mines and to jobs in almost any field of work including cooks, vegetable farmers, fortunetellers, and many others. Many Chinese people moved to San Francisco to become a part of the business community. They created the first “Chinatown” at that time.

      1860s – The Chinatown in San Jose, California was created and a large Chinese community lived there until it was burned down in 1985.

      1865 – This year the first Chinese were hired to build the railroad in the high Sierras. They lived in simple dwellings near the tracks.

      1868 – By the summer of this year the transcontinental railroad had been built over the high Sierras.

      1869 – Central Pacific Railroad Company started a line through the lower part of California from the San Joaquin Valley down to Los Angeles.

      1870 – The Naturalization Act was passed which allowed African Americans to become citizens but not Asians.

      1876 – The railroad line to Los Angeles was finished which greatly helped the development of the San Joaquin Valley.
     
      1882 – The Chinese Exclusion Act did not allow any Chinese people to come to America for ten years.

      1904 – The Chinese Exclusion Act was made permanent. The Chinese found ways to avoid this rule, however, and the Chinese population in America continued to grow.

      1910 – Angel Island was turned into a prison-like detention for immigrants to be questioned. Many Chinese were forced to return to China.

      1943 – The Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act was passed and Chinese were allowed to immigrate and become citizens again. This happened mainly because China became an ally of the United States, not for human rights reasons.