“Everybody knows Chinese worked on the railroad, there’s a paragraph in every textbook... But that’s about all they know, and that’s what we’re trying to correct,” Hilton Obenzinger, Assoc. director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project.
The Chinese railroad workers were grading and digging tunnels across a stretch of the Sierras when they decided to lay down their tools. It was the end of June 1867 and snow still covered the mountain tops.
Chinese laborers made up a majority of the Central Pacific workforce that built out the transcontinental railroad east from California. The rails they laid eventually met track set down by the Union Pacific, which worked westward.Hiring Chinese began as an experiment after a January 1865 advertisement seeking 5,000 laborers netted only a few hundred, Obenzinger said.
But Strobridge yielded and the Central Pacific tested out 50 Chinese workers in 1865, Obenzinger said. They were among the 50,000 to 60,000 Chinese living in California that year, hailing from Sacramento, San Francisco, and the gold-mining towns of the Sierra Nevada, according to Obenzinger. A letter from Leland Stanford, former governor of California and president Central Pacific, requesting additional labor to work on rail lines.By contrast, the Union Pacific had no Chinese and was overwhelmingly Irish, according to Obenzinger.
When the strike went down on June 25, 1867, some 5,000 Chinese were at work between the California towns of Cisco and Truckee, just west of the Nevada border.“They went to their camp and they sat,” Obenzinger said. “Crocker was amazed. He reported that if there had been that number of white laborers on strike, it would’ve been impossible to control them.”“They felt if they did concede, the Chinese would be bossing them,” Obenzinger added.The strike was also cutting into profits.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
150 rockets fired into Israel from Gaza, Israel's military saysMore than 150 rockets were fired from the Gaza strip into southern Israel Saturday, Israeli government says.
Read more »
Dow drops more than 150 points after Fed's Powell dashes rate-cut hopesAfter a strong start to the trading day, the Dow dropped more than 160 points after Fed Chair Powell crushed hopes of lower rates. Real estate was the only sector to finish in the green.
Read more »
Cargill recalls animal feed over grain toxin concernsCargill Inc has issued a voluntary recall of nearly 150 tons of animal feed, a s...
Read more »
Chicago sees 10% drop in homicides in AprilHomicides and shootings in Chicago continued to drop in April as law enforcement officials prepare for the violent crime surge that usually accompanies the city's warmer months, police said Wednesday.
Read more »
Israel responds with airstrikes, killing at least one person, after 200 rockets fired from GazaMore than 150 rockets were fired from the Gaza strip into southern Israel Saturday, Israeli government says.
Read more »
2 wounded as Gaza militants fire 200 rockets towards Israel: IDFMore than 150 rockets were fired by Gaza militants toward Israel within a few hours this morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Two Israelis have been wounded, according to Israel's emergency response service.
Read more »
How to LA Food BowlOur lafoodbowl is in full swing with more than 150 food events across the city this month. It's kind of a lot, so we wrote this super helpful guide so you know how to do it.
Read more »
Harvard grad student union stages sit-in over labor disputeA union for Harvard University graduate students is staging a campus sit-in to pressure the school to meet its labor demands
Read more »
Trump’s Labor secretary comes out against giving workers a raise'Alexander Acosta may bear the title of U.S. Secretary of Labor, but you wouldn’t know it from the policies he has implemented as head of the one cabinet-level department explicitly devoted to the welfare of American workers,' writes columnist hiltzikm
Read more »