In this lesson, students will learn about the Los Angeles Chinese Massacre of 1871, and identify the causes by examining the attitudes and policies of the time. They will learn about and analyze other massacres that have occurred in the United States in order to gain a better and more nuanced understanding of how and why these acts of violence occur. Lastly, students will research the process for reparations and consider how to address and rectify the harm of such injustices.

Students will:

This lesson includes discussion of and materials discussing or depicting xenophobia, Sinophobia, and racial violence, including lynchings. Please let students know that this lesson will cover these topics and approach discussions with care.

Teaching these topics and having these discussions can be difficult. Here are two resources that may be helpful for planning and facilitating lessons and activities on difficult topics: Strategies for Facilitating Conversations About Race and Racism in the Classroom [run time: 00:04:59] and Let’s Talk! | Discussing Race, Racism and Other Difficult Topics with Students [24 pages].

In 1870, according to the U.S. Census, the Chinese population of Los Angeles was 172 people—about 3% of the city’s population. Although Chinese immigrants accounted for only 10% of California’s total population, they made up 25% of the workforce. Many businesses and households relied on Chinese labor, but these immigrants were exploited on the job and denied access to rights—victims of yellow peril. As such, the Chinese were seen as foreign, unassimilable, and a threat to white workers.

Random anti-Chinese attacks were not uncommon at the time. Additionally, between 1868 and 1870, the Ku Klux Klan led more than a dozen organized attacks on Chinese people in the state of California alone. As the Chinese population grew, becoming more visible in the state (and across the country), Sinophobia increased dramatically; and this anti-Asian sentiment was aided and exacerbated by the racist policies and attitudes of those with power. In 1870, the U.S. Congress passed the Naturalization Act, which extended naturalization rights to aliens of African descent but imposed naturalization bans for other racial groups, specifically Asians.

In 1870, more than half of Los Angeles’s Chinese population lived in the “Chinese quarter” along Calle de Los Negros (later renamed Los Angeles Street), a short street named after the darker-skinned multiracial population who originally lived there. When the original residents moved out, Calle de Los Negros became a vice district where violence was often common. Frustrated Angelenos faulted the legal system for failing to protect their neighborhoods; as such, they formed a committee of vigilantes who meted out punishment against accused criminals. Starting in 1848, Los Angeles received an influx of new city residents, including failed gold miners from the north, soldiers from disbanded regiments, outlaws, and more; with Chinese immigrants among these new residents. Over the next two decades, Calle de Los Negros became more violent, as disputes were frequently settled with guns. Additionally, as the white community sought to consolidate its power, Calle de Los Negros became the scene of many acts of violence against non-white people, especially Mexican and Chinese residents.

The earliest Chinese in Los Angeles, like others, also settled their disputes with guns. After a series of smaller confrontations earlier in 1871, a larger shootout began on the afternoon of October 24th between two tongs (factions) near Calle de Los Negros. A tong fighter was killed, and local police soon arrived at the scene. In the crossfire of the shootout, a white police officer was wounded, and Robert Thompson, a local white rancher and former saloonkeeper, was killed. There was a cry to take revenge against the Chinese. A mob of around five hundred rampaged through the Chinese quarter, targeting and assaulting any Chinese person they saw, regardless of whether they had any connection to the shootout. After about three hours, eighteen Chinese people were killed—with three shot to death and fifteen hung—including a prominent local doctor, Dr. Tong, and a fifteen-year-old boy. In the following months, a grand jury was convened and five trials were held. Eventually, ten of five hundred rioters were charged with the murder of Dr. Tong; eight were found guilty of manslaughter and sent to San Quentin prison, but all were released a year later when their sentences were overturned on a technicality.

While the 1871 Massacre was a traumatic and devastating event for the Chinese community of Los Angeles, it did not stop the growth of their community. Within a year, more Chinese immigrants moved into the area; some into the very buildings that were targeted and destroyed by the mob. The city’s Chinese population multiplied five-fold over the next decade. By the 1890s, much of the Chinese population and business establishments had moved to an area to the north, on both sides of Alameda Street—and became known as Chinatown. Chinese farmers on the outskirts of town became the dominant source of fresh fruits and produce for Los Angeles, and Chinatown became a commercial hub as new grocery stores, restaurants, and labor contractors prospered. This success came about despite ongoing political and social obstacles, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, alien land laws, and other challenges to social integration.

However, the negative media messages against the Chinese and Chinatown made the community vulnerable to exploitation. For example, the City of L.A and local railroad companies wanted to build a central rail passenger terminal, and Chinatown was located in a prime spot for it. Investors and the Southern Pacific Transportation Company started acquiring land in Chinatown, and by the early 1930s evictions began. The eastern half of Chinatown was then razed to make way for Union Station, and the rest of the neighborhood was demolished by the State of California for the 101 Freeway, displacing 3,000 Chinese residents. Even though the evictions took place decades after the Massacre, Chinese Angelenos were, and are, still seen as foreigners and outsiders.

Throughout this country’s history, there have been many other massacres also similarly motivated by racism and xenophobia. These include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre at Pine Ridge Reservation where around 300 Native Americans were killed; (2) the 1919 Elaine Massacre of 200-800 Black men, women, and children; and (3) the 2012 Oak Creek Massacre that targeted a Sikh gurdwara, killing six and wounding four people. These are just a few examples of the genocides, massacres, and ethnic, racial, and class violence against communities of color that are a part of America’s social and racial history.

It is also necessary to acknowledge that these injustices do not occur without actions or responses from the affected communities. At the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, some of the Lakota present fought back against the U.S. soldiers, saving the lives of others by giving them a chance to escape. Following the Elaine Massacre in 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Ida B. Wells, a prominent journalist and anti-lynching activist, conducted their own investigations and produced writings that resisted and refuted the white perpetrators’ account that the massacre had occurred in response to a supposed insurrection being planned by the Black residents of Elaine. In 2012 in Oak Creek, the son of one of the victims started an organization that aims to promote a healthy sense of identity, purpose, and belonging among young people. Another Oak Creek resident organized an annual anniversary event that grieves for those lost and raises money for a scholarship fund in memory of the victims. Following the Chinese Massacre of 1871, some of the affected Chinese residents utilized the limited legal avenues available to them to try to obtain reparations for their losses.

These communities of color found ways to fight back, survive, grieve, heal, and protest in the face of injustices. However, to create a safe and healthy society that values all individuals, regardless of their race, class, religion or other characteristics, the personal, societal and institutional tensions that led to such massacres must be addressed and reconciled. As of 2021, the 1871 Massacre in the old Chinese quarter is commemorated solely by a plaque embedded in the pavement on Los Angeles Street.

This activity aims to contextualize and discuss the many causes of the 1871 Massacre.

This activity aims to compare the 1871 Massacre to other acts of xenophobic and racist violence in the U.S.

This activity helps students consider how an injustice as deeply impactful and harmful as a massacre can be reconciled and how the impacted community might be able to find justice and healing.

This activity helps students build a deeper understanding of the Chinese Massacre of 1871 in a creative way.