Chinese Labor, the Transcontinental Railroad, and the California Gold Rush
Abstract / Artist's Statement
This study examines Chinese laborers on the transcontinental railroad and in the California gold rush. Through a study/survey of sources such as, Chinese Soujorn Labor and the American Transcontinental Railroad. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift Für Die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft 161, no. 1 (2005): 80–102. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40752497/. In this source, the author describes why the Chinese labor force was so prevalent on the Transcontinental Railroad. The Railroad administrators needed a cheap labor force that would continue to work hard. The Chinese were willing to work for a lower wage than Native Americans and Europeans, making them a good choice for administers to employ. My research relies on primary sources including photographs of structures that Chinese laborers built with no machinery and personal correspondence between workers on the railroad. I also analyze discriminatory legislation and legal cases from the 1870s and 1880s to highlight the extreme racism Chinese laborers experienced while helping build a country that was not their own. I supplement my primary source research with secondary source material describing what life was like in Chinese camps along the railroad and in California during the gold rush.
Significance: The Chinese labor force that arose in the United States was crucial to the Transcontinental Railroad and to the United States. It is important as historians to understand the racial scrutiny that the Chinese were under while connecting the United States. As a country, we like to skip over parts of our history that gives credit to minorities. It is significant to view the Chinese immigrants that were putting their lives on the line for almost no money to make the United States a more united country, all while dealing with racism in both laws that were being passed by the government, and through violence.
Chinese Labor, the Transcontinental Railroad, and the California Gold Rush
UC South Ballroom
This study examines Chinese laborers on the transcontinental railroad and in the California gold rush. Through a study/survey of sources such as, Chinese Soujorn Labor and the American Transcontinental Railroad. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE) / Zeitschrift Für Die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft 161, no. 1 (2005): 80–102. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40752497/. In this source, the author describes why the Chinese labor force was so prevalent on the Transcontinental Railroad. The Railroad administrators needed a cheap labor force that would continue to work hard. The Chinese were willing to work for a lower wage than Native Americans and Europeans, making them a good choice for administers to employ. My research relies on primary sources including photographs of structures that Chinese laborers built with no machinery and personal correspondence between workers on the railroad. I also analyze discriminatory legislation and legal cases from the 1870s and 1880s to highlight the extreme racism Chinese laborers experienced while helping build a country that was not their own. I supplement my primary source research with secondary source material describing what life was like in Chinese camps along the railroad and in California during the gold rush.
Significance: The Chinese labor force that arose in the United States was crucial to the Transcontinental Railroad and to the United States. It is important as historians to understand the racial scrutiny that the Chinese were under while connecting the United States. As a country, we like to skip over parts of our history that gives credit to minorities. It is significant to view the Chinese immigrants that were putting their lives on the line for almost no money to make the United States a more united country, all while dealing with racism in both laws that were being passed by the government, and through violence.