Race Relations in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century California

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The exclusion from high society left the descendants of the “people of reason” in a position they had never been in before: lower class citizens. As American California progressed, the Mexican culture of the Californios was oppressed. There was no place for the lifestyle of the Califonios in the developing world around them. Californios could do nothing about their predicament except to accept their newfound marginalization. The chain of racism that began with the “people of reason” trying to assimilate natives, progressed to prejudices against natives and Mexican immigrants, eventually settled with whites holding power over and prejudices against all of the peoples who had been there before them.

In the same way that natives, Mexicans, and Californios could not escape their fate as marginalized groups, neither could the Chinese immigrants in the mid nineteenth century. Despite coming from middle class China, Chinese immigrants were seen as lesser than almost all of the other races in California. Depending who was asked, they were equal to or less than even the natives and blacks. Because of the Chinese immigrants’ easily distinguishable appearance and lifestyle, they were marginalized by whites in California. They were denied basic political rights and were not protected by their homeland. The racial attitudes the whites had about the Chinese was such that Chinese-Americans preferred to live in the “Chinatowns” of California. Or, sections of the cities in which Chinese immigrants and residents lived almost if not entirely exclusively.

Even though the Chinese chose to live separately from the white population, they did so defiantly. They established their community in the heart of San Francisco, with an economy to support their growing numbers. A large part of their financial support came from producing and washing clothes for the predominantly white city. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Chinese economy was seen as a threat to white manufacturers in California. However, by the end of the nineteenth century the factories and products run by the Chinese were not as important to the Californian economy. The ebb of the perceived economic threat can be attributed to a lack of growth in the Chinese community because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. This act, among other movements to decrease the Chinese-American population, and returns to their homeland significantly damaged the Chinese community’s numbers in California.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the census data on Chinese immigrants was unreliable at best and deliberately distorted and manipulated at worst. But, it can reasonably be assumed that the Exclusion Act decreased the rate of growth in the Chinese population. This Exclusion Act was no doubt a direct result of the anti-Chinese movement that was present throughout the United States but dominated Californian politics in the 1870s. Before that, though, laws were passed that prevented Chinamen’s wives from entering the US. A stereotype emerged among the white community that Chinese women were all prostitutes. So, when a law preventing Chinese prostitutes from entering the United States was passed, many married women were barred access to their husband’s new homes.

While all stereotyping should be avoided, the development of the one that portrayed Chinese women as prostitutes was not unfounded. San Francisco allowed brothels to operate tactlessly during the entirety of the nineteenth century. Many Chinese brothels existed, and Chinese prostitution was widely scrutinized. Many of the Chinese immigrants were bachelors, however, Chinamen were not the only ones visiting the brothels. In Yong Chen’s Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943: A Trans-Pacific Community he describes Chinese brothels as a meeting place of all genders, classes, and races. This description is accurate, as white men frequented the establishments. Chinamen did not solely rely on Chinese prostitution either, calling on white prostitutes regularly. Despite the appearance of whites on this particularly risqué scene, prostitution was regarded as a Chinaman’s vice.

Prostitution was not the only negative mark on the Chinese ledger of racial status. Whites held the belief that the Chinese were particularly dirty. Often, Chinatowns were described with words such as “filthy” and containing “vile refuse.” Interestingly, the whites gained notion that diseases, particularly STD’s, were harder to be cured if they had been contracted from a Chinese woman.

Another strike against the Chinese was their heavy association with Opium. In the mid-1800s, Opium was very popular in China, a habit that immigrants brought with them. It was the fear of the white population that Opiate use would quickly spread to their own degenerated populaces. Although the Chinese had not introduced the drug to the country, the whites of California believed they did, and that was enough to further their racial prejudices against the Chinese-Americans.

As with everything unfamiliar, white Californians were fearful and distrustful of Chinese medicine. The surplus of Chinese drug stores in Chinatown is a tribute to the extent that distrust of another culture’s medicinal practices is a two-way street. The Chinese relied heavily on traditional practices from their homeland, many of them claiming to have been passed down for generations. In the same way whites were skeptical of Chinese tradition, the Chinamen were hesitant to trust new Western medicine. The strangeness of Chinese medicine to the white population and their firm grasp on their homeland’s traditions was just another splinter in the wedge between the two groups.

Another, larger piece of the separation between the Chinese and white culture in California was religion. Differences in religious beliefs and practices are often a huge part of discriminatory opinions. Christianity is frequently seen by its followers as the one truth, anything else is heathenistic and barbaric. Chinese paganist customs were no exception. The difference in religions prompted Christian missions in Chinatowns. But, many Chinese held tightly to their traditions. It may have not been as much of a point of prejudice, had the Chinese not allowed their religion to loudly escapade into city streets. As in so many other instances, Californian Christian whites developed racial biases against Californian Pagan Chinese, staking the wedge deeper between the races.

Even though the dominant white population of California came up with never ending prejudices against the Chinese, a wonder that captivated multi-ethnic audiences was the Chinese theater. True, the language barrier and the aforementioned prejudices made it difficult for whites to appreciate Chinese theater. But, this did not stop many others from enjoying