Anti-Asian/Asian American history in the United States: Anti-AAPI history, Washington state
Local history
Anti-AAPI history locally
Washington state has its own history of anti-Asian violence. Below are links to information about Asian-American internment locally, the "Tacoma Method" and Seattle's Chinese Expulsion and anti-Chinese violence
The Tacoma Method
The Tacoma Method
- The Tacoma Method - Interactive history lesson"On November 3, 1885, a mob composed of several hundred men expelled the Chinese community of Tacoma, Washington Territory. Like other acts of anti-Chinese violence in the late nineteenth century, the expulsion was a highly-coordinated act of violence that was led by city leaders and other white residents"
- The 1885 Forced Expulsion of Chinese from TacomaPart of the larger project: "1885 Chinese Expulsion: Places & People" for the Tacoma Historical Society
- Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park"The Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park provides an opportunity to celebrate our cultural diversity and common humanity. The park serves as an inspiration for other communities and a model to those who work for reconciliation in all parts of the world." Interactive site about the park itself, and the lives of and the expulsion of Chinese residents in Tacoma.
How We Got Here
Below is a documentary film through the City of Tacoma. Includes information about the Tacoma Method and also "...investigates how the U.S. and Tacoma region were shaped by racist laws, policies and discriminatory practices and argues these systems can only be dismantled through strategies of recognition, restitution, reconciliation and a sustained commitment to equity."
Seattle's 1886 riot and Chinese explusion
Seattle's 1886 riot and Chinese explusion
- Mobs forcibly expel most of Seattle's Chinese residents beginning on February 7, 1886."on February 7, 1886, violence breaks out in Seattle as a mob starts to forcibly expel most of the city's Chinese population. The next day one man dies and four are injured when they attack Home Guards protecting Chinese residents. Martial law is declared and will last for two weeks." From HistoryLink.org, an encyclopedia for Washington state history.
- Hidden history of anti-Chinese violence in Seattle"To understand what happened in Seattle in February 1886, you have to go back a few months earlier to the late summer of 1885. All over the West, whites began taking violent action to force Chinese out of their communities. Jobs were scarce. Chinese laborers, who’d been helping build the transcontinental railroad, were now looking for other employment, and were perceived as an economic threat. A new federal law, passed in 1882, legally excluded most Chinese from entering the United States."
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Japanese internment in Washington state
Japanese internment in Washington state
After the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland. Most of those deemed a threat were of Japanese descent (or appeared to be of Japanese descent...), regardless of citizenship status. High profile internment camps such as Manzanar, CA are widely-known, but there were local internment camps, as close as the Puyallup fair grounds.
The Puyallup Valley Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League filmed a documentary, ”The Silent Fair" about nine people who were interred at "Camp Harmony." See a preview of the documentary below.
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