Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023 - Day 25
The San Francisco Riot of 1877?occurred on July 25th, 1877.
The San Francisco riot of 1877 was a three-day pogrom waged against Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, California by the city's majority white population from the evening of July 23 through the night of July 25, 1877. The ethnic violence which swept Chinatown resulted in four deaths and the destruction of more than $100,000 worth of property belonging to the city's Chinese immigrant population.
Anti-Chinese sentiment was long-simmering in the city, and troubled economic times only exacerbated race hate.?Cheap Chinese labor became the scapegoat.?
The Workingmen’s Party of California, a political organization consisting of white laborers, was formed during a recession and gave expression to the anger felt against Chinese immigrants on the west coast who were thought to be undercutting wages.?They coined the anti-Chinese slogan, “The Chinese Must Go!”?
The riot started off as a labor strike but became an overt anti-Chinese action.?The mob ransacked and destroyed property, Chinese laundries were broken into and money and valuables were stolen, anyone who opposed them was shot.