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Cuz racism, builders of the Transcontinental Railroad said Chinese men were too wimpy for such manly work. But it was the white guys who said we don’t wanna do that shit, so they said fuck it let’s try the Chinese. And they were tough as nails and up to the strenuous task. Eventually, the Chinese workers said you know what we’re tired of being treated like shit, and staged the largest labor strike of the era.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: June 25, 1867--
Many Chinese came to America in the 1840s and ‘50s for the California gold rush, and were only hired to build the railroads because almost no one else wanted to do it. They toiled in the blazing sun and freezing cold alike, with several hundred dying from accidents, landslides, disease, and things going boom.
In June 1867 they were building through Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range—that place where settlers got trapped by snow and went cannibal—and despite it being summertime things were still frozen as fuck, with ten-foot snowdrifts. The problem for the railroad was that Chinese men had proven to be hard and reliable workers, and were getting hired away by other industries such as mining. The contractor said well I guess I have to give them a raise and increased their monthly pay from $31 to $35. Such “generosity” did not garner the result he was hoping for.
Rather than saying oh hey thanks that’s awesome, they said fuck you we’re tired of being treated like shit. Representing at least 80% of the workforce, Chinese men were paid way less than whites and got the more dangerous jobs. They said they wanted a shorter workday and $40 a month. The contractor said I don’t fucking think so. And so, on June 25, 1867, the Chinese workers said well fuck you we’re on strike. Also, the pay demand just increased to $45 a month.
Alas, the contractor had the ability to use hunger as a weapon. They were in the middle of nowhere and he said fine, no food for you, cutting off their supplies. After a week, suffering malnutrition, most of the Chinese laborers went back to work. Some stalwart holdouts were pissed and so the contractor brought in white guys with guns and that ended that.
But it was not all in vain. The strike scared the shit out of the railroad, because prior to that the industry had viewed the Chinese as docile. The abuse lessened, working conditions improved, and over time many of their demands were eventually met. It also prompted additional strikes, serving as a beacon for other exploited workers realizing they had the power to stand up to injustice.
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