United States 1867

Synopsis

Thousands of Chinese immigrant railroad laborers working in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range went on strike against the Central Pacific Railroad in June 1967. They demanded higher wages and a shorter workday and protested the right of overseers to whip them or prohibit them from quitting and seeking alternative employment. While the "Big Four" railroad magnates originally shied away from Chinese labor, "coolies" laboring in severe weather, under cruel working conditions, with pay inferior to that of whites, became the bulk of the western railroad labor force. Amidst a climate of anti-Chinese sentiment, the workers lacked the support of other workers, and the strike failed in one week after the railroad cut off their food supply.

Timeline

• 1851: China's T'ai P'ing ("Great Peace") Rebellion begins under the leadership of schoolmaster Hong Xiuquan, who believes himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ...