The Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming – September 2, 1885

TOPIC:

OBJECTIVES:

  • Students will learn that Chinese who came to America faced discrimination in many ways that included many acts of violence.
  • Students will be able to show that the resistance to these kinds of acts were met by resistance through the legal system and diplomatically.
  • Students will make the connection between the prejudice shown towards Chinese workers and the labor conflicts with White workers based on the belief that the Chinese workers threatened their livelihood.

INTRODUCTION

Violence against Chinese laborers was a part of the daily lives of migrants who had come to the United States as early as 1849 for the Gold Rush. But as labor disputes intensified with each strike, things came to ahead on the morning of September 2, 1885 when a fight broke out between white and Chinese miners. Even though a foreman broke up the fight, the white miners organized and later gathered a mob, that included women and children, to kill, loot, and burn inĀ  Rock Springs’ Chinatown. This lesson covers the massacre and the structural failures of government leading up to it, and the aftermath.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

  • Why is what happened in 1885 in Rock Springs, Wyoming important?
  • Why did Chinese come to the U.S. and how was it that they came to be in Wyoming?
  • What impact did the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 have on this incident?

KIT INCLUDES

Lesson plan created in partnership with 1882 Foundation