A Legal History of Anti-Chinese Racism in America

In the history of the Chinese in America, the border has caught our attention and held it. Chinese migrants’ attempts to cross the border, and America’s attempts to stop them, is the story that historians have told and retold. But long before the Chinese faced the first exclusion laws, and long afterward as well, they endured a racial regime within America every day. This book is the history of that racial regime and the lives it touched.

Arriving on California’s shores in the 1850s, Chinese migrants entered a young nation with an old tradition of white dominance. White Californians did not agree on what to do with these “exotic” newcomers, but they were certain that the Chinese did not belong. Set apart by their race, religion, and supposedly slavish tendencies, the Chinese could not be enfolded into the nation as others would be…They had no future in America, or at least that is what lawmakers hoped.

To make it so, western states, territories, and towns enacted anti-Chinese laws. Laws and legal customs regulated the ability of Chinese people to work, operate a business, own property, testify in court, seek education, and form families. For the Chinese, these laws were both more and less than they appeared on paper; more because of the unspoken level of violence that could lie behind them, less because many failed to withstand Chinese resistance…

Chinese resistance in the courts, and outside them, guaranteed that racial laws would not dictate reality.

To uncover the heretofore obscure stories contained in this book, I journeyed to thirty-three archives in California, Oregon, and Washington in search of local legal records…What I found in these archives was a remarkable and practically untapped collection of Chinese legal records, including criminal prosecutions, civil complaints, jail registers, prison records, and mugshots. Of particular note is the existence of Chinese legal testimony, some of which dates from the nineteenth century when such Chinese migrant “voices” are particularly rare. In the many periods and places where scholars have yet to find Chinese-language accounts, Chinese legal testimony offers an unparalleled view of daily life in the American West. This is especially the case for Chinese women and girls, who left behind virtually no written records.

The view offered by legal testimony, however, is still partially obscured. Most Chinese interactions with the law left no mark, and when they did, their impression was usually faint. Court transcripts that include detailed Chinese testimony are rare, in part because discriminatory testimony laws kept Chinese silent in most court proceedings for decades. And what Chinese testimony survives was mediated by outsiders, because the Chinese usually testified with the help of English-language translators and the legal guidance of their white attorneys. To make matters worse, the Chinese, like all witnesses, came to court to tell stories, not all of which were true…

Still, much can be learned from legal transcripts. Chinese migrants began going to court as soon as they arrived in the 1850s, negotiating the terms of their inclusion as complainants, plaintiffs, witnesses, and defendants. They carried with them knowledge of the Chinese legal system and soon adapted to the American system. Chinese resistance in the courts, and outside them, guaranteed that racial laws would not dictate reality. Scholars have shown that law and society are mutually constituted, that legal rights spill into social relations and flow from them. The terms of conditional inclusion, then, were not simply determined by the rights due to the Chinese under the law; they were dependent on the rights the Chinese managed to exert in daily practice. This cut two ways. Sometimes the Chinese managed to claim powers not granted to them by formal law, but at other times they were denied privileges they were guaranteed by formal law. Legal custom could be gentler than the law, or it could be harsher. Within the gaps between formal law and legal custom lie stories of both arbitrary state force and successful Chinese resistance. More often than not, published court opinions and legal statutes smooth over this messy legal landscape, but trial transcripts can reveal more of the bumps and crevices…

Many, many stories emerge from these sources. Some of these stories are myths, fearful tales about wily “Chinamen” and the threats they posed. These narratives provided powerful motivation and justification for racial policing and I have chosen to organize my chapters around these stereotypes. There was the Chinese “coolie,” who out-competed white labor and sent his profits to China; the Chinese “criminal,” who deceived his victims and the police; the Chinese “alien,” who did not belong but demanded civil rights; the “Chinawoman,” who represented the return of slavery; the Chinese “invader,” who contaminated white neighborhoods; the Chinese “predator,” who preyed on white girls; and the Chinese “immigrant,” who threatened to overrun America. Across seven chapters I consider the regulations that emerged from these racial myths and helped to reinforce them.

Each chapter describes racial myths and regulations, but each chapter also includes the stories of real people: Chinese migrants who encountered, accommodated, and refused the preconditions for their inclusion. A few of these narratives may be familiar, because they resulted in landmark court cases. But most Chinese who went to court left little mark on American law, history, or memory. Instead, all that remains is a glimpse of their experiences.

As I sifted through extensive legal archives, I found that the volume of fragmentary stories tested my attention, my empathy, and my willingness to hold contradictions in my mind. You may be tested as well. I have tried to hear each voice above the din, but the cacophony can become overwhelming. I think that is okay. Even when distinct voices blur into noise, the sound can still move us.

*

Let us start with Pany Lowe. Perhaps we can see through his eyes. Lowe was not one of the “2700 boy babies of San Francisco Chinatown,” but in many ways his experience resembled theirs. Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1873, Lowe journeyed to China for his education, and then returned to America, moving between major western cities, first San Francisco, then Denver, on to Portland and Seattle. By the time Lowe sat down with a researcher for an interview in 1924, he had acquired a lifetime of knowledge about the racial regime in the American West.

He had learned, for example, that he could go to some restaurants and not others. Once I go into restaurant, they refused to serve me. I no want to cause trouble so I just walk out. Whole lots of things like this happen but I forget. Now when I want to eat I go to chop house. No trouble th[ere]. He knew some restaurants did not want him, knew chop suey joints were safe, and made the choice to avoid possible humiliation.

Most Chinese who went to court left little mark on American law, history, or memory. Instead, all that remains is a glimpse of their experiences.

He also learned he could go to some barbers and not others. Lots of time people insult me. Once I remember I go barber shop. I sit one hour no ask me what I want. Pretty soon barber say what you want. I tell him I want hair cut, how much? He say $3.00. That make me mad but I make him cut my hair just the same…I never go to white bastard again. He knew that price gouging was a form of discrimination, but also that money could sometimes buy access.

Over time he learned that legal action could also open seemingly closed doors. My second wife take my little girl born in this country to have her hair cut at Frederick & Nelson. They say they very sorry, no cut Chinese hair. Oh, my wife get mad. She go see my lawyer tell him about it, Mr. Sullivan. He write letter to Frederick & Nelson. They write letter back and apologize. Lowe knew the pain of being refused service, he knew illegal discrimination when he saw it, but he also learned that avoidance was easier than confrontation. All the time I tell my wife keep away from those swell places, only make trouble. He knew how to mind racial rules and move on.

He learned he could live in some neighborhoods and not others. When I in Portland I want to live in residential district but they make lots of trouble [if] you try to live outside China town. He learned about the trouble from his friends. One friend, he born in this country, he buy $6,000 house in rose city district. White people make hell lot trouble for him. They take it to court. He fight it. Just the same they kick him out. He can own house but no live here.

Lowe knew the Chinese were supposed to be equally protected by American law. But he knew that, in practice, the law protected white neighborhoods from Chinese encroachment. I think that very unjust. Those people very uncivilized, have no regard for humanity. So when my friend had so much trouble I decided to stay in China town. Nobody care there. He knew some spaces were reserved for white people and chose not to test the line.

After the exclusion laws passed, Lowe also learned the consequences of border control. My people be in this country long time. My grandfather come to this country. When I in China he tell me about work on railroad and work in laundry. Before when he go back they have the check system. Make Chinese carry paper tell who they are. Some inspector today make Chinaman show card. All same dog license. I say who the hell are you. He show me United States Secret man. I tell him I born in this country…He say all right, but he take some other men, lo[c]k them up for a day or two. Lowe knew that exclusion made all Chinese residents vulnerable and a missing paper could mean deportation.

Finally, Lowe learned that American law held uncommon sway over his marriage prospects. He could marry some women and not others. Not allowed marry white girl. Not enough American born Chinese to go around. China only place to get wife. Not allowed to bring them back. For Chinaman, very unjust. Not human. Very uncivilized. He knew that anti-miscegenation and exclusion laws would forever mark his family. He knew that enduring such indignities was a condition of living in the American West.

Given all this, Pany Lowe knew that he would never belong. When I was young fellow I felt that I American. I no Chinaman. Now I get more sense. I know I never be American, always Chinaman. I no care now anymore. He lived at the margins of America society and didn’t know if he should hope for more. Very hard to tell whether people treat better now than before. Some time, I think so, some time I don’t think so. He did not know if there had been progress.

Still, he held out hope that white Americans could learn. I hope this survey do lot of good for Chinese people. Make American people realize that Chinese people are humans…

I think very few American people really know anything about Chinese.

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From John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law by Beth Lew-Williams. Copyright © 2026. Available from Harvard University Press. John Doe Chinaman has been shortlisted for the 2026 Cundill History Prize.