EXTRA! Montana Newspaper Stories 1864-1922: Anti-Chinese Discrimination

The 1870 census counted 2400 Chinese living in Montana, but by the 1880s there were an estimated 12,000 Chinese working on railroads in the territory. Nearly all were men, earning money to send to their families. In 1892, Montana labor leaders decry the “despicable competition” presented by the Chinese and warn of contamination from “their habits, their modes of living and by diseases.” A variety of discriminatory laws will remain in effect until 1965.

Key dates

1882—U.S. Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, preventing Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens.
1892—The Geary Act prevents further immigration and requires Chinese in the U.S. to carry certificates of residency.
November 4, 1892—The “Eleventh Resolution” is adopted at a Butte labor meeting.

In the newspapers

• They Must Go to China, Helena Independent, September 8, 1891, p. 5
• Coming in Hundreds, Anaconda Standard, November 16, 1891, p. 3
• Mr. Burns Stood Alone, Helena Independent, January 30, 1892, p. 5
• It is Taking Effect: The Boycott Against the Chinese in Anaconda, Anaconda Standard, February 11, 1892, p. 3
• Bread Winners to the Front, Anaconda Standard, October 28, 1892 p.4
• Laboring Man’s Home, Great Falls Tribune, November 4, 1892, p. 7
• But Ten Registered, Helena Independent, April 7, 1893, p.8
• Here is the Law of It, Helena Independent, April 16, 1893, p. 5
• Speaking for Helena and Montana’s Chinatown, Anaconda Standard, September 17, 1894, p. 2
• Chinese Shun Montana, Billings Gazette, December 7, 1900, p. 6
• Up to the Chinamen, Kalispell Bee, May 14, 1902, p. 4
• A Raid on Chinatown, River Press, April 15, 1903, p. 6
• Wage War on China, Fergus County Democrat, December 29, 1908, p. 6
• The Real Yellow Peril, Yellowstone Monitor, June 5, 1913, p. 2

To find more

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