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Race, Immigration, And A Change Of Heart: A History Of The San Francisco Chinatown, Sarah Littman

All Master's Theses

This thesis examines how the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire affected the local Chinatown and Chinese immigration as a whole. It focuses on communities from the Pearl River Delta of southern China, their motivations for emigration, the industries they found employment in, and the racially charged legislation they had to contend with. By 1902 the Chinese Exclusion Act forbid Chinese immigration indefinitely, but the fire of 1906 destroyed the local City Hall which housed all of the city’s immigration records. Chinese immigrants exploited the opportunity, applying for more documentation than they needed and distributing the extras to those …