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Asian Americans and U.S. Law

Violence and Mobs: Will the Law Protect?

This section introduces some early judicial responses to the first major Asian presence in the United States, the Chinese in California.

Public violence directed at Chinese and Chinese communities was all too common in the late 1800s. This section examines the courts' regard for Asian testimony in a California criminal case and its handling of claims in a civil suit arising from a massacre in Los Angeles in 1871.

Additional optional readings set out the context of violentce against Asians in other West Coast commuities during this period.