Anti-Chinese riot and ethnic cleansing in Tacoma, Washington State, USA in 1885
The forced expulsion of Tacoma's Chinese residents in 1885 established the 'Tacoma method,' a model replicated across the American West for ethnic cleansing of Chinese communities.
Key Facts
- Date of expulsion
- November 3, 1885
- Departure deadline set by city
- November 1, 1885
- Destination of expelled residents
- Portland, Oregon (by train)
- Chinese community structures
- Razed in days following the expulsion
- Reconciliation Park groundbreaking
- 2005
- City Council statement
- 1993, called event 'a most reprehensible occurrence'
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Growing anti-Chinese sentiment and organized nativist movements throughout the American West during the 1880s fueled hostility in Tacoma. City leaders formally set a November 1, 1885 deadline for Chinese residents to leave, reflecting broad official support for exclusion and reflecting national anxieties about Chinese labor competition.
On November 3, 1885, a mob composed of prominent businessmen, police officers, and political leaders forcibly marched Tacoma's Chinese residents to a railroad station and compelled them to board a train to Portland. In the days that followed, the remaining structures of the Chinese community were demolished, effectively erasing the settlement.
The expulsion became known as the 'Tacoma method' and was cited as a blueprint for removing Chinese residents from other towns across the American West. Those responsible faced no legal repercussions. Chinese immigration to Tacoma was suppressed for decades, and formal civic reconciliation efforts did not begin until 1992, culminating in Chinese Reconciliation Park in 2005.
Political Outcome
Chinese residents were forcibly expelled from Tacoma; the 'Tacoma method' was adopted as a model for anti-Chinese expulsions across the American West, with no prosecutions of those responsible.
Chinese community present and residing in Tacoma, Washington Territory
Chinese population eliminated from Tacoma; city leadership and mob actors faced no consequences