What is it about?
In 1886 the people of Wichita, Kansas launched a boycott to force the town's few Chinese residents to leave. The local campaign was part of a larger national anti-Chinese movement within the United States. American bias against Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century was based on fears of economic competition and racism. Events in Wichita were connected to national trends, but unique circumstances in Wichita also shaped the people's actions.
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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The emergence of Covid-19 led to outbreaks of hate against Asian Americans. "A Slave to Yellow Peril" demonstrates the history of anti-Asian sentiment due to racial bias.
Perspectives
This is an article that I published twenty years ago (in 2002). It has become unfortunately relevant due to a pandemic-era resurgence of anti-Asian sentiment within the United States. I have written a new introduction that summarizes my thoughts about the relevance of history and my "cringey" feelings about the piece that I wrote two decades ago.
Julie Courtwright
Iowa State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Slave to Yellow Peril: The 1886 Chinese Ouster Attempt in Wichita, Kansas With an Updated Introduction, Great Plains Quarterly, June 2021, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/gpq.2021.0034.
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