Tacoma’s Chinese Expulsion of 1885 Presented by Ryan Dearinger History Pub

On November 3, 1885, five hundred white Tacomans rounded up hundreds of the city's remaining Chinese residents and forcibly marched them through the pouring rain to a railroad station and crammed them into boxcars bound for Portland. After terrorizing local businessmen known to be supporters of the Chinese, this mob burned Tacoma's Chinatown to the ground. The mob was so methodical in its expulsion of Chinese residents, local newspapers reported, that its approach was hailed as the "Tacoma Method."

Tacoma's Chinese Expulsion was the dark culmination of national and local anti-Chinese sentiment, numerous outbursts of violence in the Puget Sound region, and a culture within the city of Tacoma that reinforced xenophobia and an enduring nativism. The terrorism in Tacoma dehumanized an immigrant population and stimulated expulsions of Chinese communities in over two hundred West Coast and Northwest towns and cities between 1885 and 1887.

History Professor Dr. Dearinger concentrates on the ways Tacoma 's Chinese Expulsion was depicted in the late 1880s and how the city reckoned with its anti-Chinese history in the generations that followed, leading to the creation of Chinese Reconciliation Park.

Dr. Ryan Dearinger is Professor of History and Faculty Fellow in the Honors College at George Fox University, where he teaches courses on the American West, labor and working-class history, and immigration. His book The Filth of Progress: Immigrants, Americans, and the Building of Canals and Railroads in the West won the 2017 "Best Book Award" from Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society. His current book project explores the history of Tacoma's 1885 Chinese Expulsion.

Enjoy 15% off your hotel stay on History Pub nights! Show your ticket at check-in.

These events are open to everyone interested in Pacific Northwest history, and beyond! Often co-sponsored by local or state historical and civic organizations, we bring you experts, scholars, first-person experiencers, historians and documentaries expounding on topics from indigenous history to the birth of Portland, early explorers to hop growing, and on and on! It's like being back in the classroom - except this time you get to settle into comfortable seats and enjoy a drink or two with dinner while you listen and learn.

This event is eligible for a History Pub Stamp