UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

The Courts and the Making of a Chinese Immigrant Community in Portland, Oregon, 1850-1910

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.15760/etd.76

Authors

Sarah Griffith

Reported year

2000

Reported language

en

Source type

report

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.763354+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.763354+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Portland State University

Reported affiliation countries

US

Documentary abstract — original language

This thesis studies the development of the Portland, Oregon Chinese immigrant community between 1850 and 1910. Chinese immigrants first arrived in Portland in the mid-1850s and quickly created businesses as well as social institutions they transplanted from China to the U.S. West. They also established intricate relationships among themselves and with members of the surrounding white community. County and state court records held at the Multnomah County Courthouse and National Archives in Seattle, Washington, reveal much about the Chinese immigrant community in Portland and provide a window into a society that left few written records. Through the analysis of hundreds of court cases held at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, this thesis reconstructs four broad aspects of Portland's Chinese immigrant community. The first chapter discusses the arrival and establishment of Chinese immigrants in Portland. The second chapter discusses Chinese experience with white missionaries in the courts as both groups battled for custody rights to Chinese women and children. The third chapter looks at the case of United States v. John Wilson, which revealed how Chinese and whites had collaborated to establish one of the largest and most successful immigrant and opium smuggling rings on the West Coast. With the aim of profiting from Chinese exclusion, the white and Chinese operators of this ring bridged racial barriers that had, for decades, divided the two groups. In chapter four, finally, the thesis examines social conflict within the late nineteenth century Portland Chinese community. This chapter describes how internal conflicts in Portland Chinatown, stemming from traditional social associations transplanted from China, played as strong a role in shaping the Chinese community in Portland as did exclusion laws determined to end the entry of Chinese to the United States.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W35993232

DOI

10.15760/etd.76

Documentary context

Documentary family

Report — institutional provenance unspecified

Source-reported types

report

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.76
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W35993232

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1480098619 · CITES
• openalex:w1800926014 · CITES
• openalex:w1966518738 · CITES
• openalex:w1972558640 · CITES
• openalex:w1980356290 · CITES
• openalex:w1998404549 · CITES
• openalex:w2001287866 · CITES
• openalex:w2009511808 · CITES
• openalex:w2025319794 · CITES
• openalex:w2039089560 · CITES
• openalex:w2043409005 · CITES
• openalex:w2047776269 · CITES
• openalex:w2069341403 · CITES
• openalex:w2092020588 · CITES
• openalex:w2156936836 · CITES
• openalex:w2247792229 · CITES
• openalex:w2313055745 · CITES
• openalex:w2318108781 · CITES
• openalex:w2324246857 · CITES
• openalex:w2326946334 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.