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Description
An illustration from the newspaper of English-born New York engraver Frank Leslie depicting Chinese rail workers with the short-lived California Pacific Railroad. The phrase “the Coming Man” – akin to modern terms like “rising star” reflected the resentment and anxiety white Americans, particularly white Californians, projected onto Asian immigrants. Two Chinese stereotypes are present in this illustration, in the foreground a Chinese laborer smokes opium while the man beside him mends an article of clothing, representing the remarkable work ethic demonstrated by Chinese laborers. This reputation for efficient, cheap labor generated animosity among white workers who felt threatened by this new source of competition for wages. These fears often led to mob violence against immigrant groups and found legal expression in the Chinese Exclusion Acts, the first of which passed in 1882.
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