Violence Against Immigrant Laborers
Since the mid-nineteenth century, immigrants from all over the world have flocked to the Intermountain West looking for economic opportunity and the chance of a better life. Unfortunately for many of these migrant groups, the United States has not always been welcoming to them. Asians, mainly the Chinese, who began arriving in the 1840s and 1850s, had to deal with widespread xenophobia and eventually, laws that barred them from entering the United States. Southern and Eastern Europeans, like Italians, were also perceived as inferior and experienced regular discrimination. Xenophobia was at times so strong that it escalated to violence, and immigrant groups were usually the ones who bore the brunt of the brutality. The violence they faced took many different forms, but it always deeply affected these people, and the remnants of this xenophobia can still be seen in society today.
Denver Race Riot of 1880
General anti-Chinese sentiment in the nineteenth century was rapidly growing. This was particularly true in western cities like Denver. A saloon fight between several Chinese and white men led to the destruction of Denver’s Chinatown and to one of Colorado’s worst race riots in its history.
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Fish Creek Massacre
In the summer of 1869, Italian immigrants in Eureka, Nevada decided to go on strike to protest low wages. Local tensions escalated the situation to the point of violence, and, on August 18, 1879, five protesting Italian immigrants were killed.
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The Shooting of Mexican Immigrants in Rifle, Colorado
In 2001, a man named William Stagner shot and killed four Mexicans in Rifle, Colorado. This incident demonstrates how violence is still inflicted on immigrant groups in the twenty-first century in the American west.
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The Chinese-Italian "War"
Mounting tensions between competing Italian and Chinese mining groups in Como, Colorado climaxed on November 9, 1879 when Italian miners forced the Chinese out of their mining shaft and demanded their departure from Como.
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Anti-Chinese Riot near Virginia City, Nevada
In 1869, with anti-Chinese sentiment growing in the west, a mob in Virginia City, Nevada attempted to expel the Chinese immigrants from town. They raided the railroad where the Chinese were laying tracks, demanded their departure, and destroyed all of their property.
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Anti-Chinese Riot in Tonopah, Nevada
Because of anti-Chinese attitudes in central Nevada, a mob of white union workers attacked Tonopah’s Chinatown in September of 1903. One Chinese man was killed and several others were injured, and Chinatown was destroyed.
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The Pierce City Massacre
Violence Against Immigration Laborers
In 1885, one of Pierce, Idaho’s most popular residents was brutally murdered, and five Chinese men were charged with the crime. Furious about the murder, a group of vigilantes took custody of the Chinese men and lynched them a few miles outside of town.
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The Walsenburg Massacre
Violence Against Immigrant Laborers
In 1895, a saloonkeeper named Abner Hixon was murdered in Walsenburg, Colorado. Five Italian miners were convicted in the case. 24-year-old Antonio Lorenzo was identified by the coroner's jury as the murderer, and Stanislaso Vittani, Francisco Ronchetto, Pietro Giacabino, and Antonio Zapetto were…
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