The 'Committee of Fifteen' and the Struggle Against Chinese Labor in Tacoma
An archival look at the exclusionary 1886 resolution that fueled the violent campaign to purge Chinese residents from Tacoma.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Committee of Fifteen, representing the citizens of Tacoma, have issued a formal document regarding the presence of Chinese laborers in the city. The document declares: 'The citizens of Tacoma, burdened with a situation perpetual in nature, feel it their duty not to remain silent. We cannot but deeply deplore the recent attempt made to turn our city into one of the miserable systems of coolie slave labor. The struggle to free our people from this curse is in the memory of all and requires no repetition here. The past is forgiven; we are settled on the question of Mongolian exclusion: oblivion covers previous bitterness and contention, and we are on an onward march to secure the fruits of our victories.' The committee further contends that white laborers were displaced by Chinese workers who were supposedly paid significantly less, and they argue that the presence of Chinese residents prevented the employment of 1,500 white people, claiming that nearly half a million dollars had been drained from the local economy into China. The committee concludes with a warning: 'We will hold those responsible for all the agitation, the turmoil. The word has gone out to the world: Tacoma's soil is too sacred to be ever trodden by the slave-ridden.'
“Tacoma's soil is too sacred to be ever trodden by the slave-ridden.”
This 1887 document echoes the exclusionary rhetoric that led to the Tacoma Riot of 1885, where white residents forcibly expelled the city's Chinese population. It serves as a stark historical reminder of how economic anxiety is often weaponized to justify systemic xenophobia and displacement—an ugly chapter that Seattle and Tacoma have had to grapple with in their long, complex history of anti-Asian sentiment.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.