The Mob Gathers in South Bend
An early 1891 town hall meeting in South Bend marks the rising tide of exclusionary organizing in Chehalis County.
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.
A large and enthusiastic gathering of about 250 men met Tuesday night in Holcomb’s Hall, South Bend, to discuss the all-absorbing 'Chinese Question.' A motion was made that 'the Chinese must go,' and a paper was drafted and signed by the gatherers, which stated that the purpose of the meeting was to protect themselves and their fellow citizens from the encroachment of the Chinese and to form themselves into a society called the South Bend Anti-Chinese and Labor Organization.
“The purpose of the meeting was to protect themselves and their fellow citizens from the encroachment of the Chinese.”
This meeting was part of the broader, state-wide anti-Chinese movement that defined Washington politics in the late 19th century. Today, South Bend and Aberdeen are diverse communities, but this moment reminds us of the systemic and organized nature of the xenophobia that local settlers used to claim the region's labor markets.
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