Chapter 9: The Changing South

The abolition of slavery did not change any counts in Washington Territory, which had been slave-free, but the count of the Native American population was not that easy. Although nearly 15,000 Indians were counted, less than 10 percent were classified as "civilized." Besides being the first to have no slaves in its count, the 1870 census was also the first for which a Statistical Atlas was put together and published in 1872.

 United States Slave population figures, 1870

The 1870 census was one of several that tried, with little success, to accurately subdivide the "colored" population into two categories, Blacks and Mulattoes, a practice that was abandoned for good in the 1920 census. The 1870 census for Washington Territory had the following breakdown of the African American population:

• Total of Colored "Blacks" in 1870: 56
• Black males: 44
• Black females: 12

• Total of Colored "Mulattoes" in 1870: 151
• Mulatto males: 89
• Mulatto females: 62

Overall, and dispensing with the "black/mulatto" distinction, the racial breakdown of the population of Washington Territory in 1870 was:

• White: 22,195 (92.64 percent of total population)
• Colored: 207 (0.86 percent of total population)
• Japanese: 0
• Chinese: 234  (0.97 percent of total population)

Anti-Chinese Activism

Historians believe that Seattle's first Chinese resident was Chin Chun Hock, who arrived around 1860. He was lured by the Northwest's "Golden Mountain" and the jobs to be had here: digging mines, laying railroad tracks, and canning salmon. The Northern Pacific Railroad completed tracks from Lake Superior to Tacoma, Washington, in 1883. Two thirds of the men who laid track for the Western Division of the railroad were Chinese, a totally of almost 15,000 men across several states. The Chinese also helped construct the Seattle to Newcastle railroad.

At first, Seattle's whites welcomed the aid of the Chinese workers, but this relationship soured during the hard times of the 1870s and led to the national Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first significant law restricting immigration in the United States. Chinese immigration to the United States was suspended for 10 years, and Chinese persons were ineligible for naturalization.

sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_riot_of_1886
http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/films&slides.htm