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Immigration Broadside Analysis

Focusing on Details: White Out/Black Out

All documents and text associated with this activity are printed below, followed by a worksheet for student responses.

Introduction

Throughout its history, when various groups of people have immigrated to the United States, it has often been met with controversy. On this broadside, the name of the immigrant group has been blacked out. Use clues from the document to determine which group it refers to.  Read and analyze the following broadside using the questions below.


Name:
Class:

Worksheet

Immigration Broadside Analysis

Focusing on Details: White Out/Black Out

Examine the documents included in this activity and write your response in the space provided.


Meet the Poster
Quickly scan the broadside.  What do you notice first?

Observe its Parts
Does it have a message printed on it?
Are there questions or instructions?
Does it say who created it?
Write one sentence summarizing this broadside.  

Try to Make Sense of it.
When is this from?
Who do you think is the intended audience?
Why was it created? List evidence from the poster that tells you this.

Your Response




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Activity Element

Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners` Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott

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Conclusion

Immigration Broadside Analysis

Focusing on Details: White Out/Black Out

Click on "View Entire Document." 

  • How does this broadside reflect the attitudes towards Chinese and other Asian immigrants in the late 1800s?
  • How does it relate to legislative actions taken by Congress in the late 1800s?


Your Response




Document

Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners' Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott

ca. 8/1898

Like many places in the American West, Montana was the site of anti-Asian discrimination at the end of the 19th century. In late 1896, several labor unions in Butte boycotted both Chinese and Japanese owned businesses and businesses employing Asian workers, blaming these laborers and businesses for poor economic conditions.

Labor unions used flyers to notify their members and the public of this boycott. Many Chinese were forced to seek work in other cities. However, several merchants fought back and filed suit in Federal court in Butte requesting an injunction to stop the boycott as well as damages from the labor unions.

In the case Hum Lay, et al.. v. Baldwin, also known as the Chinese Boycott case, the court ruled in favor of the Chinese plaintiffs, a ruling that ran counter to the dominant public opinion of the time.
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 298113
Full Citation: Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners' Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott; ca. 8/1898; Records of District Courts of the United States, . [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/flyers-distributed-by-silver-bow-trades-and-labor-assembly-and-butte-miners-union-in-support-of-chinese-and-japanese-boycott, March 29, 2024]


Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners' Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott

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Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners' Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott

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Flyers Distributed by Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly and Butte Miners' Union in Support of Chinese and Japanese Boycott

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