Were There More Chinese Railroad Workers Than Black?

[Kobold Catgirl]

I'm working on a kids' show concept. I'm not too worried about getting things accurate—the current premise is a European knight in the Wild West, which is already breaking some big rules—but I'd like to reflect a bit of legitimate history here.

Back in the US railroad era, were poorly-treated Chinese railroad workers more prevalent than poorly-treated African-American railroad workers? I'm basically going off Blazing Saddles intel here in seeing them as a fairly even pair of demographics. How wrong am I?

[The 8th Dwarf]

I base all my history knowledge on Mel Brooks films. ;-)

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

This site might help. I have no idea how accurate it is; it's a subject a bit beyond my spehere of knowledge apart from Mel Brooks and the Dubliners.

[BigNorseWolf]

You folks seem to be implying that blazing saddles was not American history...

[Comrade Anklebiter]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

I'm working on a kids' show concept. I'm not too worried about getting things accurate—the current premise is a European knight in the Wild West, which is already breaking some big rules—but I'd like to reflect a bit of legitimate history here.

Back in the US railroad era, were poorly-treated Chinese railroad workers more prevalent than poorly-treated African-American railroad workers? I'm basically going off Blazing Saddles intel here in seeing them as a fairly even pair of demographics. How wrong am I?

Fun page

Guesswork here: I think way more Chinese immigrants than blacks.

Why? Mostly time and demographics. When the transcontinental rail was completed it was only 1869 and the majority of blacks in this country still lived in the South. I guess it depends on what year your thingie is set in.

[Charles Evans 25]

If you can get hold of it (either the TV series or accompanying book) one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Industrial World' was the Pacific Railroad.
From what I recall of that documentary they started building the line from both east and west, and the pacific coast end of it certainly used a lot of Chinese labour.

Edit:
I don't recall what was said about labour used on the other side of the line though...

[Jeff Erwin]

The Chinese were chiefly used on the West Coast and Black people on the East (in the south, Black convicts were leased by the prisons for unpaid (i.e., slave) labor), but were joined by Irish and German immigrants.

[Krensky]

It depends on the time period and the location.

Western railroad construction was mostly Chinese. North-eastern into the west was largely Irish. Southern railroads were major slave owners and lessees until after the civil war and many fled north during the war and began working on northern railroads.

You could almost certainly find any almost any ethnicity that was extant in the US working the lines however.

[Orfamay Quest]

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Back in the US railroad era, were poorly-treated Chinese railroad workers more prevalent than poorly-treated African-American railroad workers? I'm basically going off Blazing Saddles intel here in seeing them as a fairly even pair of demographics. How wrong am I?

Your question covers a lot of ground, both geographically and temporally.

The Chinese were the major labor force for the western half of the transcontinental railway and provided about 2/3 of the laborers. Most of the laborers for the eastern half were Civil War veterans, mostly white (and mostly Irish, IIRC). [I should also point out that the western "half" was actually closer to 2/3 of the track.]

Blacks were a substantial minority of the eastern half labor force, and also provided the majority of the service force (the stereotypical black "Pullman Porter"). This makes sense -- if you're going to hire service personnel, you need people who speak the same language as your customers. The Chinese laborers as a rule spoke very little English.

[Vod Canockers]

The 8th Dwarf wrote:

I base all my history knowledge on Mel Brooks films. ;-)

I'm still waiting to see Hitler on Ice and Jews in Space.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Alright, thanks, y'all. I'm still not sure which ethnicity I'm gonna go with for this character, but it's definitely something to consider.

[Krensky]

Martian!

[The 8th Dwarf]

Vod Canockers wrote:

The 8th Dwarf wrote:

I base all my history knowledge on Mel Brooks films. ;-)

I'm still waiting to see Hitler on Ice and Jews in Space.

Merchandising!

[LazarX]

The 8th Dwarf wrote:

Vod Canockers wrote:

The 8th Dwarf wrote:

I base all my history knowledge on Mel Brooks films. ;-)

I'm still waiting to see Hitler on Ice and Jews in Space.

Merchandising!

Just remember that Nazi is trademarked by TSR Inc.