Eureka is a small seaside town in Northern California’s Humboldt County. In the late 1800s, it was home to a thriving Chinatown until the town drove out its Chinese residents and barred any Asian Americans from moving in for decades. LA Times metro reporter Hailey Branson-Potts joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” with the story of how the Chinese community is rebuilding in Eureka.
In the late 1800s, Chinese miners who were priced out of other communities settled in Eureka. However, as the nation’s economy experienced a downturn, other residents scapegoated their Chinese neighbors.
“It kind of came to a head in 1885. There was a Chinatown in downtown Eureka was about one block. [In a shooting] on the eve of Lunar New Year in the city, a white city councilman who lived nearby was walking through and was killed in the crossfire. There was a shootout between what was said to have been two Chinese men and an angry mob formed. They put up a noose in downtown Eureka and said all the Chinese people in the city had to leave within 24 hours or they would be hanged,” Branson-Potts said.
The next time a Chinese resident moved to Eureka was over 50 years later. Now, a resident named Brieanne Mirjah D’Souza is working with the Eureka Chinatown Project to restore Eureka’s Chinatown to its former glory.
“This really diverse group of Asian residents of all different backgrounds have been painting murals and leading tours there, trying to put the history front and center in the town. And they’ve started building community around it. And they just held the first Lunar New Year celebration on the streets of Eureka and more than 100 years,” Branson-Potts shared.
The Eureka Chinatown Project gives tours of the city’s former Chinatown and plans to build a permanent memorial to the community that was driven out.
Watch the full interview above.
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