One hundred forty years after Seattle’s Chinese community was violently expelled, a new monument is finally in the works—with a $50,000 boost from the Seattle FIFA World Cup 26 Local Organizing Committee (SeattleFWC26).
Chinese American Legacy Art Project: Metal memento to a troubled time
The Seattle Riot of 1886 occurred February 6-9 of that year, and featured anti-Chinese violence from the local Knights of Labor movement—climaxing with the forced march of some 350 Chinese from their homes in Chinatown, to a steamship expected to haul them away. Seattle Sheriff John McGraw, and his men, trying to fulfill a court order to let the uprooted return to their homes, faced riots over the arrest of the anti-Chinese leaders, resulting in several serious injuries.