Although it is frequently used to refer to Chinese contract laborers who immigrated to foreign countries as contracted or indentured workers, the word "coolie" was originally used to describe cheap, unskilled labor from Asia. Due to the Opium War and the abolition of the Atlantic trade, the Chinese coolie trade began in 1840 and lasted until 1870. Before spreading to other parts of the globe, it began in China, where Chinese agents were compensated for each coolie head. Many of them were either tricked or coerced into signing contracts to work as coolies against their will. They would later suffer in the foreign land, and some of them migrate back to their country.
The difference between Chinese coolies and African slave trade was the fact that coolie laborers emerged after African slave trade had been abolished albeit not in its entirety. After the abolition of the Atlantic trade which was the source of African slaves, shipping of the slaves to America came to an end. As such, alternative source of labor similar to slavery was adopted in the form of Chinese coolies. On the other hand, African slave trade began during the transatlantic voyages, where Africans were forcefully captured and transported across the Atlantic in inhumane conditions (Rodriguez, 33). However, coolies migrated on their volition to the free world, motivated by the gains they would get there, but some were captured and sold to coolie merchants.
The coolies were contracted laborers who were given a contract for eight years although many of them did not finish their contracts due to the inhuman conditions they were subjected (Yun, 15). Those who completed their contracts were released if they survived the suffering meted on them while working. They either migrated back to China or lived as free men. African slaves, on the other hand, were exclusively owned by their masters and were never allowed freedom at any point. Their children also became slaves until the abolition of slave trade.
According to Chang’ Chinese immigrants were detained in specially created confine zones such as the Angel Island until they could prove their legality in the United States (9). This was due to the perception that the immigrants carried diseases and that they were seeking entry into the United States illegally. The detention could last for months or even years. Once at the detention center, the Chinese coolies were subjected to questioning with the intent of deporting those who did not answer the questions correctly. They were also separated from their families, for example, mothers were alienated from their children. The separation led to trauma that led to many suicide attempts among them.
Just like African slaves, Chinese coolies did not have rights. They would be subjected to random searches, seizures, and interrogations by the authorities (Chang 15). Their rights would be violated at any time given the fact that the government sanctioned a constant state of emergency on them due to suspicion from the Native White Americans.
The cause of discrimination against the Chinese coolies was due to suspicion (Young, 46). Their presence in the United States was viewed as a threat to the American people. State-sanctioned searches, random interrogation, and detention made it difficult for the public to accept the Chinese coolies as worthy people.
The suspension of Chinese coolie immigration through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 increased violence and inequity against the foreign community. It led to the mass killings of Chinese nationals leading to what is now called Snake River Massacre where thirty-one people were killed (Chang 15). Legislation was also put in place that made it illegal for a Chinese coolie to testify against a white person. As such, white people could torture the coolies since they were protected by the law (Meagher 39).
The Chinese coolies, having been denied jobs in the mining industry and employment occasioned by the Gold Rush in San Francisco, resorted to the restaurant business. They made dishes that resonated with the white American populace even though the food was invented and it did not exist in China earlier. The restaurant trade, which came to be known as food pornography, was a means of assimilating into the American culture in particular by the American Born Chinese (ABCs). Contrary to African slaves, Chinese coolies were not restricted from owning businesses. Chinese grocers and laundry shop owners emerged to fill a gap in the service industry which the Americans considered regular jobs.
The Chinese created enclaves popularly known as Chinatown, a setting that was self-sufficient. They created their money savings and lending systems. During the Great Depression, Chinatown emerged unhurt to the extent of turning the enclaves into tourism, guiding white visitors through the town, where they acted made-up scenes of gang wars, opium dens and slave girls. Racism led to racial segregation in integrated American schools. The American-born Chinese were depicted as subhuman in textbooks. The ABCs developed their cultures to counter racial discrimination by forming boycott groups that led to the Chinese American fraternity and sorority groups that could organize their social clubs to combat the community exclusion from the mainstream American cultures. The Chinese who acquired an education were forced to work in Chinatown as hard laborers, and others migrated back to China due to discrimination in the job market (Schultz, 56).
The Chinese coolie trade was a form of economic exploitation, though not on the same level as African slaves. They were paid less as compared Americans and were subjected to inhuman conditions. This led to the deaths of some of the coolies especially those who were working in the mine explosions. The law did not protect the Chinese coolies. In fact, the law promoted their exploitation, torture and even killings. Despite the racial discrimination against the Chinese, Chang posits the Americans visited Chinatown as tourists where they were treated to acted gang wars, gang wars, and opium dens and even ate in Chinese foods in their restaurants.
Conclusion
The coolie system was developed to mask slavery after the abolition of Atlantic trade which meant an end to cheap labor from African slaves. Due to the need for labor, the coolie system developed as an alternative to the slave trade. After migrating to America, Chinese coolies encountered harsh working conditions and poor pay compared to their American counterparts. Even with contracts Chinese coolies were paid lesser wages and were not exempted from torture and inhuman working conditions. The experiences of the Chinese coolies were similar to the African slaves. However, there were some differences in the way their masters handled them.
Works Cited
Chang, Iris. The Chinese in America: a narrative history. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Penguin, 2004. Print.
Arnold, Meagher. The Coolie Trade: the traffic in Chinese laborers to Latin America 1847- 1874. Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Corporation. , 2008. Print
Rodriguez Junius, Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1.ABC-CLIO, 2007. Print.
Schultz, Austin. "American Merchants and the Chinese Coolie Trade 1850-1880: Contrasting models of human trafficking to Peru and the United States." American Merchants. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2017. .
Young, Elliott. Alien nation: Chinese migration in the Americas from the coolie era through World War II. Chapel Hill: The U of North Carolina Press, 2014. Print.
Yun, Lisa. The coolie speaks: Chinese indentured laborers and African slaves in Cuba. Philadelphia, PA: Temple U Press, 2009. Print
