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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Anti-Chinese prejudice was rampant throughout the United States in the nineteenth century, but on September 2, 1885, this prejudice morphed into violence that would leave an estimated 28 Chinese miners dead. The Rock Springs Massacre, as it is now called, was one of the most significant acts of violence against Chinese immigrants in United States history. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| September 2, 1885 | In the morning, a fight occurs between a few Chinese miners and white miners at Rock Springs. Later in the day, White miners attack the Chinese miners, set fire to homes, and kill approximately 28 people. |
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| September 3, 1885 | All 500 Chinese miners are reported to have been driven out of Rock Springs. |
| September 7, 1885 | 22 white miners are arrested in relation to the massacre. |
| October 1885 | No indictments found against white miners. |
| April 1887 | Chinese government receives a check for $147,000 from the US government to compensate for damages from the massacre. |
