'Chinese Demons': the violent articulation of Chinese otherness and interracial sexuality in the U.S. Midwest, 1885-1889

The 1880's witnessed the worst of the 19th century waves of anti-chinese violence in the United States. While most of these incidents occurred in the West, there were a few outbreaks east of the Mississippi River. Possibly the largest occurred in the Midwest--in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In March of 1889, that city saw four days of protest and one day of rioting against its Chinese laundry-men. Sparking this city-wide disturbance were allegations of sexual misconduct between two Chinese and a number of underaged white females. Recovering this forgotten episode gives historians an analytic frame by which to trace the intersection of anti-Chinese violence, interracial sexuality, and the formation of urban girl cultures in the late nineteenth century. This essay argues that the scandal and riot exposed new social aspects of two marginal populations: Chinese residents and white females in 1880's Milwaukee. The resulting unease was assuaged by the direct disciplining of the city's Chinese and the indirect disciplining of its school-aged white females.