The Tacoma riot of 1885 took place in the present day U.S. state of Washington, which was a territory at the time. It involved mobs expelling Chinese immigrants from the city of Tacoma, Washington. The riots in Tacoma were part of a broader wave of anti-Chinese violence in the American west during 1885 and 1886.

The Knights of Labor

Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...

 stepped up their anti-Chinese rhetoric and focused attention anew on Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

. In October 1885, protesters in Tacoma announced that all Chinese in the city would have to leave by November. In early November, a mob of whites, led by the Tacoma Mayor Jacob Robert Weisbach and backed by the Tacoma Police, moved into Chinatown and ordered that the residents leave the city. The mob marched the Chinese to a railroad station and stuck them on a train to Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. In Tacoma, few citizens resisted the mob action

Mob Action

Mob Action is a clothing label based in Leipzig, Germany. The name is synonymous with riot, outlining the company's political appeal....

 as Chinese hatred was widespread.

See also

• Anti-Chinese violence in Oregon
  Anti-Chinese violence in Oregon
  Anti-Chinese violence in Oregon began while the present-day U.S. state was still the Oregon Territory .In Oregon mobs drove Chinese workers out of small towns and workplaces territory-wide in the winter of 1885 and summer of 1886. Many of the Chinese expelled across Oregon made their way to...
  
  
• Anti-Chinese violence in Washington
  Anti-Chinese violence in Washington
  There were at least several incidents of anti-Chinese violence in Washington, a United States territory and later, a U.S. state, which occurred during the 19th Century. Following the Rock Springs Massacre, in Wyoming, in September 1885 a wave of anti-Chinese riots and incidents occurred in Washington...
  
  
• Chinese Massacre Cove
  Chinese Massacre Cove
  Chinese Massacre Cove is an area along the Snake River in Wallowa County, Oregon, United States. It is located in the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest and the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, upriver from the Snake's confluence with the Imnaha River....
  
  
• Issaquah riot of 1885
  Issaquah riot of 1885
  The Attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers took place on September 7, 1885, in Squak Valley , Washington Territory, when a group of men fired their guns into several tents where a group of Chinese hop pickers were sleeping. The gunfire resulted in the death of three Chinese men and the wounding...
  
  
• Rock Springs Massacre
  Rock Springs Massacre
  The Rock Springs massacre, also known as the Rock Springs Riot, occurred on September 2, 1885, in the present-day United States city of Rock Springs, Wyoming, in Sweetwater County...
  
  
• Seattle riot of 1886
  Seattle riot of 1886
  The Seattle riot of 1886 resulted from anti-Chinese sentiment, which was prevalent in the Western United States during the 19th century. The events culminated in March 1886 but the build-up to the violence began in late summer 1885 as a result of a concerted effort by regional Knights of Labor...