"One fact makes Humboldt unique among the counties of California and indeed, on the Pacific Coast -- we have no Chinese The community rose up as a man and drove every Chinese out of the county Even in far-off China, the coolies know that they are not permitted to come here, and none ever attempt it."

NCJ: I was surprised to see the names of so many prominent Eureka citizens involved in the expulsion. Buhne, Sweasey -- you don't have to know much about Eureka history to recognize these names.

JP: It's a mistake to think that this was all a working-class movement against the Chinese. In Eureka, as in other towns, the mayor was involved, the county board of supervisors, and the owners of the lumber companies. It was in their interest to have a low-paid workforce, but they abandoned those interests to assault the Chinese.

I've thought about this a lot. What would make them do this? It was still a very racist era. There were already laws preventing Chinese from owning property or voting. And I think that even for these newly middle and upper class people, the isolation and loneliness of a rural town, and the need to stitch together a community, became more important than their economic need for low-paid workers. So they turned on the Chinese.

I also think that they saw in the Chinese much of what they didn't like in their own lives. The dirt, the isolation, the predominantly male community. In purging the Chinese, they were getting rid of part of their life that they wanted to change. There weren't enough women, there weren't enough children, or enough churches -- all of this was just starting to change in the late 1800s.

NCJ: How did you find this story? What was involved in bringing this piece of history to light?

JP: One of the troubling parts of the story is that the information wasn't hard to find. The newspaper accounts and clipping files gave me a first window into this. Why hadn't this story been told before? It wasn't deeply buried in archives. It's just under the surface. I grew up in California. I had no idea that this had happened in California.

NCJ: This is a really difficult piece of history to come to terms with. What now? What do you think communities who were a part of the expulsion will take from this?

JP: In Tacoma, Wash., where there was a similarly brutal purge of Chinese people, the Chinese community and the progressive white community have obtained four acres of waterfront land and they're building the Chinese Reconciliation Park. I'm also aware that there is a motion before the city council in Truckee, where they purged the Chinese by starving them out, to offer an apology. It doesn't necessarily make the Chinese whole or give them their land back, but it acknowledges the history so that people can move forward toward a more diverse community.

NCJ: What else do you want people to take away from this book?

JP: I think that we can learn from the courage of the Chinese people. They came together and sued Eureka for damages and for being the victim of mob violence. It's important not to view them just as victims. Their lawsuit explodes so many myths of Chinese immigrants as docile and subservient. They were standing up for their civil rights, and they can be a model for all of us today.

"One fact makes Humboldt unique among the counties of California and indeed, on the Pacific Coast -- we have no Chinese The community rose up as a man and drove every Chinese out of the county Even in far-off China, the coolies know that they are not permitted to come here, and none ever attempt it."

NCJ: I was surprised to see the names of so many prominent Eureka citizens involved in the expulsion. Buhne, Sweasey -- you don't have to know much about Eureka history to recognize these names.

JP: It's a mistake to think that this was all a working-class movement against the Chinese. In Eureka, as in other towns, the mayor was involved, the county board of supervisors, and the owners of the lumber companies. It was in their interest to have a low-paid workforce, but they abandoned those interests to assault the Chinese.

I've thought about this a lot. What would make them do this? It was still a very racist era. There were already laws preventing Chinese from owning property or voting. And I think that even for these newly middle and upper class people, the isolation and loneliness of a rural town, and the need to stitch together a community, became more important than their economic need for low-paid workers. So they turned on the Chinese.

I also think that they saw in the Chinese much of what they didn't like in their own lives. The dirt, the isolation, the predominantly male community. In purging the Chinese, they were getting rid of part of their life that they wanted to change. There weren't enough women, there weren't enough children, or enough churches -- all of this was just starting to change in the late 1800s.

NCJ: How did you find this story? What was involved in bringing this piece of history to light?

JP: One of the troubling parts of the story is that the information wasn't hard to find. The newspaper accounts and clipping files gave me a first window into this. Why hadn't this story been told before? It wasn't deeply buried in archives. It's just under the surface. I grew up in California. I had no idea that this had happened in California.

NCJ: This is a really difficult piece of history to come to terms with. What now? What do you think communities who were a part of the expulsion will take from this?

JP: In Tacoma, Wash., where there was a similarly brutal purge of Chinese people, the Chinese community and the progressive white community have obtained four acres of waterfront land and they're building the Chinese Reconciliation Park. I'm also aware that there is a motion before the city council in Truckee, where they purged the Chinese by starving them out, to offer an apology. It doesn't necessarily make the Chinese whole or give them their land back, but it acknowledges the history so that people can move forward toward a more diverse community.

NCJ: What else do you want people to take away from this book?

JP: I think that we can learn from the courage of the Chinese people. They came together and sued Eureka for damages and for being the victim of mob violence. It's important not to view them just as victims. Their lawsuit explodes so many myths of Chinese immigrants as docile and subservient. They were standing up for their civil rights, and they can be a model for all of us today.