E.W. Gilliam

E.W. Gilliam was a nineteenth-century professor who wrote about the threat to the white American worker from Chinese workers and Africans. In this excerpt from an 1886 article, Gilliam discusses how Chinese immigrants are pouring out of China and establishing new colonies all over the world. The number of Chinese immigrants in Christian nations increased over 400 percent in just a few years. The history of their migration, he points out, demonstrates what a threat Chinese immigration could be to the United States if it is not controlled. Gilliam argues in the following viewpoint that the United States is an attractive destination for Chinese immigrants. Wages are high and the cost of living is relatively cheap. The Chinese laborers, known as “coolies,” work harder and for less money than American workers; thus, their...