Portrait photo of Chinese, William Henry Jackson photograph

In the 19th century, a majority of Chinese immigrants were single men who worked for a while and returned home. At first, they were attracted to North America by the gold rush in California. A relatively large group of Chinese immigrated to the United States between the start of the California gold rush in 1849 and 1882, before federal law stopped their immigration. After the gold rush, Chinese immigrants worked as agricultural laborers, on railroad construction crews throughout the West, and in low-paying industrial jobs. Soon, many opened their own businesses such as restaurants, laundries, and other personal service concerns. With the onset of hard economic times in the 1870s, European immigrants and Americans began to compete for the jobs traditionally reserved for the Chinese. Such competition was accompanied by anti-Chinese sentiment, riots, and pressure, especially in California, for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from the United States. The result was the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1882. This Act virtually ended Chinese immigration for nearly a century.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer, and explorer who is best known for his pioneering work in documenting the American West. He was born in Keeseville, New York, and after serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War, he became interested in photography. Jackson worked as a photographer for the United States Geological Survey, and he was a member of several expeditions to the West, including the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. During these expeditions, he produced a large number of photographs that helped to document the landscape and the Native American cultures of the region. Jackson's photographs were instrumental in promoting the idea of creating national parks in the United States. He was also one of the founding members of the Detroit Photographic Company, which produced a large number of postcards and other commercial products based on his photographs.