Gold discovered in California. First wave of Chinese immigration to the U.S.

Territorial law passed banning Chinese from voting in Washington.

Territorial law banning Chinese from testifying in court cases involving whites in Washington.

Territorial law enacting poll tax for Chinese in Washington.

Meiji Restoration begins in Japan.

234 Chinese in Washington state according to the U.S. Census, comprising 1.0% of the population.

First Congressional debate over the rights of Chinese in the U.S.

Chinese miners in eastern Washington outnumbered white miners nearly two to one.

Beginning of construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Kalama to Tacoma, Washington, using nearly 2,000 Chinese laborers.

3,186 Chinese in Washington state according to the U.S. Census, comprising 4.2% of the population. Total in U.S.: 105,465.

Chinese Exclusion Act signed into law.

Northern Pacific Railroad transcontinental line completed from Lake Superior, using nearly 17,000 Chinese over the entire span of the project.

Beginning of large-scale contract immigration by Japanese to Hawai'i.

Anti-Chinese riots in Rock Springs, Wyoming. 28 Chinese killed by a white mob.

Three Chinese killed outside of Issaquah.

Anti-Chinese demonstrations in Tacoma. 700 Chinese residents expelled.

Anti-Chinese demonstrations in Seattle. 350 Chinese residents forcibly expelled.

Washington becomes a state.

Chinese Exclusion Act extended another ten years.

Spanish-American War. U.S. acquires the Philippines from Spain, making the the islands a protectorate.

Filipino Rebellion against U.S. occupation. Nearly 60,000 U.S. troops sent to suppress hostilities.

Chin Gee Hee returns to China to construct that nation's first railway.

U.S. Attorney General orders federal courts to stop issuing naturalization papers to Japanese.

"Gentlemen's Agreement" limits U.S. Japanese immigration to parents, wives, and children of males already here.

Nippon Kan, an ersatz Japanese community center and hotel, built in Seattle.

Chong Wa Benevolent Association established in Seattle.

Alien Land Act passed in California, prohibiting Asians from owning land.

Passage of state law barring Asian immigrants from taking "for sale or profit any salmon or other food or shellfish."

All Asian immigrants except for Japanese and Filipinos banned by order of Congress.

Alien land restrictions passed in Washington state. 1922 In Ozawa v. U.S. the Supreme Court rules that Takao Ozawa is ineligible for citizenship because of his "Mongolian" ancestry.

In Bhagat Singh Thind v. U.S., the Supreme Court rules that racial exclusion is based on the "understanding of the common man."

Additional alien land restrictions passed in Washington state against Asians.

National Origins Act passes U.S. Congress, the most restrictive immigration legislation in U.S. history.

Anti-Filipino riot in Yakima Valley.

Anti-Filipino riot in Wenatchee Valley.

Nearly 3,000 Filipinos working in Alaskan canneries.

Formation of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).

Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union formed in Seattle. Virgil Duyungan, a Filipino cannery worker, is the first president.

Tydings-McDuffie Act makes the Philippines a commonwealth and promises full independence ten years later. Filipino immigration to the U.S. limited to 50 per year.

Washington state legislature attempts to pass an anti-miscegenation law prohibiting "...any person of the Caucasian or white race to intermarry with any person of the Ethiopian or black race, the Malayan or brown race, or Mongolian or yellow race."

Alien land restrictions in Washington state extended to Filipinos.

Pio DeCano successfully challenges 1937 amendment to the Washington Alien Land Law.

14,565 Japanese and Japanese Americans living in Washington state, comprising 11.5% of the population, according to the U.S. Census.

Japan attacks U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, calling for the evacuation of all Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the Pacific Coast inland to internment camps.

Yakima Valley Filipinos successfully secure leasing rights on the Yakima Indian Reservation.

In December, riots break out at the Manzanar Relocation Camp in California over food shortage and the arrest of a union organizer.

Congress repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act, but allows only 105 immigrants annually.

War Relocation Authority notes that 120,313 Japanese and Japanese Americans lived in the internment camps from 1942-1945.

Chinese wives of American citizens allowed to emigrate.

Japanese American Claims Act passed, allowing limited redress for those dispossessed of their property during internment.

Communists victorious on Chinese mainland, establish the Peoples' Republic of China. Nationalists flee to Taiwan, and establish Republic of China.

9,694 Japanese and Japanese Americans living in Washington state comprise 6.8% of the population, according to the U.S. Census.

Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act) eliminates race as a bar to immigration and naturalization. Token quotas still remain.

Wing Luke elected to Seattle City Council.

Immigration and Naturalization Act gives equal quota to all countries and favors immigration of professional classes. Took effect in mid-1968.

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends. Cambodia falls to the Khmer Rouge.

Vincent Chin, a 27-year old Chinese American, was killed by a Detroit autoworker who mistakes him as Japanese.

Passage of reparations legislation by U.S. Congress for Japanese Americans interned during World War II.

Chinese for Affirmative Action file suit against the University of California, claiming that UC uses quotas to limit Asian American enrollment.

Gary Locke elected governor of Washington state, the first Asian on the U.S. mainland.

Proposition 209, which restricts social services for immigrants, passes by nearly 60% in California.