Chinatown fire of 1900
Dublin Core
Title
Chinatown fire of 1900
Subject
Honolulu
Hawaii
Chinatown Fire
bubonic plague
epidemic
Hawaii
Chinatown Fire
bubonic plague
epidemic
Description
This picture shows the burning of a building in Chinatown, Honolulu, which was home to a lot of the Chinese migrants in Hawaii. Following the death of You Chong in 1899 from the plague, the Board of Health decided to quarantine the area. They proposed using fire to burn and cleanse the area, however the wind led to the fire spreading. The plague is thought to have began in 1899 and ended in 1900. The significance of this photo has links to the treatment of the Asian community. They were seen as the inferior race. With the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was used to reduce the flow of Asian migration in the US, it could further highlight that there were some racial hostilities towards these groups.
Creator
Unknown
Publisher
HawaiiHistory.org
http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=548
http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=548
Date
1900
Contributor
Catherine Kennedy
Rights
I have searched google for the rights to this photo and have had no luck in finding where it was originally from. I did trace the picture back to Wikipedia which said the rights to this photo was from the Hawaii State Archives. I then tried to search for this particular photo, both in the Hawaii State Archives, but also in the Library of Congress and still had no luck. They have other images similar to this, following the aftermath of the fire, but I could not find this particular image.
Language
English
Type
Visual - photograph
Identifier
20th century Hawai'i
Files
Collection
Citation
Unknown, “Chinatown fire of 1900,” The American Pacific Rim: Colonisation, Conflict and Connections, 1800-Present, accessed April 28, 2024, https://theamericanpacificrim.omeka.net/items/show/262.