Chinese in the Frontier West

An American Story

Part of the Series: Ancestors in the Americas

This film documents the large-scale migration of Chinese to California during the Gold Rush of the 1850s and the central role that these immigrants played in developing the American West by building the first Transcontinental Railroad and transforming California into the breadbasket of the nation.

Their landmark legal battles to overcome discrimination helped to develop U.S. civil rights law, setting key precedents and expanding the definition of what it means to be an American.