1900–1904 San Francisco plague: Difference between revisions

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The clash between Gage and federal authorities intensified. Wyman instructed Kinyoun to place Chinatown under a second quarantine, as well as blocking all [[East Asians]] from entering state borders. Wyman also instructed Kinyoun to inoculate all persons of Asian heritage in Chinatown, using an experimental [[vaccine]] developed by [[Waldemar Haffkine]], one known to have severe side effects. Spokesmen in Chinatown protested strenuously; they did not give their permission for this kind of mass experimentation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Trauner |first=Joan B. |date=Spring 1978 |title=The Chinese as Medical Scapegoats in San Francisco, 1870–1905 |journal=California History |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=70–87 |jstor=25157817|doi=10.2307/25157817 }}</ref> The [[Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association]], also known as the Six Companies, filed suit on behalf of Wong Wai, a merchant who took a stance against what he perceived as a violation of his personal liberty. Not quite a [[class action suit]], the arguments included similar wording such as complaints that all residents of Chinatown were being denied [[Equal Protection Clause|"equal protection under the law"]], part of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the US constitution. Federal judge [[William W. Morrow]] ruled uncharacteristically in favor of the Chinese, largely because the defense by the State of California was unable to prove that Chinese Americans were more susceptible to plague than Anglo Americans. The decision set a precedent for greater limits placed on public health authorities seeking to isolate diseased populations.<ref>Kraut 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EIqwDj9umzYC&pg=PA89 pp. 89–92] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519122058/https://books.google.com/books?id=EIqwDj9umzYC&pg=PA89 |date=May 19, 2016 }}</ref><ref name=McClain2006>{{cite journal |last=McClain |first=Charles |date=November 17, 2006 |title=Of Medicine, Race, and American Law: The Bubonic Plague Outbreak of 1900 |journal=Law & Social Inquiry |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=447–513 |issn=0897-6546 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-4469.1988.tb01126.x |s2cid=12415113 |url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/facpubs/136 }}</ref>

 

 

[[File:Kinyoun kicked out 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|In October 1900, Kinyoun was the subject of a political cartoon about his being kicked out of his federal position.]]

Despite the secret agreement allowing for Kinyoun's removal, Gage went back on his promise of assisting federal authorities and continued to obstruct their efforts for study and quarantine. A report issued by the State Board of Health on September 16, 1901, bolstered Gage's claims, denying the plague's outbreak.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/><ref>{{Citation |title=Report of the Special Health Commissioners Appointed by the Governor to Confer with the Federal Authorities at Washington Respecting the Alleged Existence of Bubonic Plague in California |place=Sacramento |publisher=California State Board of Health |year=1901 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TCILAAAAIAAJ |access-date=December 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504052453/https://books.google.com/books?id=TCILAAAAIAAJ |archive-date=May 4, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

 

 

 

San Francisco's quarantine measures were explicitly discriminatory and segregatory, allowing European Americans to leave the affected area, but Chinese and Japanese Americans required a health certificate to leave the city. Residents were initially angered as those with jobs outside of San Francisco were prevented from working. Few Chinese agreed to take the inoculation, especially after press reports on May 22, 1900, that people who did agree were experiencing severe pain from the untested vaccine. On May 24, 1900, with the help of [[Chinese Six Companies]], they hired the law firm of Reddy, Campbell, and Metson. Defendants included [[Joseph J. Kinyoun]] and all of the members of the San Francisco Board of Health. The Chinese wanted the courts to issue a provisional injunction to enforce what they argued was their constitutional right to travel outside of San Francisco. On July 3, 1900, Judge [[William W. Morrow]] ruled that the defendants were violating the plaintiffs' [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] rights. The ruling required that the same restrictions, if any, be applied to everyone no matter their ethnic group. The defendants did not have enough evidence to prove that the Chinese were transmitting the plague. Morrow agreed with the argument that if they were, the city would not have permitted them to roam the streets of San Francisco.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McClain|first1=C.J.|title=In Search of Equality: The Chinese Struggle against Discrimination in Nineteenth-Century America|date=1994|isbn=9780520205147|pages=385}}</ref>

==External links==

* [http://www.sfmuseum.org/loc/chtownvisit.html 1902 Scene in Chinatown], Early Motion Pictures, Library of Congress

 

{{Epidemics}}

[[Category:Healthcare in the San Francisco Bay Area]]

[[Category:Third plague pandemic]]

[[Category:1900 in California]]

[[Category:1901 in California]]