Literally. Look at all the bird doody on this historical marker.
This marker can be found on the Northwest (?) side of Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA.
It reads: “CHINESE GARDENS. The Chinese comprised 20% of Port Townsend’s population. Here they operated truck gardens to sell produce door to door in town from double-decked wagons. Late 1890’s Early 1900’s.”
But nothing about why fewer Chinese live in Port Townsend today than one hundred years ago; nothing about the legacies of racist and exclusionary legislation, or how Fort Worden was a training ground for imperialist armies.
Perhaps history is getting shit on in more ways than one.
June 15, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Yes the Chinese were persecuted in the early 1900s and most of them were illegal immigrants who crossed from Vancouver Island in small boats. Rather than criticize it would serve a greater purpose to educate. I encourage you to read all of the history of Port Townsend to understand the dynamics of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. It wasn’t a good time for most of the local inhabitants because of the Panic of 1893, sailing ships being replaced by steam, the Port of Entry being moved to Seattle, and the loss of the railroad terminus
June 15, 2008 at 1:33 pm
furthermore, Fort Worden, Fort Flagler, and Fort Casey were defensive positions to protect Puget Sound. Help me understand how being defensive can be imperial?
June 16, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I think we should criticize past persecutions because they continue to this day in other forms. The historical marker would serve a greater purpose to educate if it provided the context for why Chinese were there in Port Townsend in “Late 1890’s Early 1900’s” and not today. That vital link between the past and the present is not provided by the historical marker as it stands today.
For several decades, Fort Worden was a training facility for the US army, hence “a training ground for imperialist armies.”
Thanks for the comments!