May 26, 2026
Ms. Chu (for herself, Ms. Meng, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Simon, Ms. Tlaib, and Ms. Norton) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
Recognizing the 1885 Rock Springs Chinese Massacre.
Whereas, in the late 19th century, Chinese immigrants were brought to the United States to perform dangerous, low-wage labor in industries such as mining and railroad construction: exploitative labor conditions, including the coal mines operated by the Union Pacific Coal Company, where they performed dangerous and grueling work for significantly lower wages than their White counterparts;
Whereas, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, Chinese miners employed by the Union Pacific Coal Company worked under harsh and exploitative conditions, were paid less than their White counterparts for the same labor, and were systematically excluded from labor unions, fueling racial hostility and economic resentment;
Whereas anti-Chinese racism and xenophobia were widespread during this period and reinforced by discriminatory Federal and State policies, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882;
Whereas, on September 2, 1885, escalating anti-Chinese sentiment in Rock Springs culminated in a coordinated attack by a mob of over 200 White miners and townspeople against the town’s Chinese community;
Whereas the mob murdered at least 28 Chinese miners, brutally beating and shooting, and many as they fled, looting what was left behind during the attack, and burning down nearly all of Chinatown, including homes, businesses, and forcibly displacing an entire community;
Whereas a mob also formed at the Almy coal mines immediately following the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre, driving out the Chinese coal miners and robbing them of what they left behind;
Whereas survivors took refuge at the Evanston Chinatown, but local law enforcement failed to intervene or protect Chinese residents, no perpetrator was ever indicted or held accountable, and surviving Chinese workers were later forcibly taken to Rock Springs Chinatown under threat of job loss;
Whereas, although the United States Government reimbursed the Chinese Government for property losses, no compensation was provided directly to the victims or their families;
Whereas the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre was one of the deadliest acts of anti-Chinese violence in United States history and part of a broader pattern of racial violence and exclusion targeting Chinese immigrants in the 19th century;
Whereas, for decades, the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre was minimized, distorted, or erased from historical narratives, often falsely reframed as a misunderstanding, a labor dispute, or even blamed on the Chinese victims themselves;
Whereas descendants of the victims, archaeologists, community historians, and scholars have worked to uncover and preserve the truth of the massacre, despite a long history of suppressed or altered narratives;
Whereas Asian-American communities continue to experience racism, xenophobia, and violence, illustrating the enduring legacy of the prejudice that led to events such as the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre; and
Whereas remembering the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre is essential to understanding the national history of anti-Asian hate, labor exploitation, and the experiences of immigrant workers in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
recognizes the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre of 1885 and honors the memory of the Chinese immigrant workers who were murdered;
(2)
acknowledges the massacre as one of the deadliest acts of anti-Chinese and anti-immigrant violence in United States history;
(3)
honors the contributions of Chinese immigrant laborers whose work helped build critical American infrastructure despite exploitation, discrimination, and violence;
(4)
condemns the racist mob violence perpetrated against the Chinese community of Rock Springs and the failure of authorities to protect Chinese residents or hold perpetrators accountable;
(5)
condemns historical efforts to erase, distort, or deny the reality of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre and other acts of anti-Asian violence;
(6)
recognizes the importance of education about the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre and the broader history of anti-Asian discrimination in the United States;
(7)
encourages the documentation, interpretation, and commemoration of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre site in Wyoming, including through survey, historical research, archaeological excavations, and consideration of eligibility for recognition under Federal historic preservation programs, as part of a broader effort to identify and preserve places significant to the history of Chinese Americans and Asian and Pacific Islander American communities in the United States and as recommended in the Transcontinental Railroad Study approved by Congress in 2019;
(8)
encourages education about the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre, including its causes, the racial ideology that fueled it, and the subsequent attempts to deny or rewrite its history, in schools and institutions of higher education; and
(9)
recognizes the responsibility of Congress to acknowledge and learn from the history of anti-Asian violence, discrimination, and exclusion in the United States, including the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre, and to work toward racial justice.