While not in China itself, the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by the U.S. Congress on May 6, 1882 and signed by President Chester A. Arthur, was a landmark event tied to Chinese–American relations Britannica+1.

It was the first major U.S. law to explicitly ban immigration for a specific nationality — Chinese laborers — and prohibited them from entering the United States for ten years. The act also barred Chinese immigrants from naturalization and imposed strict requirements for those already in the country National Archives+1.

Background

• Economic and racial tensions: Anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S., especially in California, was fueled by competition for jobs, resentment over wages, and cultural stereotypes Office of the Historian.
• Historical context: Chinese laborers had migrated to the U.S. since the 1848 California Gold Rush, working in mining, railroads, and agriculture. Many sent remittances back to China, but faced discrimination and legal restrictions History+1.
• Diplomatic impact: The exclusion act strained U.S.–China relations, as it was the first time federal law targeted an ethnic group for immigration control Office of the Historian.

Effects

• On Chinese communities: Families were separated, businesses closed, and Chinatowns became centers of cultural preservation Britannica.
• On U.S. immigration policy: It marked a shift from open immigration to restrictive quotas, later extended by the Geary Act (1892) and made permanent in 1902 National Archives.
• Long-term: The act was repealed in 1943 with the Magnuson Act, allowing an annual quota of 105 Chinese immigrants, but quotas for other nationalities had already been established Britannica+1.

Summary

In 1882, China saw diplomatic moves like the China–Korea Treaty, while the United States enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act — a pivotal moment in U.S. immigration history and a turning point in Sino–American relations. Both events reflected the broader 19th-century tensions between economic competition, racial prejudice, and the limits of immigration policy.

Stop AAPI Hate, nonprofit organization that works to protect the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States. It tracks and analyzes acts of violence and discrimination against the AAPI community to understand where disturbances are occurring and who is being targeted. This analysis helps to raise national awareness about racism.

Source: Britannica

1527 – German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.

1529 – Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.

1576 – The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.

1682 – King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.

1835 – James Gordon Bennett published the “New York Herald” for the first time.

1840 – The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.

1851 – The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.

1851 – Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.

1861 – Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.

1877 – Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.

1882 – The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.

1889 – The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.

1910 – Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.

1915 – Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

1937 – The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people (of the 97 on board) were killed.

1941 – Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.

1941 – Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California’s March Field.

1942 – During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

1945 – Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1946 – The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.

1954 – British runner Roger Banister broke the four minute mile.

1957 – U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Profiles in Courage”.

1959 – The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.

1960 – Britain’s Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.

1960 – U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1962 – The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.

1981 – A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1994 – The Channel Tunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.

1997 – Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

1997 – Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.

1999 – Britain’s Labour Party won the largest number of seats in the first elections for Scotland’s new Parliament and Wales’ new Assembly.

1999 – A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.

2001 – Chandra Levy’s parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy’s body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.

2002 – “Spider-Man” became the first movie to make more than $100 million in its first weekend.

 

On May 5, 1868, Martha Jones of Amelia County, Virginia is believed to be the first Black woman to receive a U.S. patent for inventing a machine that husks and shells corn all in one procedure. The Patent No. 77,494 granted to Jones three years after the Civil War for her “Improvement to the Corn Husker, Sheller” was for a device that pulled off and cut up the corn husk and stripped the kernels off the cob, all at the same time, a key technological step in automating agricultural progress. 

Records show Jones was the first Black woman to receive a patent. Little is known about Jones herself. And it is unknown whether other Black women before her were blocked from claiming credit for their inventions since enslaved people and free Blacks could not be citizens of the United States under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision. Therefore, they could not swear to the citizenship oath required by country’s patent law. Some owners allowed their enslaved people to apply for patents, but kept the profits. Black Codes in effect in some states also blocked African Americans from owning property and patents. 

Forty-seven years before Jones, Thomas L. Jennings became the first African American to receive a patent in 1821 in New York City for inventing “dry scouring” to remove dirt and grease from clothing, a precursor to dry cleaning. Twelve years before that, Mary Kies became the first white woman to receive a patent in 1809 for weaving straw with silk and thread, a process adopted by the New England hat making industry. 

Source:

BY: HISTORY.COM EDITORS

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata.