This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan History Moment. When people think of immigrants who came to the Keweenaw Peninsula to work in and around the copper mines, they think of Finns, Italians, and other European groups. Few knew that Houghton county was home to the largest Chinese population in the state of Michigan from 1900 to 1910. Large numbers of Chinese immigrated to the United States around 1850 because of economic strife in China and a labor shortage in California. Most of them were male, sending their hard earned money back to China to support their families. Some hoped to eventually return to China or to bring their families over to the United States. Chinese laborers were tasked with the hardest and dirtiest jobs and often faced racism and discrimination. Anti Chinese sentiments and attempts by legislators to drive Chinese workers out of California caused many Chinese workers to move east to look for employment. News of successful copper mines in Michigan's Upper Peninsula attracted Chinese immigrants, but when they arrived, they discovered that they were not welcome to work in the mines. A series of laws in the late 1800s, including the Chinese Exclusion act of 1882, severely limited the opportunities available to Chinese immigrants. The Exclusion act suspended the immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years, but subsequent changes to the act extended it indefinitely. The Exclusion act was the first federal law to suspend immigration for a specific nationality. Knowledge of the small group of Chinese men who settled in Houghton county during the early 1900s comes from census information and legal documents. Documents. The jobs available to Chinese immigrants in the Upper Peninsula were in laundries, in restaurants, or as merchant store proprietors. Miners without wives or families had little time, equipment, or ability to cook and wash their own clothes, so Chinese immigrants filled those needs. By 1920, many of the copper mines closed or were reduced in size. Most of the Chinese workers decided to move to Detroit, hoping to work in car factories or open shops and laundries. They still faced discrimination and the limitations imposed by the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Exclusion act was finally repealed in 1943 in the hopes of improving relations with our wartime ally during World War II. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by by michiganhistorymagazine.org.