Jump to navigation

Picture This:
California Perspectives on American History
  • Home
  • Browse Pictures
  • Picture Map
  • Log In
  • Activities
  • Teaching Resources
  • About the Website

Search form

Depression Era: 1930s: Chinatown: De Facto Segregation

Click image to zoom in.
Or view larger version.
Chinese telephone operators at a switchboard. ca. 1940. Unknown photographer. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California.

This is a photograph of Chinese American switchboard operators working in a Chinatown in the early 1940s. Chinese Americans were living, working, going to school, and doing business in their own separate communities during this time. The separate communities were considered de facto segregation because racial segregation did exist, in fact, but was neither created nor enforced by statutes or judicial decrees. Such segregation is typically a result of housing patterns, and economic conditions, combined with governmental policies.

  • More information about this Topic
Timeline: Depression Era: 1930s
« previous picture
next picture »

Browse By Timeline

  • Early California: pre-1769–1840s
  • Gold Rush: 1848–1860
  • Early Statehood: 1850 – 1880s
  • Progressive Era: 1890–1920s
  • Depression Era: 1930s
  • World War II Homefront Era: 1940s
  • Homogenization, Protests & Outright Rebellion: 1950s
  • Unforgettable Change: 1960s
  • Cultural Realignment & Economic Recession: 1970s
  • The Reagan Years: 1980s
  • 1990s to Present

Also, browse by Theme or by Most Useful

California.  Many Voices.  Many Stories.  Oakland Museum of California
Picture This is a project of the Oakland Museum of California