Eureka unveils a Chinatown monument 141 years after its Chinese residents were expelled

More than 140 years after Eureka, California, drove out its Chinese residents, the city now has a permanent marker of what happened. A monument honoring Humboldt County's Chinese American history was unveiled Sunday at the corner of First and E streets in Old Town.

A history that was pushed aside

In February 1885 white residents forced Eureka's Chinese community out of their homes and businesses. Chinese residents of neighboring towns were driven out as well. Organizers say Chinese Americans did not return to the county until the 1950s.

The project grew out of the Eureka Chinatown Project and the work of Humboldt Asian and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity. Organizer Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza said chapters like this rarely get discussed, especially at a time when he sees the histories of people of color being erased by those in power.

Design with meaning

The entrance borrows the round moon gate common in Asian architecture to stand for people coming and going. A river motif marks the passage of time and ginkgo trees represent resilience. The walls carry poems by Chinese American poet Daryl Ngee Chinn, a former Humboldt County coordinator for California Poets in the Schools, whose verses reflect on a community erased and the search for its stories. Chinn read his work aloud at the ceremony.

Five years of organizing

Work on the monument began in 2021 and was funded by local groups, businesses and individual donors. The free public unveiling featured music, dance and food at the site. "This is really an opportunity to commemorate the history of Chinese residents here in Humboldt County," Atienza said, calling it the result of five years of organizing.

Organizers say the monument is meant to do more than mark a painful past. It also celebrates the growth of the Chinese American community on the North Coast and the future its families are building there.