Today is the 150th Anniversary of the completion of our nation's first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point, Utah (about 70 miles northwest of Salt Lake City). The Central Pacific (eastbound tracks from Sacramento) connected to the Union Pacific (westbound tracks from Omaha) and made the possibility of traveling from coast to coast via railroad a reality.
Sadly, many of those who helped build the TCRR were excluded from the "Golden Spike" Celebration and from the famous celebratory photograph reserved mostly for railroad company dignitaries, etc....
I dare you to spot a Chinese railroad worker in the above photo!
So here is a recreation of the Golden Spike photograph which included descendants of the Chinese workers, remembering the truth and correcting an iconic and imperfect photograph ...and to also remind us of our ugly past (Chinese Exclusion Laws).
“That champagne photo … has come to symbolize the completion of the railroad, but it also became a symbol of our being erased,” said Sue Lee, retired executive director of the Chinese Historical Society of America, based in San Francisco.
Ava Chin cried and stated, "I really felt like for the first time I’m included in something … so incredibly American.” She is the great-great granddaughter of Yoon Thlin, who was forced back to China due to anti-Chinese nativism.
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Missing from both photos are the lives of Native Americans who were killed or displaced in the name of "progress"...
