The America's National Parks Podcast is brought to you by L.L.B.

L.Bine believes the more time you spend outside together, the better.

That's why they've partnered with the National Park Foundation

to help you find your park and get there with family and friends.

With more than 400 national park sites in the US,

there are beautiful surprises to be found in every corner of the country.

There's probably one closer than you think.

Be an outsider with L.L. Bean. The contributions of immigrants to our great nation are undeniable.

Some of our greatest institutions were literally built on the backs of immigrants of all stripes.

Our national parks are no exception. built on the backs of immigrants of all stripes.

Our national parks are no exception.

In the West, some of the most significant contributions

came from the Chinese.

I'm Jason Epperson, and on today's episode of America's National Parks, Yosemite, and the legacy of Chinese Americans. Around 1815, a handful of Chinese came mainly as merchants, former sailors to America. By 1880 there were 300,000, a tenth

of the California population, many who wanted to make their fortune in the California Gold Rush. But many just came

to work and for better life. They helped build the first transcontinental railroad.

They worked southern plantations after the Civil War and

they helped establish California agriculture and fisheries. From the

outset they were met with distrust and overt racism of settled European populations, ranging from massacres to pressuring

them into Chinatowns.

Laws were made to restrict them, including special taxes like the foreign miners tax of 1850.

They were prohibited from marrying white European partners, which was particularly problematic

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