RECONSTRUCTION 1865 1877
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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were treated badly in America, especially California
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were never paid for the work they completed
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were viewed as weak and lazy
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were given promotions and eventually became owners of the rail companies
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Detailed explanation-1: -“Chinese received 30-50 percent lower wages than whites for the same job and they had to pay for their own food stuffs, ” Chang says. “They also had the most difficult and dangerous work, including tunneling and the use of explosives. There is also evidence they faced physical abuse at times from some supervisors.
Detailed explanation-2: -For immigrants to the United States, the Transcontinental Railroad presented an opportunity to seek their fortunes in the West. There, they found more opportunity than the port cities of the East Coast, where discrimination kept immigrants living in urban squalor.
Detailed explanation-3: -As well as being paid less, Chinese workers were given the most dangerous tasks, such as handling the explosive nitroglycerin used to break up solid rock. Due to the harsh conditions they faced, hundreds of Chinese Canadians working on the railway died from accidents, winter cold, illness and malnutrition.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Central Pacific Railroad, which was tasked with constructing the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad, began hiring Chinese workers in 1864 after facing a labor shortage that jeopardized the railroad’s completion.