MESS Lecture: Chinese Cannery Workers in Salmon Canning Industry

Starts: March 25, 2021 at 11:00 am
Ends: March 25, 2021 at 12:00 pm

Location:  Streamed online
Admission:  Free

Each year, from the late 19th through the early 20th century, thousands of Chinese workers would sail from SF, Seattle, and Portland to Alaska to work in remote locations canning salmon. In the early 1970s, brothers Jim and Philip Chiao spent several summers in Alaska canneries while working their way through college. In this lecture, the two will speak to the birth of the salmon canning industry, life inside the canneries, and the rise, decline, and demise of the Chinese workforce.

For more information:  A tribute to the Chinese laborers from S.F. who worked in Alaska’s salmon canneries (3/20/21 San Francisco Chronicle)

NOTE: This lecture will be a more detailed version of the 10/10/20 CHCP Speaker Series Webinar: “Chinese Cannery Workers in the 19th & 20th Centuries.”

Here’s the webpage where the lecture will be streamed, along with information about the MESS (Maritime Education for Students of the Sea) lecture series sponsored by the SF Maritime Research Center:  https://maritime.org/mess/