Denis Kearney was an Irish immigrant/naturalized citizen who became a political organizer in 1870s California. He was a founder of the Workingmen’s Party, which campaigned against big business, railroads and Chinese workers.
In 1878, he gained national recognition for his San Francisco speeches, filled with incendiary language. His slogan: “The Chinese must go.” And at one point, he warned railroad owners that they had three months to fire all of their Chinese workers or “remember Judge Lynch.”
He claimed that his work led to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned immigration by Chinese workers.
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