GOD & TEXAS: Black Jack Pershing
In May 1870, the Houston Telegraph newspaper reported in disbelief that a man from China was seen shopping downtown. The article observed that he was “wearing a ten-gallon hat, a Bowie knife, and a pair of pistols.” Seeing Chinese workers in frontier Texas was becoming commonplace because several thousand Asian laborers had been brought to Texas to build the railroads.
However, racial discrimination forced the railroads to terminate their contracts. Some Chinese workers returned to China, but many stayed in Texas hoping to forge a new life. San Antonio and El Paso attracted many of these Far Easterners, and sections of those towns became known as “China Town.” Soon, the Chinese dominated the supply chain and service industries.
While Texas was experiencing growth among the Chinese immigrants, Mexico was importing Asian workers, too. At first, they took the manual labor jobs in the mines and railroads. But as they prospered, many opened their own businesses. At one point, the Chinese even operated a cartel-style smuggling business that thrived throughout Mexico, the United States, and the Caribbean islands.
By 1880, governments on both sides of the border opposed the Chinese migrants. In 1882, the United States initiated a series of exclusion acts that banned Chinese immigration. Many Chinese residents escaped the resulting harassment by settling in Mexican border towns.
But in Mexico, vigilante groups began ethnic cleansing crusades against the Chinese. One band of robbers, led by the notorious rebel commander Pancho Villa, created havoc on both sides of the border. Villa committed heinous crimes that forced the US Government to assemble a retaliatory army under the Command of Major General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing.
In 1916, Pershing, and his approximately 10,000 troops entered Mexico and began the Mexican Punitive Expedition to neutralize Villa and his cohorts. Surprisingly, it was the scorned Mexican-Chinese population that provided necessary supplies for Pershing’s troops like potable water, hot meals, toiletries, tobacco, doughnuts, and fruit.
Pershing was grateful for their help and was permitted to bring back 527 Mexican-Chinese to the United States. They settled primarily in San Antonio and El Paso, and never forgot the favor they received from Pershing. In fact, many named their children “Black Jack” in honor of their gracious rescuer.
It was the Christian community that reached out to those Mexican-Chinese migrants that were saved from ethnic cleansing. Various small missions provided necessities for them as they settled into new surroundings. As recently as 2013, the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Antonio held their 80th Anniversary and displayed images of the original 257 “Black Jack” Chinese that provided the foundation of what became their church.
Caring for the persecuted and needy is a basic principle of Godly people. Psalm 109:31 NIV, “For God stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them.” The Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Philippians 2:4 NLT
For more inspirational reading please visit www.davidroseministries.com
To purchase the book GOD and TEXAS by David G. Rose please visit www.amazon.com
Comments