Asian Doctors in 1800s Nevada & Today
6-7 Minute Read
Author: Julpohng Vilai, MD
Purpose
To provide clinicians with an understanding of the history and importance of AAPI practitioners and educators in the history of Nevada medicine.
Learning Objectives
Recall the role of Chinese doctors in the history of medicine in Nevada;
Explain how dominant American cultural narratives tend to treat AAPI people as perpetually foreign and/or exotic; and
Reflect on how AAPI stereotypes have made an impact on you or when you may have relied on AAPI stereotypes in your own thinking.
Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have a long, rich history in the United States. Although Asians have often been labeled the “model minority,” there was unprecedented and unprovoked violence against AAPI people during the COVID pandemic. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is important to consider the profound impact AAPI individuals have had on American culture, particularly healthcare, and especially in the Mountain West.
Chinese people began immigrating to the United States in significant numbers between 1848, when the first documented Chinese immigrants arrived, to 1852, when over 20,000 Chinese immigrants were documented in California.(1) By 1882, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, there were an estimated 300,000 Chinese people in this country.(1)
Evidence suggests that the first Chinese immigrants in the Nevada territory were brought by Colonel John Reese in 1855 to dig ditches for gold mining.(1) These immigrants made camp along the Carson River in an area called “Chinatown” and since renamed Dayton.(1)
European and Chinese migrants arrived in California and Nevada in search of gold and to build railroads in the mid-1800s, and these new Nevadans needed healthcare. Historical records from rural Oregon, Idaho, Northern California, and Nevada supports the fact that, in the late 1800s, Euro-American people often relied on or utilized medical care from Chinese practitioners throughout the Mountain West. (1)(2)(3) An advertisement in a Virginia City newspaper from April 23, 1856, solicited Euro-American patients for Dr. Hop Lock:
To all who may be afflicted with Venereal Diseases. This is to certify that I have had occasion to try Dr. Hop Lock’s skill and as a speedy cure has been the result. I would cheerfully recommend him to all who may need the aid of a physician. He uses roots and herbs instead of mercury.(1)
Researchers believe that some Euro-Americans were attracted to the gentler, often plant-based, non-invasive therapies offered by Chinese practitioners at a time when much of Euro-American medicine relied on ingestion of poisonous tinctures that included ingredients such as mercury, arsenic, and tartar emetic.(1) Women often preferred Chinese practitioners because they found Chinese doctors to be more sensitive to women’s health issues.(1)(2)
AAPI individuals have had an understated yet substantial influence on medicine in Nevada, and I would like to reflect on an AAPI educator who has played an immeasurable role in improving healthcare in the state. Dr. Kenneth Maehara was born in a transit station in Portland, Oregon in 1942 where his parents were being processed for their internment in the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho.(4) Dr. Maehara spent 22 of his 36-year teaching career at the University of Nevada, Reno teaching pathology to medical students. I had the great honor to not only be a student of Dr. Maehara, but I considered him a mentor. He often employed the Socratic method, which was often not only intimidating, but a unique departure from typical medical school didactics (i.e. lectures). And it worked – I still remember his voice in my differential diagnoses for anemia to this day. As evidenced by his numerous teaching awards, Dr. Maehara’s courses left an indelible impression on many students.
However, there was an inherent stereotyping that subtly permeated many of our interactions with him. Students, including myself, often referred to him as the “Pathology Ninja,” and, although it was meant as a term of endearment or respect, it underscores the tendency for the dominant American culture to view AAPI people as the “perpetual outsider” or as always foreign or exotic.
As a Thai-American, I have also experienced this throughout the years within my own family. My boys were both born in the United States with English as their first language. They are often asked, “where are you from?” When they reply “Montana,” they get something along the lines of, “where are you really from?” And if I had a nickel for every time I have been told, “your English is very good!” It exhausts me before I can even explain that I am a first-generation American, born and raised in Nevada.
Researching this piece has helped me connect with the deep roots of Asians in Nevada. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been an integral part of this region since the 1800s and continue to flourish. Consider, for example, Las Vegas, sometimes referred to as Hawaii’s 9th island, is home to one the largest populations of Native Hawaiians outside of Hawaii. As I reflect on ways that I have both experienced and engaged in stereotyping of Asian people, including myself, I encourage you to do the same.
Considerations
Have you ever asked someone “where are you from?” or been asked that question? My belief is that when people ask these questions, it is most often intended as a way to find a point of connection with another person. It is similar to when you ask someone what they do for a living; that question is typically a means for connection, to get to know someone, but these questions are often aimed at brown people to try to figure out the person’s ethnicity (e.g., “where are you REALLY from?”).
While it is not necessarily wrong to inquire about someone’s ethnicity (you might do it by directly asking something like, “What is your ethnicity?” or “What is your cultural heritage?”), pay some attention to who gets asked these questions and who does not. Are you only asking it of brown people? Have you considered asking it of other people? The cultural heritage question can have very rich answers when asked of anyone.■
References
Heffner SC. Investigating the intersection of Chinese and Euro-American healthcare practices in Nevada from 1860-1930. Published online December 2012. https://www.academia.edu/28209607/Investigating_the_Intersection_of_Chinese_and_Euro_American_Healthcare_Practices_in_Nevada_from_1860_1930
Sohn AP. The Healers of 19th-Century Nevada: A Compendium of Medical Practitioners. Greasewood Press; 1997.
Rose C. Beyond Chinatown: uncovering Oregon’s rural Chinese history. The Oregon Historical Society. Accessed May 3, 2022. https://www.ohs.org/events/beyond-chinatown.cfm
Sohn AP, Daugherty R, eds. Outstanding UNSOM teacher Dr. Ken Maehara dies 26 August. Greasewood Tablettes. 2013;XXIV(1):p 3. http://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/704695-2013Fall.pdf