The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association

An advocacy for the Chinese commmunity

Hillyer talks about the history of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. Founded in the late 19th Century, the organization helped Chinese immigrants coming to Portland with assimilation, especially racism. Chinese immigrants dealt with discrimination and violence by white workers who saw them as threats.

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As Told By...

Reiko Hillyer, PhD

Assistant Professor with Term

Lewis and Clark College

Since 2006, Reiko has taught in the history department at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where she was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2009. Reiko teaches courses in modern United States history, African American History, the Civil War, women’s history, and the history of the American landscape. Reiko received her B. A. from Yale University and her doctorate at Columbia University. Reiko’s current book project, Designing Dixie: Landscape, Tourism, and Memory in the New South, explores northern tourism to the South in the era following the Civil War and examines the role that tourism played in fostering reconciliation between North and South. Formerly a high school history teacher and guide for Big Onion Walking Tours in New York City, Reiko is a lifelong New Yorker who is almost adjusted to the calm of Portland.