Chinese Pioneers at the San Bernardino County Museum

A new temporary exhibit is coming to the San Bernardino County Museum.

“Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs,” explores the social, political and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians — as well as moments of Chinese agency and resilience — in the decades before and after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The exhibit, on view from Mar. 21 to July 26, 2026, examines how photography played a potent role in both Chinese people’s interactions with the dominant culture and in the government’s fledgling systems of registration, identification and surveillance.

The exhibit begins in the Gold Rush era, when large numbers of Chinese immigrants arrived in California. Anti-Chinese sentiment led to protests, violence and vigilante expulsions up and down the West Coast. The Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese laborers from immigrating or becoming citizens and tightened restrictions on previous residents seeking to reenter the country. It is against this backdrop that the exhibit considers the broad range of nineteenth-century imagery depicting the first generations of Chinese Californians and how visual culture influenced, aligned with and diverged from the politics of Exclusion and the actions of the state.

Featured in the exhibit are examples of how different types of photography (studio portraits, street photography and surveillance) reflect different facets of the Chinese experience. While studio portraits presented a dignified image of the subject, street photography highlighted the unequal social relations that existed between the Chinese and non-Chinese populations. Government headshots were used as a tool in the suppression, surveillance and criminalization of Chinese residents through systems of registration and identification. Together, these varying styles of photography shaped the perception of the Chinese during the Exclusion Era.

General admission rates apply. Admission rates are $10 for adults, $8 for military and seniors, $7 for students and $5 for children ages 6–12. Children ages 5 and under are free. San Bernardino County Museum Foundation members receive 50% off admission. Parking is free, and the museum is accessible to people with disabilities.

The San Bernardino County Museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane in Redlands.