Chinese laborers did much of the toughest work building the Central Pacific Railroad. That included blasting tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to eventually connect to the Union Pacific line at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869. Today, Lindsay is joined by Sue Lee, historian and former executive director of the Chinese Historical Society of America. She and historian Connie Young Yu edited Voices from the Railroad: Stories by descendants of Chinese railroad workers.

Order your copy of the new American History Tellers book, The Hidden History of the White House, for behind-the-scenes stories of some of the most dramatic events in American history—set right inside the house where it happened.

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