Lantern slide of Boat Coolies at Dinner. Historically, a coolie (variously spelled cooli, cooly, kuli, quli, koelie etc.) was an Asian slave or manual laborer, particularly in southern China, the Indian subcontinent, and the Philippines during the 19th century and early 20th century. It is also a contemporary racial slur for people of Asian descent, including people from South Asia, Central Asia, etc, particularly in South Africa.. Part of Box 159 Pekin, slide no. 10