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Asian American history is the history of ethnic and racial groups in the United States who are of
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
n descent. The term "
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...
" was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together Chinese,
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
, and
Filipino Americans Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...
for strategic political purposes. Soon other groups of Asian origin, such as
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...
, Indian, and
Vietnamese Americans Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth ...
were added. For example, while many Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigrants arrived as unskilled workers in significant numbers from 1850 to 1905 and largely settled in Hawaii and California, many Vietnamese, Cambodian, and
Hmong Americans Hmong Americans ( RPA: ''Hmoob Mes Kas'', Pahawh Hmong: "") are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Many Hmong Americans immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s, with a second wave in the 1980s and 1990s. Over half of the Hmong ...
arrived in the United States as refugees following the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. These separate histories have often been overlooked in conventional frameworks of Asian American history. Since 1965, shifting immigration patterns have resulted in a higher proportion of highly educated Asian immigrants entering the United States. This image of success is often referred to as the "model minority" myth.


Early Migration and the Impact of Wars

Asian immigration to the United States was influenced by events like the
Opium Wars The Opium Wars () were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century. The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and Britain. It was triggered by the Chinese government's campaign to ...
(1839–1860) in China, which caused economic instability and social upheaval. Many Chinese laborers sought opportunities abroad, contributing to industries like railroad construction and mining. Despite their efforts, they faced significant discrimination and exclusionary policies, shaping the early experiences of Asian Americans.Seeing the conflicts they were dealing with back home, They decided that they needed to seek refuge in safer areas


Hostility to immigration

The Chinese arrived in the US in large numbers on the West Coast in the 1850s and 1860s to work in the
gold mines Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more complex ...
and railroads. The Central Pacific railroad hired thousands, but after the line was finished in 1869 they were hounded out of many railroad towns in states such as
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
and
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
. Most wound up in
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
s—areas of large cities which the police largely ignored. The Chinese were further alleged to be "
coolie Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th cent ...
s" and were said to be not suitable for becoming independent thoughtful voters because of their control by
tongs Tongs are a type of tool used to grip and lift objects instead of holding them directly with hands. There are many forms of tongs adapted to their specific use. Design variations include resting points so that the working end of the tongs d ...
. The same negative reception hit the Asians who migrated to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. A man by the name of Don Yee Fung wrote about his experiences immigrating from China to the U.S. in the article “My Journey from China to America” and how things like the Exclusion Act, Angel Island and racial discrimination effected him during the immigration, struggling to get a job due to the fact he was Asian, whilst his white peers easily got jobs. He fled to the U.S. Don Yee Fung states he moved due to the Japanese War around 1939 when he was only eleven, and it wasn't until some time around 1951 People of Japanese descent began to arrive in large numbers between 1890–1907, many going to
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
(an independent country until 1898), and others to the West Coast. Hostility was very high on the West Coast. Hawaii was a multicultural society in which the Japanese experienced about the same level of distrust as other groups. Indeed, they were the largest population group by 1910, and after 1950 took political control of Hawaii. Ethnic Japanese on the West Coast of the US were
interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, but very few on Hawaii at the Honouliuli Internment Camp.


Historiography

The historiography of Asians in America falls into four periods. The 1870s to the 1920s saw partisan debates over curtailing Chinese and Japanese immigration; "
Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror, the Yellow Menace, and the Yellow Specter) is a Racism, racist color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the ...
" diatribes battled strong, missionary-based defenses of the immigrants. Studies written from the 1920s to the 1960s were dominated by social scientists, who focused on issues of assimilation and social organization, as well as the World War II internment camps. Activist revisionism marked the 1960s to the early 1980s. Starting in the early 1980s there was an increased stress on human agency. Only after 1990 has there been much scholarship by professional historians.


Chronology

Major milestones according to standard reference works and others are:


16th century

* 1587: "Luzonians" (Filipinos from
Luzon Island Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, a ...
) arrive in
Morro Bay Morro Bay (''Morro'', Spanish for "Hill") is a seaside city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast of California, the city's population was 10,757 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,234 at the 2010 ...
(San Luis Obispo) California on board the galleon ship ''Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza'' under the command of Spanish Captain Pedro de Unamuno during the
Manila galleon The Manila galleon (; ) refers to the Spain, Spanish trading Sailing ship, ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year betwe ...
traide. * 1595: Filipino sailors aboard a Spanish "
galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...
" the ''San Agustin'' which was commanded by Captain Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno arrive on the shores of
Point Reyes Point Reyes ( , meaning 'Cape of the Kings') is a prominent landform and popular tourist destination on the Pacific coast of Marin County in Northern California. It is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applied ...
outside the mouth of the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
. The ship was on a trip to
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
before it was shipwrecked on the aforementioned area.


17th century

* 1635: an "East Indian" is listed in
Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent British colonization of the Americas, English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about southwest of present-day Willia ...
.


18th century

* 1763: ** Notice for a captured suspected runaway slave on July 20, 1763, "not resembling the African negros", born in Bombay and spoke good English **
Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...
established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them, the "
Manilamen Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...
," as they were known, married
Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...
and Native American women. * 1768–1794: Records of three escaped slaves of East Indian ethnicity documented in Virginia and Philadelphia * 1775–1783: ** At least 100 or more Asian Americans lived in the Thirteen Colonies around the time of the American Revolution. ** Four well-documented Asian Americans are known to have fought in the American Revolution (two serving with the American rebels and two with the British). * 1778: Chinese sailors first arrive to Hawaii. Many settled down and married Hawaiian women. * 1779: Malays were listed as one of the many ethnicities who were part of the crew of the USS Bonhomme Richard during the
Battle of Flamborough Head The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between a combined Franco-American squadron, led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones, and two British e ...
, in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
. * 1785: Chinese sailors of an American ship reached
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
. * 1798: A tombstone in Boston was dedicated to a person named ''Chow Mandarin'', aged 19, who was born in Canton and died falling off a ship's masthead on September 11, 1798.


19th century

* 1815: Filipinos working as shrimp fishermen and smugglers in Louisiana serve under General
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
's American forces in the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
and as artillery gunners at the
Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
. * 1820s: Chinese (mostly merchants, sailors, and students) begin to immigrate via Sino-U.S. maritime trade. * 1829: Famous conjoined twins
Chang and Eng Bunker Chang Bunker (จัน บังเกอร์) and Eng Bunker (อิน บังเกอร์) (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Siamese (Thai)-American conjoined twins, conjoined twin brothers whose fame propelled the expression " ...
, both born in Siam (modern-day
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
), began performing on a series of tours in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, with a Siamese translator brought along to help translate for Chang and Eng. Chang and Eng became naturalized US citizens in the 1830s and settled down in North Carolina. Two of their sons with their American wives later fought for the Confederacy during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. * 1835: First account of Chinese laborers on Hawaii by an American, who were noted to perform efficient, backbreaking work compared to indigenous Hawaiian laborers. In response, an Anglo-American entrepreneur hires the first Chinese paid laborers in Hawaii and recommends the importation of Chinese laborers to the Continental US. * 1841: Captain Whitfield, commanding an American whaler in the Pacific, rescues five shipwrecked Japanese sailors. Four disembark at
Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
. Manjiro Nakahama stays on board returning with Whitfield to Fairhaven,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. After attending school in New England and adopting the name John Manjiro, he later becomes an interpreter for Commodore
Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994– ...
. * 1848–1855: First mass wave of Chinese immigrants to the US for
gold prospecting Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries Placer mining, plac ...
including in states such as
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...
, and
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
. The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) was a period of American history in which the most amount of gold seen at the time was discovered. The initial discovery of gold in America in 1848 attracted many immigrants who were intent on the opportunity and potential wealth that came with gold mining. Word of a mountain of gold across the ocean arrived in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
in 1849, and quickly spread throughout the Chinese provinces. By 1851, 25,000 Chinese immigrants had left their homes and moved to California, a land some came to call ''gam saan'', or "gold mountain". In 1852, 20,000 Chinese-Americans migrated to California, totaling 67,000 Chinese immigrants in California. In response to increased Chinese immigration, the California legislature passed a new foreign miner's tax of $4 a month. * 1850: Seventeen survivors of a Japanese shipwreck were saved by an American freighter; In 1852, the group joins Commodore
Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994– ...
to help open diplomatic relations with Japan. One of them, Joseph Heco (Hikozo Hamada) later becomes a naturalized US citizen. * 1854: ** In ''
People v. Hall ''The People of the State of California v. George W. Hall'' or ''People v. Hall'', , was an appealed murder case in the 1850s, in which the California Supreme Court established that Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants had no rights to testi ...
'', the
California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
case that denied the rights of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans to testify against white citizens. **
Yung Wing Yung Wing (; November 17, 1828April 21, 1912) was a Chinese-American diplomat and businessman. In 1854, he became the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university, Yale College. He was involved in business transactions between C ...
becomes the first Chinese American student to graduate from an American university (
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
) * 1861–1865: Several dozen Asian American volunteers enlist in the Union Army and Union Navy during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Smaller numbers serve in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. * 1861: The utopian minister Thomas Lake Harris of the Brotherhood of the New Life visits England, where he meets Nagasawa Kanaye, who becomes a convert. Nagasawa returns to the US with Harris and follows him to Fountaingrove in
Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...
. When Harris leaves the Californian commune, Nagasawa became the leader and remained there until his death in 1932. * 1862: California imposes a tax of $2.50 a month on every Chinese man. * 1865: The
Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...
Co. recruits Chinese workers for the
transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...
from California to Utah. Many are killed or injured in the harsh conditions blasting through difficult mountain terrain. * 1869: A group of Japanese build the
Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony is believed to be the first permanent Japanese settlement in North America and the only settlement by samurai outside of Japan. The group was made up of 22 people from samurai families during the Boshin Civi ...
in Gold Hill, California * 1869: The Fourteenth Amendment gives full citizenship to every person born in the United States, regardless of race. * 1877:
Denis Kearney Denis Kearney (1847–1907) was a California labor leader from Ireland who was active in the late 19th century and was known for his anti-Chinese activism. Called "a demagogue of extraordinary power," he frequently gave long and caustic speeches ...
organizes anti-Chinese movement in San Francisco and forms the
Workingmen's Party of California The Workingmen's Party of California (WPC) was an American labor organization, founded in 1877 and led by Denis Kearney, J. G. Day, and H. L. Knight. Its famous slogan was "The Chinese must go!" Organizational history As a result of heavy unem ...
, alleging that Chinese workers took lower wages, poorer conditions, and longer hours than white workers were willing to tolerate. * 1878: Chinese are ruled ineligible for naturalized citizenship. * 1882:
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
is passed banning immigration of laborers from China. Students and businessmen are allowed. Large numbers of Chinese gain entry by claiming American birth. * 1884:
Philip Jaisohn Seo Jae-pil (; January 7, 1864 – January 5, 1951), better known by his English name Philip Jaisohn, was a Korean American politician, physician, and Korean independence activist. He was the first Korean to become a naturalized citizen of t ...
, a Korean independence activist and physician who later became an American citizen among Koreans for the first time, arrived in the United States. * 1885: The Rock Springs massacre in Wyoming leaves 28 Chinese miners dead. * 1887: Robbers kill 31 Chinese miners Snake River, Oregon. * 1890: In Hawaii, then an independent country, sugar plantations hire large numbers of Japanese, Chinese and Filipinos. They form a majority of the population by 1898. * 1892: When
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
expired in 1892, Congress extended it for 10 years in the form of the
Geary Act The Geary Act of 1892 was a United States law that extended the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and added new requirements. It was written by California Representative Thomas J. Geary and was passed by Congress on . The law required all Chines ...
. This extension, made permanent in 1902, added restrictions by requiring each Chinese resident to register and obtain a certificate of residence. Without a certificate, they faced deportation. * 1898: Hawaii joins the US as a territory. Most residents are Asian and they receive full US citizenship. * 1898: The Philippines joins the US as a territory. The residents of the Philippines become US nationals but not citizens.


20th century


1901 to 1940

* 1902:
Yone Noguchi was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He is known in the west as Yone Noguchi. He was the father of noted sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Biography Early life in Japan Nog ...
publishes ''The American Diary of a Japanese Girl''. * 1903:
Ahn Chang Ho Ahn Chang Ho (; November 9, 1878 – March 10, 1938), sometimes An Chang-ho, was a prominent Korean politician, Korean independence activist, and an early leader of the Korean-American immigrant community in the United States. He is also comm ...
, pen name Dosan, founded the Friendship Society in 1903 and the Mutual Assistant Society. * 1904:
Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...
(이승만), comes to the US to earn a BA at
George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
and a Ph.D. from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. In 1910, he returned to Korea and became a political activist during
Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...
. He later became the first president of South Korea. * 1906: The
San Francisco Board of Education The San Francisco Board of Education is the school board for the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco. It is composed of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, and state ...
segregates Japanese students, but withdraws at the request of President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
and protests by the Japanese government. * 1907:
Gentlemen's Agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding wikt:agreement, agreement between two or more parties. It is typically Oral contract, oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspok ...
between United States and Japan that Japan would stop issuing passports for new laborers. * 1910: Angel Island in San Francisco Bay opens as the major station for as many as 175,000 Chinese and 60,000 Japanese immigrants between 1910 and 1940. * 1913:
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
bans Japanese immigrants ("Issei") from purchasing land; land is purchased instead in the names of US-born children ("Nisei") who are citizens * 1924: United States
Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every count ...
(Oriental Exclusion Act) banned most immigration from Asia. The quota for most Asian countries is zero. Public opinion in Japan is outraged by the insult. * 1927: In the infamous case of '' Lum v. Rice'', the Supreme Court found that states possess the right to define a Chinese student as non-white for the purpose of segregating them in public schools. * 1930: Anti-Filipino riot occurred in Watsonville, California. * 1933: Filipinos are ruled ineligible for citizenship barring immigration. '' Roldan v. Los Angeles County'' found that existing California
anti-miscegenation laws Anti-miscegenation laws are laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage sometimes, also criminalizing sex between members of different races. In the United Stat ...
did not bar Filipino-white marriages, but the state quickly moved to amend the law and made it so that Filipinos could no longer marry White people. * 1935:
Tydings–McDuffie Act The Philippine Independence Act, or Tydings–McDuffie Act (), is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then a US territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, th ...
gives "Commonwealth" status to the Philippines hence allowing immigration of Filipinos; Philippines independence is scheduled for 1946 * 1940:
Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...
was born November 27, 1940, in the
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
area of
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.


1941 to 1999

* 1941: Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbor; FBI arrests pro-Japanese community leaders in Hawaii and US. * 1941: Japanese army invades the Philippines. * 1941–1945: Filipino resistance movement, working closely with US Army, fights the Japanese invaders. * 1942: President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
signs
Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...
on February 19, ordering the
internment of Japanese Americans United States home front during World War II, During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and Internment, incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese Americans, Japanese descent in ten #Terminology debate, concentration camps opera ...
. The action uprooted more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent on the US West Coast; similar actions take place in Canada. * 1943: After China became an ally during World War II,
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...
proved to be an embarrassment and were finally repealed by the
Magnuson Act Magnuson Act most commonly refers to the following legislation named after Warren Magnuson: * Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act, a 1943 United States federal law that repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a Unit ...
in 1943. This bill made it possible for Chinese to become naturalized citizens and gave them an annual quota of 105 immigrants. * 1943: Japanese American soldiers from Hawaii join the US Army 100th Battalion arrive in Europe. * 1944: US Army 100th Battalion merges with the all-volunteer Asian Americans of Japanese descent
442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment including the 100th Infantry Battalion is best known as the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, and as a fighting unit composed almost ent ...
. * 1945: 442nd Regimental Combat team awarded 18,143 decorations including 9,486 Purple Heart decorations becoming the highest decorated military unit in United States history. * 1946: the
Luce–Celler Act The Luce–Celler Act of 1946, Pub. L. No. 79-483, 60 Stat. 416, is an Act of the United States Congress which provided a quota of 100 Filipinos and 100 Indians from Asia to immigrate to the United States per year, which for the first time all ...
of 1946 grants naturalization opportunities to Filipino Americans and Indian Americans (which included present-day Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) and re-established immigration from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. *1947–1989: Strong American interest in Asia during Cold War, especially Korea and Vietnam. *1947:
Wataru Misaka Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the first ...
, a Japanese American, was the first player of color and first American of Asian descent and the first non-
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...
person to play in the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA), known then as the
Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball Lea ...
(BAA) making him the person that broke the professional basketball color barrier the same year that Baseball player
Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...
broke the baseball color barrier. * 1948: Olympic divers
Vicki Draves Victoria Manalo Draves (' Manalo; December 31, 1924 – April 11, 2010) was a Filipino American competitive diver who won gold medals in both platform and springboard diving at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Draves became the first woman t ...
and Sammy Lee became the first Asian Americans to win an Olympic gold medal for the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.

* 1951: '' The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong'' the first US television series starring an Asian American series lead was launched on the now defunct television network DuMont."Film reveals real-life struggles of an onscreen 'Dragon Lady'
." January 3, 2008. Retrieved: January 27, 2010.
The lead actress of the series was
Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain internat ...
the first female Asian American movie star and the first Chinese American movie star. * 1952: Walter–McCarran Act nullifies all federal anti-Asian exclusion laws and allows for naturalization of all Asians. * 1956:
Dalip Singh Saund Dalip Singh Saund (September 20, 1899 – April 22, 1973) was an Indian-born American farmer, lobbyist, judicial officer, academic, and Democratic Party politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1963. He wa ...
(1899–1973), a Sikh from California, becomes the first Asian to be elected to Congress. * 1957: Japanese American James Kanno is elected mayor of
Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Indigenous The Indigenous people of the Fountain Valley area are the Tongva. The closest ...
. * 1962: Professional
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
player
Roman Gabriel Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr. (August 5, 1940 – April 20, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, twice earning first- ...
, was the first Asian American to start as an NFL quarterback. * 1962:
Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( , , September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipi ...
of Hawaii elected for the US Senate; he wins reelection in 1968, 1974, 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010. * 1962:
Wing Luke Wing Chong Luke (February 18, 1925 – May 16, 1965; ) was a Chinese-American lawyer and politician from Seattle. Luke served as an Attorney General of Washington, assistant attorney general of Washington for the state civil rights division fr ...
becomes the first Asian American to hold elected office (Seattle City Council) in the State of Washington. * 1963
Rocky Fellers
a Filipino American boy band is first Asian American to hit Billboard 100 ."Killer Joe" reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1963, No. 1 in both New York and Los Angeles, CA. * 1964:
Grace Lee Boggs Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – October 5, 2015) was an American author, social activist, philosopher, and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. In t ...
author and social activist, met with Malcolm X and unsuccessfully attempted to convince him to run for the United States Senate. * 1964: Senator
Hiram Fong Hiram Leong Fong (born Yau Leong Fong; October 15, 1906 – August 18, 2004) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician from Hawaii. Born to a Cantonese immigrant sugar plantation worker, Fong was one of the first two senators for Hawai ...
of
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
becomes first Asian American to run for
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, as a
favorite son Favorite son (or favorite daughter) is a political term referring to a presidential candidate, either one that is nominated by a state but considered a nonviable candidate or a politician whose electoral appeal derives from their native state, r ...
candidate in his state's primary. He is also the first person from Hawaii to run for president, and runs again in 1968. * 1965:
Yuri Kochiyama was an American civil rights activist born in San Pedro, California. She was interned at the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas during World War II, an experience that influenced her later views on racism in the United States. While in ...
, human rights activist and longtime friend of
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
, on February 21, the day of X's assassination, at the
Audubon Ballroom The Audubon Theatre and Ballroom, generally referred to as the Audubon Ballroom, was a theatre and ballroom located at 3940 Broadway at West 165th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 191 ...
in Washington Heights, runs to X after he is shot and holds him in her arms as he lies dying. * 1965:
Patsy Mink Patsy Matsu Mink ( Takemoto; , December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002) was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii who served in the United States House of Representatives for 24 years as a member of the Democratic ...
of Hawaii becomes the first woman of color elected to Congress. * 1965: John Wing serves as Mississippi's first Chinese American mayor; he serves as mayor of Jonestown, Mississippi, through 1973. * 1965: Luck Wing serves four terms as the Mayor of
Sledge, Mississippi Sledge is a town located in Quitman County, Mississippi, Quitman County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 368. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total a ...
with a population of 600. Wing served as mayor and significantly changed the Chinese American experience in the
Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...
. * 1965: A group of mostly Filipino farm workers go on strike against growers of table grapes in California a strike which became known as the famous
Delano grape strike The Delano grape strike was a labor strike organized by the United Farm Workers, Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), a predominantly Filipino and AFL-CIO-sponsored labor organization, against table grape growers in Delano, Californ ...
they were led by the famous Filipino American activists and labor organizers
Philip Vera Cruz Philip Villamin Vera Cruz (December 25, 1904 – June 12, 1994) was a Filipino American labor leader and farmworker. He helped found the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), which later merged with the National Farm Workers Associ ...
and
Larry Itliong Modesto "Larry" Dulay Itliong (October 25, 1913 – February 1977), also known as "Seven Fingers", was a Filipino-American union organizer. He organized West Coast agricultural workers starting in the 1930s, and rose to national prominence in ...
. * 1968: A series of strikes by the
Third World Liberation Front In 1968, the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), a coalition of the Black Students Union, the Native Students Room, the Latin American Students Organization, the Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) the Filipino-American Students Organiz ...
, a group of ethnic minority students at
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...
and at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, leads to the creation of a College of Ethnic Studies and the beginning of the discipline of
Asian American Studies Asian American Studies is an academic field originating in the 1960s, which critically examines the history, issues, sociology, religion, experiences, culture, and policies relevant to Asian Americans. It is closely related to other Ethnic Studies ...
that soon becomes prevalent throughout the country. * 1970s–1980s: Asians Americans created their own distinct genre of jazz and launched a musical movement based around it. * 1971:
Norman Mineta Norman Yoshio Mineta (, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the cabinet of the United States for US Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. ...
elected mayor of
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
; becomes first Asian American mayor of a major US city;
Herbert Choy Herbert Young Cho Choy (January 6, 1916 – March 10, 2004) was the first Asian American to serve as a United States federal judge and the first person of Korean ancestry to be admitted to the bar in the United States. He served as a United Stat ...
nominated Supreme Court justice. * 1972: Patsy Mink co-authors and sponsors the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act and gets it effectively passed on June 23 the act was for the prohibition of gender discrimination in the US education system or other federally funded institutions. In the same year, Mink also becomes the first Asian American woman to run for President of the United States, participating in the Oregon Democratic Primary. * 1973:
Ruby Chow Ruby Chow (June 6, 1920 – June 4, 2008; ) was a Chinese American restaurateur and politician in Seattle, Washington. In 1974, she became the first Asian American elected to the King County Council and served until her retirement in 1986. Ea ...
became the first Asian American elected to the King County Council in Washington State. * 1973: The album ''A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America'', created in support of the
Asian American movement The Asian American Movement was a sociopolitical movement in which the widespread grassroots efforts of Asian Americans effected racial, social and political change in the U.S., reaching its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During this period A ...
and other civil rights causes and widely regarded as one of the first recorded Asian American albums, is released. * 1974:
George Ariyoshi George Ryoichi Ariyoshi (, born March 12, 1926) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the third governor of Hawaii from 1974 to 1986. A Democrat, he is Hawaii's longest-serving governor and the first American of Asian descent to ...
elected governor of Hawaii. * 1974: Eduardo Malapit elected mayor of Kauai, the first Filipino American mayor in the United States. * 1976:
S. I. Hayakawa Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor of English, he served as president of San Francisco State University and then as U.S. Senator f ...
of California and
Spark Matsunaga Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as United States Senate, United States Senator for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U ...
of Hawaii elected as US Senators. * 1977–1978: In June 1977, Reps. Frank Horton of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
and
Norman Y. Mineta Norman Yoshio Mineta (, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the cabinet of the United States for US Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. ...
of California introduced a
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
resolution to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate a month later by
Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( , , September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipi ...
and
Spark Matsunaga Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as United States Senate, United States Senator for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U ...
. President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
signed a joint resolution for the celebration on October 5, 1978. * 1978:
Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Air Force flight test engineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Cha ...
becomes the first Asian American astronaut. * 1980s–present: Asian Americans have made dramatic advances as students and faculty in higher education, especially in California. There have been sharp debates regarding the existence of discrimination against high-performing Asians. * 1980: Congress creates
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was a group of nine people appointed by the U.S. Congress in 1980 to conduct an official governmental study into the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Pro ...
to investigate internment of Japanese Americans; in 1983 it reports Japanese American internment was not a national security necessity. * 1982: Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was beaten to death in
Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Highland Park is located roughly north of Downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 United ...
near Detroit. His murder became a rally point for Asian Americans. Vincent Chin's murder is often considered the beginning of a pan-ethnic
Asian American movement The Asian American Movement was a sociopolitical movement in which the widespread grassroots efforts of Asian Americans effected racial, social and political change in the U.S., reaching its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During this period A ...
. * 1988: President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
signs
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (, title I, August 10, 1988, , et seq.) is a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been wrongly interned by the United States government during World War II and to "di ...
apologizing for Japanese American internment and provide reparations of $20,000 to each victim. * 1989:
Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singl ...
was the first Chinese American to win the French Open, and reached a career best ranking of world No. 2 in 1996. * 1990:
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
signed a bill passed by Congress to extend Asian American Heritage Week to a month; May was officially designated as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month two years later. * 1992: Eugene Chung is a former American football offensive lineman who played in the National Football League from 1992 to 1997. * 1992: May was officially designated as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. * 1992:
Hae Jong Kim Hae Jong Kim (; 1935 – 2020) was a Korean-American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1992, who resigned as a bishop in 2005. Early life Kim was born in Seoul, Korea in 1935. During the Korean War he became a Christian. Then, ...
elected Bishop of
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...
; Paull Shin elected for Washington State Senate;
Jay Kim Jay Chang Joon Kim (; born March 27, 1939) is a Korean- American politician and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California. He was the first Korean American to be elected to the United States Congress. Early life, educa ...
becomes first
Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...
elected to Congress (CA-41);
LA Riots Los Angeles riots or protests may refer to: *1992 Los Angeles riots, following the acquittal of police officers accused of using excessive force against Rodney King *Watts riots, of 1965, following an arrest for drunk driving in the Watts neighborh ...
of April 1992. * 1993: Bobby Scott is elected to Congress from Virginia's 3rd congressional district. Scott is of African American and Filipino American descent, and is the first member of the United States Congress of Filipino ancestry. * 1994:
Ben Cayetano Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United Stat ...
is elected
Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii () is the head of government of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes bei ...
, becoming the first Filipino American to be elected governor of a state. * 1996:
Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat from the State of Washington. Locke served as the 21st governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005, where he was the first Chinese-American governor ...
is elected governor of Washington state. When he was elected in 1995 Locke became the first—and to date the only—Chinese American to serve as the governor of a state, holding the post for two terms. * 1999: Gen.
Eric Shinseki Eric Ken Shinseki (; , born 28 November 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as the 34th chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003. Shinseki ...
becomes the first Asian American US Army chief of staff. * 1999:
David Wu David Wu (born April 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Wu was born ...
is elected as Congressman for Oregon's 1st District.


21st century

* 2000:
Norman Mineta Norman Yoshio Mineta (, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the cabinet of the United States for US Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. ...
. Democratic Congressman, appointed by President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
as the first Asian American appointed to the US Cabinet; worked as Commerce Secretary (2000–2001), Transportation Secretary (2001–2006). * 2000:
Angela Perez Baraquio Angela Perez Baraquio Grey (born June 1, 1976), known professionally by her birth name of Angela Perez Baraquio, is an American educator. She was crowned Miss America 2001 on October 14, 2000, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first A ...
became the first Asian American, first Filipino American, and first teacher ever to have been crowned
Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...
. * 2001:
Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transpor ...
was appointed by President George W. Bush as the Secretary of Labor, serving to 2009. She is the first Asian American woman to serve in the Cabinet. * 2002: less than a month after the death of Rep. Patsy Mink, Congress passed a resolution to rename Title IX the "Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. *2003: Ignatius C. Wang is an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco from 2002 to 2009. * 2008:
Cung Le Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, former professional mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organi ...
, first Asian American to win a major mma title by defeating
Frank Shamrock Frank Shamrock (born Frank Alisio Juarez III; December 8, 1972) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship (later renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship) ...
via TKO in Strikeforce. * 2008:
Bruce Reyes-Chow Bruce Reyes-Chow is a teaching elder (minister) of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Reyes-Chow received his BA in Asian American Studies, Sociology and Religion from San Francisco State University in 1990 and received his Masters of Divinity in 1995 ...
, third-generation Filipino and Chinese American, was elected as the moderator of 2 million members of the
Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...
. * 2008:
Tim Lincecum Timothy Leroy Lincecum ( ; born June 15, 1984), nicknamed "the Freak", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played ten seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the San Francisco Giants. A two-time Cy Young Award ...
, a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, is selected as an All Star for the Major League All Star Game. Lincecum, who is half-Filipino, also won the Cy Young award as the most successful pitcher in the National League in 2008. Lincecum is the first Asian American to be selected as the Cy Young winner. Lincecum also won the Cy Young again in 2009 and led the Giants to a World Series victory in 2010. * 2009:
Steven Chu Steven ChuJoseph Cao Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao ( ; ; born March 13, 1967) is a Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party (United ...
, a Republican, is the first Vietnamese American and person born in Vietnam elected to the US House of Representatives, from Louisiana's 2nd congressional district; he was defeated for reelection in 2010. * 2009:
Judy Chu Judy May Chu (born July 7, 1953) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she has held a seat in Congress since 2009, representing until redistricting. ...
is the first Chinese American woman elected to the US Congress. * 2009:
Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat from the State of Washington. Locke served as the 21st governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005, where he was the first Chinese-American governor ...
is appointed by President Obama to serve as the Secretary of Commerce. * 2009: Dr.
Jim Yong Kim Jim Yong Kim (; born December 8, 1959), also known as Kim Yong (/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019. A global health leader, Kim was formerly the chair ...
is appointed as President of
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
, becoming the first Asian American president of an Ivy League School. * 2010: Immigration from Asia surpassed immigration from
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. Many of these immigrants are recruited by American companies from college campuses in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
. * 2010:
Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( , , September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipi ...
is sworn in as President Pro Tempore making him one of the highest-ranking Asian American politicians ever. * 2010:
Far East Movement Far East Movement (abbreviated FM) is an American Hip hop music, hip hop and electronic music group based in Los Angeles, composed of Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, Jon Street, Ray Ro, DJ Virman, and Jerm Beats. They signed with Martin Kierszenba ...
is the second Asian American band to top the Billboard 100, second only to Rocky Fellers with its song "
Like a G6 "Like a G6" is a song by American music group Far East Movement featuring American production duo the Cataracs and American singer Dev, released as the lead single from Far East Movement's third studio album '' Free Wired''. The song was initial ...
". The song was number one on two separate weeks in November 2010. * 2010:
Jeremy Lin Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player for the New Taipei Kings of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knick ...
is the first American-born Taiwanese to become an NBA player. Lin was a star basketball player for Harvard University and excelled at NBA pre-draft camps. Lin is currently a player for the
Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...
of the
NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
. * 2010:
Jean Quan Lai Jean Quan (born October 21, 1949) is an American politician who served the 49th mayor of Oakland, California from 2011 to 2015. She previously served as City Council member for Oakland's 4th District. Upon inauguration on January 3, 2011, sh ...
is elected as Mayor of Oakland, California. Quan is the first Asian American woman elected mayor of a major American city. Quan is Oakland's first Asian American mayor. * 2010:
Ed Lee Edwin Mah Lee (May 5, 1952 – December 12, 2017) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017. Born in Seattle to Chinese American parents, Lee was a member of the D ...
is appointed as Mayor of San Francisco, California. * 2010: Ed Wang was the first full-blooded Chinese player to both be drafted and to play in the NFL. * 2011:
Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat from the State of Washington. Locke served as the 21st governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005, where he was the first Chinese-American governor ...
becomes US Ambassador to the People's Republic of China. * 2013:
Nina Davuluri Nina Davuluri (born April 20, 1989) is an American public speaker, advocate, and beauty queen who hosts the reality show ''Made in America'' on Zee TV America from Manhattan. As Miss America 2014, she became the first Indian American contesta ...
became the second Asian American and first Indian American to be crowned as Miss America. She is the second Asian American following Angela Perez Baraquio in 2000. * 2015:
Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...
,
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(2008—present), becomes the first Indian American to run for
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, and is the first Asian American to run a nationwide campaign to seek the United States Presidency. * 2016:
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
was elected to the United States Senate from California, and is the first Indian American to serve as a United States Senator. * 2016: President-elect
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announces his intention to nominate
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to serve as
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. Haley is confirmed January 2017 and is the first Asian American and Indian American to serve as United Nations Ambassador. * 2017:
Elaine Chao Elaine Lan Chao (born March 26, 1953) is an American businesswoman and former government official who served as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009 and as United States secretary of transpor ...
was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as the Secretary of Transportation. * 2017: Simon Tam wins a unanimous case at the Supreme Court for
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(the right to register
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' trademark). * 2018:
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becomes first Indian American woman to campaign for the United States. * 2021:
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primary on March 3rd. * 2025:
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See also

*
East Asia–United States relations East Asia–United States relations covers American relations with the region as a whole, as well as summaries of relations with China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and smaller places. It includes diplomatic, military, economic, social and cultural ties. ...
*
Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans with Asian diaspora, ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are Immigration to the United States, immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). A ...
*
Asian American immigration history Asian immigration to the United States refers to immigration to the United States from part of the continent of Asia, which includes East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Asian-origin populations have historically been in the territory that ...
* Asian American political history *
Military history of Asian Americans Asian Americans, who are Americans of Asian descent, have fought and served on behalf of the United States since the American Revolutionary War. During the American Civil War Asian Americans fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. Afte ...
*
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (, officially changed from Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Month) is an annually observed commemorative month in the United States. It is celebrated during the month of May, a ...
Histories of specific ethnic/national subgroups: * Afghan American history * Bangladeshi American history * Burmese American history * Cambodian American history *
Chinese American history The history of Chinese Americans or the history of ethnic Chinese in the United States includes three major waves of Chinese immigration to the United States, beginning in the 19th century. Chinese immigrants in the 19th century worked in th ...
* Filipino American history * Immigration history of Hmong Americans * Indian American history *
Japanese American history Japanese American history is the history of Japanese Americans or the history of ethnic Japanese in the United States. People from Japan began immigrating to the U.S. in significant numbers following the political, cultural, and social changes ...
* Korean American history * Laotian American history * Pakistani American history * Sri Lankan American history * Thai American history * Tibetan American history * Vietnamese American history


References


Further reading


Reference books

* * Chen, Edith Wen-Chu, and Grace J. Yoo, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today'' (2 vol, 2009
excerpt and text search
* Huang, Guiyou, ed. ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature'' (3 vol. 2008
excerpt and text search
* Japanese American National Museum. ''Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-To-Z Reference from 1868 to the Present'' (2nd ed. 2000) * Kim, Hyung-Chan, ed. ''Dictionary of Asian American History'' (1986) 629pp
online edition
* Lee, Jonathan H. X. and Kathleen M. Nadeau, eds. ''Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife'' (3 vol. 2010) * Lee, Jonathan H. X. ''History of Asian Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots'' (2015) * Ng, Franklin. ''The Asian American Encyclopedia'' (6 vol., 1995) * Oh, Seiwoong, ed.. ''Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature'' (2007) * Okihiro, Gary Y. ''American History Unbound: Asians and Pacific Islanders'' (University of California Press, 2015). xiv, 499 pp. *


Reference books specialized by region

* * * * * *


Surveys by scholars

* Chan, Sucheng. ''Asian Americans: an interpretive history'' (Twayne, 1991). * Fuchs, Lawrence H. ''Hawaii Pono: An Ethnic and Political History'' (1997) * Lee, Shelley Sang-Hee. ''A New History of Asian America'' (2014) * Okihiro, Gary Y. ''The Columbia Guide to Asian American History '' (2001
online editionexcerpt and text search
* Okihiro, Gary Y. ''Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History and Culture'' (University of Washington Press, 2014) * Takaki, Ronald ''Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans'' New York: Little, Brown, 1998. * * DuFault, David V. "The Chinese in the Mining Camps of California: 1848-1870." JSTOR, June 1959, www.jstor.org/stable/41169382.


Historiography

* Chan, Sucheng. "The changing contours of Asian-American historiography", ''Rethinking History'', March 2007, Vol. 11 Issue 1, pp 125–147; surveys 100+ studies of defining events; Asian diasporas; social dynamics; cultural histories. * Chan, Sucheng. "Asian American historiography," ''Pacific Historical Review,'' Aug 1996, Vol. 65#3 pp. 363–99 * Espiritu, Augusto. "Transnationalism and Filipino American Historiography," ''Journal of Asian American Studies'', June 2008, Vol. 11#2 pp. 171–184, * Friday, Chris. "Asian American Labor and Historical Interpretation," ''Labor History'', Fall 1994, Vol. 35#4 pp. 524–546, * Gregory, Peter N. "Describing the Elephant: Buddhism in American," ''Religion and American Culture'', Summer 2001, Vol. 11#2 pp. 233–63 * Kim, Lili M. "Doing Korean American History in the Twenty-First Century," '' Journal of Asian American Studies'', June 2008, Vol. 11@2 pp 199–209 * * Lee, Erika, "Orientalisms in the Americas: A Hemispheric Approach to Asian American History," ''Journal of Asian American Studies'' vol 8#3 (2005) pp 235–256. Notes that 30–40% of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants before 1941 went to Latin America, especially Brazil, and many others went to Canada. * Ngai, Mae M. "Asian American History—Reflections on the De-centering of the Field," ''Journal of American Ethnic History'', Summer 2006, Vol. 25#4 pp 97–108 * Okihiro, Gary Y. ''The Columbia Guide to Asian American History'' (2001
excerpt and text search
* Okihiro, Gary Y. ''Common Ground: Reimagining American History'' (2001
excerpt and text search
* Tamura, Eillen H. "Historiographical Essay," ''History of Education Quarterly'', Spring 2001, Vol. 41#1 pp. 58–71 * Tamura, Eillen H. "Using the Past to Inform the Future: An Historiography of Hawaii's Asian and Pacific Islanders," ''Amerasia Journal,'' 2000, Vol. 26#1 pp. 55–85 {{DEFAULTSORT:Asian American History Immigration to the United States