This document provides a history of Asian Pacific Americans from the 18th century to present day. It outlines key events such as waves of immigration from China and Japan in the 1800s, anti-Asian laws and policies, internment of Japanese Americans, the model minority myth, and achievements of Asian Pacific American leaders and cultural figures. Emergent themes are discussed like the perpetual immigrant experience, lack of citizenship rights, focus on labor over land ownership, and challenges of the model minority stereotype. The document is presented by Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee of Seattle Girls' School.
1. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
Seattle Girls’ School
Asian America: Remembering the Past,
Owning the Present, Envisioning the Future
9. Asian Pacific American History
1763 Filipinos settle Saint Malo
1778 Chinese sailors land in Hawaii
1820s Chinese immigration begins in earnest
1865 The Central Pacific Railroad Co. recruits
Chinese workers for the transcontinental railroad
1878 Chinese are ruled ineligible for naturalized
citizenship
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is passed
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
10. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
11. Asian Pacific American History
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
1890 First wave of Japanese immigrants arrive to provide farm
labor in Hawaiʻi and California
1907 Gentlemen's Agreement between United States and Japan
that Japan would stop issuing passports for new laborers
1910 Angel Island opens as a major immigration station for as many
as 175,000 Chinese and 60,000 Japanese immigrants between
1910 and 1940.
1913 California Alien Land Law of 1913 ban Japanese from
purchasing land
1920s Filipino immigration increases in numbers
1924, United States Immigration Act of 1924 (Oriental Exclusion
Act) banned most immigration from Asia
1930 Anti-Filipino riot occurs in Watsonville, California
1933, Filipinos are ruled ineligible for citizenship barring immigration
12. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
Takao Ozawa vs United States
13. Asian Pacific American History
1941 Japan air force attacked Pearl Harbor; FBI arrests
pro-Japanese community leaders
1941-45 Filipino resistance movement, working closely
with U.S. Army, fights the Japanese invaders
1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive
Order 9066 on February 19, uprooting 100,000 people
of Japanese descent on the west coast to be sent to
Internment camps.
1943-1945 Japanese Americans volunteer for the US
Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team and becomes
the highest decorated military unit in US history
1946, the Luce–Celler Act of 1946 grants naturalization
opportunities to Filipino Americans and Indian Americans
(which included present-day Pakistanis and Bangladeshis)
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
14. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
15. Asian Pacific American History
1956 Dalip Singh Saund is the first Asian (Sikh) to be elected for
Congress
1962 Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaiʻi elected for the US Senate
1965 Patsy T. Mink of Hawaiʻi becomes the first woman of color in
Congress.
1965 Luck Wing serves four terms as the Mayor of Sledge
Mississippi, population 600
1968 Term “Asian American” is coined as a part of the Asian
American Movement, a radical movement for social justice (Red
Guard)
1971, Norman Y. Mineta elected mayor of San Jose, California;
Herbert Choy nominated supreme court justice.
1974, George R. Ariyoshi elected governor of Hawaiʻi
1975 More than 130,000 refugees enter the U.S. from Vietnam,
Kampuchea, and Laos as Communist governments are
established there following the end of the Indochina War.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
16. Black Panthers and The Red Guard
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
17. Asian Pacific American History
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
1976 Samuel Ichiye (S. I.) Hayakawa of California and
Spark Matsunaga of Hawaiʻi elected as US Senators
1978 Ellison S. Onizuka becomes the first Asian American
astronaut
1982 Vincent Chin is accused of being a Japanese
(being blamed for loss of jobs) and beaten to death.
1987 First formal signing of the Proclamation of Asian
Pacific American Heritage Week by the White House
1988 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties
Act of 1988 apologizing for Japanese American
internment and provide reparations of $20,000 to each
victim
1992 Korean businesses are looted and burned during
the LA Riots
18. Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
19. Asian Pacific American History
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
1992 Eugene Chung is football offensive lineman in the NFL
1992, Hae Jong Kim elected Bishop of United Methodist Church
1996 Gary Locke is elected as the first Chinese American governor
1999 Gen. Eric Shinseki becomes the first Asian American U.S.
military chief of staff
2000 Norman Y. Mineta becomes the first Asian American appointed
to the U.S. Cabinet
2002 Yao Ming is the number one draft pick in the 2002 NBA draft
2003 Ignatius C. Wang becomes a bishop of the Roman Catholic
Church
2008 Tim Lincecum (half Filipino) a starting pitcher for the San
Francisco Giants, is selected as an All Star for the Major League All
Star Game
20. Emergent Themes
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
The Perpetual Immigrant
The Non-Citizen
The Worker Not Owner
Black or White or Neither?
Weak as a Socio-Political Group
Ethnically Separated
21. Myth of the Model Minority
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
Overly Hard Working and Tireless
Will Work Under Extreme Circumstances
Quiet and Cooperative
Serene, Smart, Resilient
Doesn’t Seek the Limelight
22. Legacy of the Myth
Outsourcing of Cheap Labor
Orientalism in Health Care
Tokenism and Minimalization
Stress of Achievement
Funneling into STEM Fields
Where Are You From?
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24. Presenter Information
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
6th Faculty and
Professional Outreach
Seattle Girls’ School
2706 S Jackson Street
Seattle WA 98144
(206) 805-6562
rlee@seattlegirlsschool.org
http://tiny.cc/rosettalee
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)