Asian American Research

Cierra Anthony 313-358-7056 Cierra.Anthony@wayne.edu Research November 3, 2015 Asian-American Research History of Asian Americans- According to asiannation.org the first Asian that came to America were Chinese Filipinos. “Filipino sailors were the first to settle in the U.S. around 1750 in what would later be Louisiana.” The British and the Spanish brought slaves to South America from China, Philippines and India to make up for the shortage of slaves from Africa, in 1840. “However, the first large-scale immigration of Asians into the U.S. didn't happen until 1848. Around that time and as you may remember from your history classes, gold was discovered in America.” “The Gold Rush was one of the pull factors that led many Chinese to come to the U.S. to find their fortune and return home rich and wealthy.” “Chinese miners experienced their first taste of discrimination in the form of the Foreign Miner Tax. This was supposed to be collected from every foreign miner but in reality, it was only collected from the Chinese, despite the multitude of miners from European countries there as well.” “After they returned to California, the Chinese increasingly became the targets of racial attacks and discriminatory legislation because their labor was no longer needed and Whites began seeing them as an economic threat. This anti-Chinese movement, which was accompanied by numerous anti-Chinese riots, lynchings, and murders (including Tacoma, Washington and most famously at Rock Springs, Wyoming), culminated with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act barred virtually all immigration from China and prevented all Chinese already in the U.S. from becoming U.S. citizens, even their American-born children.” http://www.asian-nation.org/first.shtml Media and stereotypes- According to newamericamedia.com “discrimination, stereotypes and exclusion are the norm for Asians, both on television and the silver screen.” “As for racist stereotypes, just take for example the recent episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” a CBS sitcom, in which white actors put on yellow face like Fu Man Chu and spoke in exaggerated Chinese accents.” “In this day and age it would be unthinkable for white actors to wear black face and make fun of, say, ebonics. The repercussions would be swift, and heads would surely roll. But putting on a yellow face is another matter – racist parodies of Asians somehow remain okay and acceptable in the imaginations of producers and writers.” http://newamericamedia.org/2014/01/the-bamboo-ceiling-hollywood-shuns-asians-while-new-media-embraces-them.php “After running a clip of the offending segment, which originally ran Dec. 5, she said, "This apparently was very offensive to a lot of Asian people. So I asked Judy, who's Asian and works here in our hair and makeup department. I said, 'Was it offensive to you?' And she said, 'Well, kinda. When I was a kid people did tease me by saying ching-chong.” According to peoples magazine. Asian-American activist and groups Asian-American activist Daniel C. Tsang says he and Don Kao an activist from New York” organized the first gathering of gay and lesbian Asians at the first National Third World Lesbian and Gay Conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in October, 1979, the same weekend as the first gay March on Washington.” http://asianamericanactivism.tumblr.com According to asianamericancancersupportcenter.comAsian American cancer support group The Asian American Cancer Support Network (AACSN) was founded in July 2003. http://aacsn.org/about-us/ The Asian American movement –According to the deptswashiington.edu “The Asian American movement that promoted this new identity-- which initially united Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino Americans, and then expanded to include Koreans, Southeast and South Asians, and Pacific Islanders-- was driven largely by student activists radicalized by anti-Vietnam war and black power movements.” http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/aa_intro.htm