AAPI History

Present-day Chinatowns are considered touristy destinations located in major cities of the U.S. However, the origins of these communities stem from a forgotten history of exclusion and ghettoization. This history is largely influenced by issues of labor and racist sentiments towards low-wage Chinese laborers for whom derogatory terms like “coolie” and “chink” were coined. In the mid-19^th century, tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants lived in western America. Many of these immigrants arrived as gold miners and builders of the Transcontinental railroad. Because of depressed wages and fewer opportunities from the influx of immigrant workers, anti-Asian sentiment grew until Chinese immigration was ultimately banned in 1885 (Chinese Exclusion Act). During that time, only 22% of the Chinese American population resided in urban areas (Takaki, 1998). The urbanization of the Chinese American population grew with 33% living in urban areas by 1900, and 71% by 1940. With a lack of Chinese American women (immigration banned earlier by Page Act of 1875), the illegality of interracial marriages, and the banning of immigration, the Chinese American population could not assimilate to American life and began to decline and consolidate. By 1920, 40% of the Chinese American population lived in San Francisco or New York City, and most of them could only work as laundry servicers.

Nineteenth century Chinese Americans had opportunities in farming, mining, manufacturing, and transportation, but by 1920, 58% of the population worked in restaurants or laundry services (Takaki, 1998). In the manufacturing sector, only 9% of Chinese Americans found jobs compared to 26% of the white citizen population and 47% of the white immigrant population. These disproportionate opportunities contributed to stereotypes and were driven by residual anti-Chinese sentiment and perceptions of what is an ‘acceptable’ labor. Chinese Americans were also denied residence beyond their communities, often working laundry services in white neighborhoods and residing in Chinatowns. In San Francisco, 1885, the Chinese American community was described as a “male rookery” with 14,552 bunks occupied by single men within a 10-block stretch. By the 1930s, 82% of the residences in Chinatowns were considered substandard compared to 20% for others. The overcrowding and substandard conditions resulted in high incidents of tuberculosis at three-times the expected rate. The ghettoization of the Chinese American community and other ethnic communities in the U.S. has had a lasting impact on people of the AAPI community. Walking through Chinatowns today, it is easy to overlook the deep and harsh roots of these communities in the U.S.

Takaki, Ronald T. Strangers From a Different Shore. Back Bay Books, 1998, pp. 239-257.

The perception of Asian Americans is often a duality of “foreign” and “model minority” that has been influenced by historical events and is reinforced by the frequent erasure and exclusion of Asian American history in classrooms. When Asian American history is taught, Asian Americans are often portrayed as either “foreign”, barred from entering the US by a slew of targeted anti-immigration laws, or as “contributors” to American society, fueling the “model minority” myth. K-12 history curriculum is rife with war, conflict, exclusion, and oppression, especially when discussing Asian and Asian American history. Rarely are Asian Americans portrayed as heroes, innovators, activists, or leaders in American history and society.

Our identity - how we view ourselves and how others view us - is tied to our history. When we exclude and erase Asians from history, we are signaling that Asians and their experiences do not matter and that their contributions are inconsequential. When we focus solely on narratives of oppression and war, we perpetuate racism and stereotypes that children carry into adulthood and pass down to future generations.

The Covid pandemic and the rise in anti-Asian racism in the past year show us that despite the model minority stereotype and the relative success of Asian Americans as a group, we are still “foreign”, too Asian to be American. In fact, Asians have played an integral role in shaping US history (and vice versa), much of which has been rendered invisible to Asian Americans and the general public alike.

Recent events have put a spotlight on American education and the need to integrate diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) narratives into curricula. Notably, two states, Connecticut and Illinois, have put forth policies to include Asian American studies in K-12 coursework. Amplifying Asian American voices will not only affirm Asian American identities, but also help eliminate the “foreign” perception among non-Asian communities.

A note on Pacific Islander erasure and exclusion: We lack Pacific Islander representation in MEB and thus, their voices are missing through our AAPI Heritage Month content. The topic covered above specifically discusses the Asian American experience. Although Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are often grouped together, they have distinct identities, cultures, and histories. One reason why the two groups were originally put together under the AAPI umbrella term was to combine forces during a time where both groups had smaller populations. However, many feel that this term erases the specific struggles of constituent groups. As an Asian American, rather than speak for the Pacific Islander community, I hope to amplify their voices by highlighting their work (see Lihilihi 2017 below). We also welcome suggestions.

Sources & Further Reading:

1. The inadequacy of the term “Asian American" (Zhou, May 2021, Vox)

2. Reckoning with Asian America (Lee and Huang, Apr 2021, Science)

3. A ‘History of Exclusion, of Erasure, of Invisibility.’ Why the Asian-American Story Is Missing From Many U.S. Classrooms (Waxman, Mar 2021, TIME)

4. Challenging the invisibility of Asian Americans in education (Hsieh and Kim, May 2020, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies)

5. Dear Asian Americans: Stop Erasing Pacific Islanders (Lihilihi, 2017)

6. A Model Minority? The Misrepresentation and Underrepresentation of Asian Pacific Americans in Introductory American Government Textbooks (Takeda, Apr 2016, Journal of Political Science Education)

The United States has a long exploitative military history with Asia. Western countries sought to carve out the land and its people to exploit their resources, and the resulting political and economic instability that followed left regions vulnerable to foreign military powers and proxy wars. Here, we attempt to highlight some of the recent major military conflicts that have influenced immigration and attitudes in the United States towards Asian countries and people.

Following the events of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the internment of Japanese Americans, forcefully removing them from their homes (a violation of the 5th Amendment), and placing them in internment camps along the west coast of the United States. He subjected 120,000 people to inhumanely close quarters, malnourishment, and insufficient medical care, instilling the ‘otherness’ of being Asian in a predominantly white country. The lawfulness of Roosevelt’s fateful decision is still technically upheld today, and was used again to uphold Donald Trump’s travel ban in 2017.

The various military conflicts in Asia immediately following WWII saw the Cold War playing out as the United States fought its proxy wars in the Korean peninsula and Vietnam. Destroying and exploiting these countries’ resources and murdering civilians made for difficult circumstances that initiated new waves of Korean and Vietnamese immigration to the United States as a result. As the refugees and immigrants relocated to the US, they faced old traumas and new barriers of assimilation.

Fallout from WWII and the Cold War created tensions in the Middle East, as the United States supported anti-communist regimes, protected American oil interests, and fought the War on Terror. Accompanying these military conflicts came a sharp rise in racism towards people from these regions and Islamophobia, not unlike the distrust and discrimination of Japanese people during WWII.

Many attitudes towards Asian people are a result of the narratives surrounding US military efforts, which has led to the distrust and othering of Asian American communities. To this day, distrust towards foreigners and those who “look foreign” has not been washed from our society as we see this legacy of xenophobia affecting people’s lives and safety, ever present in the Asian community.