Challenges throughout History

Covid 'Hate Crimes' against Asian Americans on Rise
Asian-American business leaders rally against wave of hatred: ‘We don’t deserve to live in fear in our own country’
"Look at what we have done: employing people, building shareholder value, all the things people care about. But we’re still targets.”
The Real Problem When It Comes to Diversity and Asian-Americans
"Asian-Americans’ visible success, with numbers to prove it, began to mean they should be excluded from inclusionary practices like affirmative action. More severely, Asian-Americans were seen as a hindrance to diversity."
Asian Americans Are the Least Likely Group in the U.S. to Be Promoted to Management
"Because Asian Americans are not considered an underrepresented minority, they are given little priority or attention in diversity programs. We have found that in many companies throughout the country, Asian-related programs are geared toward cultural inclusion, not management diversity."

Stop the Deportation of Cambodian Refugees
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been aggressively conducting raids among the Cambodian community. In the past few weeks, it has been reported over 100 Cambodians have been detained by ICE awaiting their possible removal from the United States. A majority have arrived here as refugees during the Vietnam war era, and have never stepped foot in the country that ICE seeks to deport them to.

Historical Highlights

The Immigration Act of 1924

April 12, 1924

The Immigration Act of 1924 Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object Representative Albert Johnson of Washington State served 20 years in the House of Representatives. He is one of the few individuals to serve on active duty status in the military while also serving as a Member of Congress.

On this date, the House passed the 1924 Immigration Act—a measure which was a legislative expression of the xenophobia, particularly towards eastern and southern European immigrants, that swept America in the decade of the 1920s. Authored by Representative Albert Johnson of Washington (Chairman of the House Immigration Committee), the bill passed with broad support from western and southern Representatives, by a vote of 323 to 71. “It has become necessary that the United States cease to become an asylum,” Representative Johnson declared during debate on the bill. Among its provisions, the act created a permanent quota system based on “national origin.” It limited the number of immigrants that could be admitted to the U.S. to two percent of the total number of individuals from each nationality that resided in the United States in 1890—before waves of Slavic and Italian immigrants arrived in America. Despite vigorous protests from Japanese diplomats, the measure also excluded Japanese immigrants (a ban that would not be lifted until 1952). Finally, it allowed no more than 150,000 total immigrants who fell within the parameters of the quota system to enter the U.S. in any one year. After Senate passage, the Immigration Act was signed into law in late May 1924.

From: https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-Immigration-Act-of-1924/

Lee, R., photographer. (1942) Los Angeles, California. The evacuation of Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. Japanese-American child who is being evacuated with his parents to Owens Valley. United States California Los Angeles. Los Angeles Los Angeles County, 1942. Apr. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2017744913/.

Triumphs

In Rare Moment Of Bipartisan Unity, Senate Approves Asian American Hate Crimes Bill

President Harry Truman signs the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, permitting Filipinos and Indians to naturalize and allowing a quota of 100 persons of each to immigrate annually.

Truman Library - https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/public/styles/tiff_conversion/public/photographs/59/59-1215.tif.jpg

President Truman signs the Luce-Celler Act of 1946.

Faith & Spirituality

The original Sikh Temple on South Grant Street in Stockton. In 1929 a new gurdwara was built at the same location on the enlarged foundation of the old wooden building. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/echoes/chapter8/chapter8_1.html

Adams, A., photographer. (1943) Buddhist service, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams. California Manzanar, 1943. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002697857/.

Historic American Buildings Survey, C. (1933) Mosque,Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Washington D.C. Washington, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/dc0462/.

Highsmith, C. M., photographer. (2014) The Queen of Peace Shrine in Port Arthur, Texas. This Hoa-Binh Area of Peace, features gardens and statue of Mary three times life size was built by parishioners of Queen of Vietnam Martyr's Catholic Church in gratitude for their escape from Asia and the city that welcomed them. United States Port Arthur Texas, 2014. -03-03. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014631243/.

Pew Research Center. (July 2012). "Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths." Pewforum.org.

Close to Home: What happened to Chicago’s Japanese neighborhood?

Nagasawa, K. (2017). "What happened to Chicago’s Japanese neighborhood?" August 13, 2017. WBEZ.org. https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/chicago-japanese-neighborhood/

Politics & Activism Reading List

Asian American Feminisms and Women of Color Politics by Lynn Fujiwara (Editor); Shireen Roshanravan (Editor); Piya Chatterjee (Series edited by)
Call Number: HQ1421 .A85 2018
ISBN: 9780295744360
Publication Date: 2018-12-01
Asian American Feminisms and Women of Color Politics brings together groundbreaking essays that speak to the relationship between Asian American feminisms, feminist of color work, and transnational feminist scholarship.
Asian American Interethnic Relations and Politics by Franklin Ng
Call Number: E184.O6 A8414 1998
ISBN: 0815326947
Publication Date: 1998-05-01
First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Asian American Movement by William Wei
Call Number: E184.O6 W441993
ISBN: 9781566391832
Publication Date: 1993-10-06
A history and analysis of the Asian American Movement, this work traces to the late 1960s, the genesis of an Asian American identity, culture, and activism. It analyzes the Asian American women's movement, the alternative press, Asian American involvement in electoral politics.
Asian American Political Participation by Janelle Wong; Jane Junn; Taeku Lee; S. Karthick Ramakrishnan
Call Number: E184.A75 A841445 2011
ISBN: 9781610447553
Publication Date: 2011-10-01
Asian Americans are a small percentage of the U.S. population, but their numbers are steadily rising--from less than a million in 1960 to more than 15 million today. They are also a remarkably diverse population--representing several ethnicities, religions, and languages--and they enjoy higher levels of education and income than any other U.S. racial group. Even among Asian groups, socioeconomic advantage does not necessarily translate into high levels of political participation. Asian American Political Participation demonstrates that understanding Asian political behavior today can have significant repercussions for Asian American political influence tomorrow.
Asian American Politics by Okiyoshi Takeda; Andrew Aoki
Call Number: E184.A75 A55 2008
ISBN: 9780745634463
Publication Date: 2009-03-02
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of Asian American participation in US politics. Written to be easily accessible to students, the book covers historical and cultural context, political behavior and attitudes, interest groups and parties, elected officials, and public policies that have an important impact on Asian Americans.
Asian Americans by Steven G. Louie (Editor); Glenn K. Omatsu (Editor)
Call Number: E184.A75 A84265 2014
ISBN: 9780934052344
Publication Date: 2001-10-03
Cultural Writing. Asian American Studies. A wide-ranging collection of essays and material which documents the rich, little-known history of Asian American social activism during the years 1965-2001. This book examines the period not only through personal accounts and historical analysis, but through the visual record--utilizing historical prictorial materials developed at UCLA's Asian American Studies Center on Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese Americans. Included are many reproductions of photos of the period, movement comics, demonstration flyers, newsletters, posters and much more.
Chains of Babylon by Daryl J. Maeda
Call Number: E184.A75 M34 2009
ISBN: 081667065X
Publication Date: 2009
In "Chains of Babylon," Daryl J. Maeda presents a cultural history of Asian American activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, showing how the movement created the category of Asian American to join Asians of many ethnicities in racial solidarity. Drawing on the Black Power and antiwar movements, Asian American radicals argued that all Asians in the United States should resist assimilation and band together to oppose racism within the country and imperialism abroad. As revealed in Maeda's in-depth work, the Asian American movement contended that people of all Asian ethnicities in the United States shared a common relationship to oppression and exploitation with each other and with other nonwhite peoples.
The Fight for Asian American Civil Rights by Sarah M. Griffith
ISBN: 9780252041686
Publication Date: 2018-03-01
From the early 1900s, liberal Protestants grafted social welfare work onto spiritual concerns on both sides of the Pacific. Their goal: to forge links between whites and Asians that countered anti-Asian discrimination in the United States. Their test: uprooting racial hatreds that, despite their efforts, led to the shameful incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II.
Media, Politics, and Asian Americans by H. Denis Wu; Tien-Tsung Lee
Call Number: P94.5.A75 W8 2009
ISBN: 1572738715
Publication Date: 2008-12-01
Although there are books about Asian Americans and media or politics, there is likely the first and only in-depth investigation into both media and political issues facing this racial minority.Using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, this book examines racial attitudes toward Asian Americans, their media habits, how Asian American politicians are covered in the news media, and what election candidates and their campaign staffs think about their treatment by the press.
The Politics of Asian Americans by Janelle Wong; Pei-Te Lien; M. Margaret Conway
ISBN: 1280048492
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Through the perspectives of mass politics, this book challenges popular misconceptions about Asian Americans as politically apathetic, disloyal, fragmented, unsophisticated and inscrutable by showcasing results of the 2000-01 Multi City Asian American Political Survey.
Race, Religion, and Civil Rights by Stephanie Hinnershitz
ISBN: 0813571804
Publication Date: 2015-09-01
Histories of civil rights movements in America generally place little or no emphasis on the activism of Asian Americans. Yet, as this fascinating new study reveals, there is a long and distinctive legacy of civil rights activism among foreign and American-born Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino students, who formed crucial alliances based on their shared religious affiliations and experiences of discrimination.
Restoried Selves by Kevin Kumashiro
ISBN: 1560234636
Publication Date: 2003-10-23
Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer Asian / Pacific American Activists presents the first-person accounts of 20 activists--life stories that work against common stereotypes, shattering misconceptions and dispelling misinformation. These autobiographies challenge familial and cultural expectations and values that have traditionally forced queer Asian / Pacific Americans into silent shame because of their sexual orientation and/or ethnicity.
The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism by Michael Liu; Kim Geron; Tracy A. M. Lai
Call Number: E184.A75 L58 2008
ISBN: 9780739127193
Publication Date: 2008-09-08
This text reinterprets a misunderstood and overlooked epoch of the Asian American experience, the Asian American Movement (AAM). The book traces the history of the AAM from its roots in the 1930s to the present day and its impact on diverse areas of the Asian American community. Most importantly, it looks at the societal and community dynamics that led to the movement's trajectory. Using the lens of social movement theory, it analyzes the AAM's rise and ebb and possible resurgence.
Tell This Silence by Patti Duncan
Call Number: PS153.A84 D86 2004
ISBN: 1587294435
Publication Date: 2009-05-01
"Tell This Silence" by Patti Duncan explores multiple meanings of speech and silence in Asian American women's writings in order to explore relationships among race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. Duncan argues that contemporary definitions of U.S. feminism must be expanded to recognize the ways in which Asian American women have resisted and continue to challenge the various forms of oppression in their lives.

Class Materials & Resources

#StopAsianHate: Resources for Teaching & Learning
Offers a non-exhaustive and growing list of resources around mental health, learning, information, donations, and more.
Asian Americans | PBS LearningMedia
Teachers may utilize these lesson plans which are drawn from the series to explore the ways that Asian Americans have shaped our nation's history.
Thirty lesson plans based on the Asian American PBS TV series.
Japanese American Internment (Library of Congress)
Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of Japanese Americans were, regardless of U.S. citizenship, required to evacuate their homes and businesses and move to remote war relocation and internment camps run by the U.S. Government. This proved to be an extremely difficult experience for many of those who lived in the camps, and to this day remains a controversial topic. The resources in this primary source set are intended for classroom use. If your use will be beyond a single classroom, please review the copyright and fair use guidelines.
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center: Learning Together
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Learning Together page launched in 2019 to connect the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s programs, curatorial expertise, and community anniversaries with K12 educators across the country. This page serves as an online venue for educational content featuring interviews with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members, links to community-created educational resources, book recommendations, discussion ideas, and more.
University of Chicago's Center for East Asian Studies: External Resources
Lesson plans, classroom materials, and professional development resources.

Celebration of Asian Americans: Challenges & Triumphs