Asian Americans

Asian American

Ellison Onizuka
Regions with significant populations
Alaska, Hawaii, West Coast, Northeast, Chicago
Languages
American English, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indian languages, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Thai, others
Religion
Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Shamanism, Sikhism, Atheism, others

An Asian American is generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry and American citizenship, although may also be extended to include non-citizen resident Asians as well. The term Asian American was used informally by activists in the 1960s who sought an alternative to the term Oriental, arguing that the term was derogatory, and colonialist. Formal usage was introduced by academics in the early 1970s, notably by historian Yuji Ichioka, who is credited with popularizing the term. Today, Asian American is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research, although the term is often shortened to Asian in common usage.

As with other racial and ethnic groups, formal and common usage have changed markedly through the short history of this term. The most significant change occurred when the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 eliminated highly restrictive "national origins" quotas. The new country-specific quotas enabled significant immigration from every country in Asia, which led to dramatic and ongoing changes in the Asian American population. As a result of these population changes, the formal and common understandings of what defines Asian American have expanded to include progressively more of the people with ancestry from various parts of Asia.

Terminology

The most commonly-used definition of Asian American is the Census Bureau definition of Asian, largely because the Census definitions determine many government classifications, notably for equal opportunity programs and measurements. People with original origins from the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent are included in the Census definition of Asia. and not considered Asian Americans. The use of a separate "Asian" category in the Census is a recent addition, beginning in 1990. Since then, the Census definitions have varied over time. Most notably with the 2000 census separated Asian/Pacific Islander and moved Pacific Islander ethnicities into a separate racial group.

Earlier Census forms from 1980 and before listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro. Previously, Asian Americans were classified as "other". But the 1980 census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry. People of Middle Eastern ancestry are categorized in the white census category rather than Asian.

Finally, the definition of Asian American also has variations that derive from the use of the word American in different contexts. Immigration status, citizenship, acculturation, and language ability are some variables that are used to define American for various purposes and may vary in formal and everyday usage. For example, restricting American to include only U.S. citizens conflicts with discussions of Asian American businesses, which generally refer both to citizens and non-citizens.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Asian Americans

Metropolitan Areas with the Highest Proportion of Asian Americans (2000 Census)

Metropolitan Area	Metropolitan population	% of Asian Americans
Honolulu, HI MSA	876,156	46.0
San Francisco Bay Area	7,039,362	18.4
Greater Los Angeles Area	16,373,645	10.4
Sacramento CA CMSA	1,796,857	9.0
San Diego, CA MSA	2,813,833	8.9
Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area	3,554,760	7.9
New York metropolitan area	21,199,865	6.8
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area	7,608,070	5.3
Greater Houston	4,669,571	4.9
Las Vegas, NV/AZ MSA	1,563,282	4.7

The demographics of Asian Americans describe a heterogeneous group of people in the United States who can trace their ancestry to one or more countries in Asia. Because Asian Americans total less than 5% of the entire U.S. population, the diversity of the group is often disregarded in media and news discussions of "Asians" or of "Asian Americans." While there are some commonalities across ethnic sub-groups, there are significant differences among different Asian ethnicities that are related to each group's history.

The 2000 U.S. census recorded 11.9 million people who reported themselves as having either full or partial Asian heritage, 4.2% of the U.S. population. The largest ethnic subgroups are Chinese (2.7 million), Filipinos (2.4M), Asian Indians (1.9M), Koreans (1.2M) , Vietnamese (1.2M), and Japanese (1.1M). Other sizable groups are Cambodians (206,000), Pakistanis (204,000), Laotians (198,000), Hmong (186,000), and Thais (150,000).

The Asian American population is heavily urbanized, with nearly three-quarters of Asian Americans living in metropolitan areas with population greater than 2.5 million. Asian Americans are concentrated in the largest U.S. cities, with 40% of all Asian Americans living in the metropolitan areas around Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. Half of all Asian Americans (5.4M) live in Hawaii or the West Coast, mostly in California (4.2M). Census data shows that Asian American populations are developing in major metropolitan areas off of the West Coast, with visible communities in areas such as Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and Greater Houston, to name the largest examples.

In regions with large numbers of Asian Americans, suburban communities have developed that are heavily or predominantly Asian. The schools in these areas may offer languages such as Mandarin as a second language. Since the 1970s, in addition to Chinatowns, "Koreatowns" and "Little Saigons" have appeared in several cities. Large Japantowns once existed up and down the West Coast of the United States, but the ones that remain are mere vestiges of once vibrant pre-World War II communities.

Asian Americans are visible and growing, but "underrepresented" (against the national aggregate) in several of the largest areas, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston, although sizable concentrations (double the national percentage) can be found in urban neighborhoods of these cities such as Albany Park in Chicago and Olney in Philadelphia. Additionally, similar Asian populations are found in suburbs of these cities such as Naperville near Chicago; Millbourne, King of Prussia, and Cherry Hill near Philadelphia; Lowell and Lexington near Boston.

History

Main article: Asian American history

Early history

In 1763, Filipinos established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of current-day Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them at the time, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun women and Indians.

In Hawaii, Chinese sailors came to Hawaii in 1778, the same year that Captain James Cook stumbled upon the island. Many settled and intermarried with Hawaiian women. Some Island-born Chinese could be well into the 7th generation. A smaller proportion of Chinese, Korean and Japanese laborers were brought in during the 19th century to work on sugar plantations. Later, Filipinos were also brought in as laborers.

A large number of Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid 19th century. Many of these immigrants worked as laborers on the transcontinental railroad. A surge in Asian immigration in the late 19th century caused some to fear the growing number of Asians. This fear was referred to as the "yellow peril." Laws that were adopted in the United States included Asian Exclusion Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, etc.

Effects of war

During World War II, the United States government declared Japanese Americans a risk to national security and undertook the Japanese American Internment, authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt with United States Executive Order 9066. This controversial action forced the relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, taking them from the west coast of the United States to hastily constructed War Relocation Centers in remote portions of the nation's interior. 62% of those forced to relocate were United States citizens. Starting in 1990, the government paid some reparations to the surviving internees.

Despite the internment, many Japanese American men served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Japanese Americans, is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. The 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau.

Immigration trends

General (ret.) Eric Shinseki of the United States Army

Immigration trends of recent decades have dramatically altered the statistical composition and popular understanding of who is an Asian American. This transformation of Asian America, and of America itself, is the result of legislation such as the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. The McCarran-Walter Act repealed the "free white persons" restriction of the Naturalization Act of 1790, but it retained the quota system that effectively banned nearly all immigration from Asia (for example, its annual quota of Chinese was only fifty). Asian immigration increased significantly after the 1965 Immigration Act altered the quota system. The preference for relatives, initially designed to reduce the number of Asian immigrants, eventually acted to accelerate their numbers.

Historically, before 1965, Asian Americans were largely perceived as members of the two most numerous Asian ethnic groups, specifically Chinese and Japanese, as well as Filipinos, who became colonial subjects of the US in 1898 due to the Spanish-American War (also see Philippine-American War).

After the enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act, Asian American demographics changed rapidly. This act replaced exclusionary immigration rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act and its successors, such as the 1924 Immigration Act, which effectively excluded "undesirable" immigrants, including Asians. The 1965 rules set across-the-board immigration quotas for each country, opening the borders to immigration from Asia for the first time in nearly half a century.

Immigration of Asian Americans were also affected by U.S. war involvement from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the wake of World War II, immigration preferences favored family reunification. This may have helped attract highly skilled workers to meet American workforce deficiencies. Another instance related to World War II was the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which helped immigrants from India and the Philippines. The end of the Korean War and Vietnam War and the so-called "Secret Wars" in Southeast Asia brought a new wave of Asian American immigration, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia arrived. Some of the new immigrants were war brides, who were soon joined by their families. Others, like the Southeast Asians, were either highly skilled and educated, or part of subsequent waves of refugees seeking asylum. Some factors contributing to the growth of sub-groups such as South Asians and mainland Chinese were higher family sizes, higher use of family-reunification visas, and higher numbers of technically skilled workers entering on H-1 and H-1b visas.

Japanese Americans and South Asians are emblematic of the dramatic changes since the immigration reforms of the mid-20th century. Japanese Americans are among the most widely recognized of Asian American sub-groups. In 1970, there were nearly 600,000 Japanese Americans, making it the largest sub-group. Today, Japanese Americans are the sixth-largest group, with relatively low rates of births and immigration. In 2000, there were between 800,000 and 1.2 million Japanese Americans (depending on whether multi-ethnic responses are included). The Japanese Americans have the highest rates of native-born, citizenship, and assimilation into American values and customs.

In 1990, there were slightly fewer South Asians in the U.S. than Japanese Americans. By 2000, Indian Americans nearly doubled in population to become the third largest group, with increasing visibility in high-tech communities such as the Silicon Valley and the Seattle area. High rates of immigration from across Asia will make Asian Americans increasingly representative of the continent itself. Indian Americans have some of the highest rates of academic achievement among American ethnic and religious groups, with most immigrants speaking English. South Asians are increasingly accepted by most Asian organizations as another significant Asian group.

Notable contributions

Main article: List of Asian Americans

Government

With a majority Asian-Pacific American population for most of its history, Hawaii has a long history of Asian political participation at all levels of government, and its Congressional delegation has been held by Asian Americans for most of its history. However, the first Asian American elected to the United States House of Representatives was Dalip Singh Saund, from Imperial County, California. Saund served as chair of the local Democratic party and Justice of the Peace before winning the House election in 1956. In 1976, the academic S.I. Hayakawa was elected to the Senate from California. Mainland U.S. politicians such as Mike Honda began their political careers in local offices and developed organizations that eventually supported their election to Congress, while Norman Mineta went on to become Secretary of Transportation between 2001 and 2006. Elaine Chao was selected as a White House Fellow, and then served in a series of appointed posts prior to becoming the Secretary of Labor. Similarly, Bobby Jindal served in statewide (Louisiana) and federal appointed offices before running for governor (2003), and winning election to Congress in 2004. In 1997, Gary Locke became the first Chinese American to be elected as a governor in the United States.

Business

When Asians were largely excluded from labor markets in the 19th century, they started their own businesses. Some started laundries, which are now rare. Others started Chinese restaurants, which still can be found across the USA. Since the mid-20th century, Asians have expanded their involvement across the American economy.

In 2002, Asian American businesses amounted to over 1.1 million. Asian-owned businesses employ more than 2.2 million persons and earn more than $326 billion in business revenues. Asian firms also account for 5% of nonfarm businesses, 2.0 percent of employment and 1.4 percent of receipts in the United States. Asian firms are highest in terms of revenues, employment, and receipts in the United States compared to their Hispanic and African American counterparts.

Compared to their population base, Asian Americans today are well represented in the professional sector and tend to earn higher wages, especially in technology and business. However, much has been written about the glass ceiling in regards to Asians, for they have been far less represented in higher levels of management compared with other ethnic groups.

Some Asian Americans have made major contributions to the American economy. An Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951. Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the NVIDIA corporation in 1993. Jerry Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1994. Andrea Jung serves as Chairman and CEO of Avon Products. Vinod Khosla was a founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and is a successful general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail, which was acquired by Microsoft. Steve Chen, as a co-creator of YouTube, was a beneficiary of Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of that company in 2006.

Sports

See also: Category:Asian American sportspeople

Michelle Kwan competes her second long program at the 2002 Grand Prix Final in Kitchener, Ontario

Wataru Misaka became the first Asian American player in the NBA when he played for the New York Knicks in the 1947–48 season.

Asian Americans first made an impact in Olympic sports in the late 1940s and in the 1950s. Sammy Lee became the first Asian American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal, winning in platform diving in both 1948 and 1952. Amy Chow was a member of the gold medal women's gymnastics team at the 1996 Olympics; she also won an individual silver medal on the uneven bars. Gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj won a team silver medal in the 2004 Olympics.

Since Tiffany Chin won the women's US Figure Skating Championship in 1985, Asian Americans have been prominent in that sport. Kristi Yamaguchi won three national championships, two world titles, and the 1992 Olympic Gold medal. Michelle Kwan has won nine national championships and five world titles, as well as two Olympic medals (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002).

In football, Asian Americans' contributions are also gaining notice. Norm Chow is offensive coordinator for an NFL team, after 23 years coaching college teams, including four successful years as offensive coordinator at USC. Hines Ward is an NFL wide receiver who was the MVP of Super Bowl XL. Michael Chang was a top-ranked tennis player for most of his career. He won the French Open in 1989.

Arts and entertainment

Main article: Asian Americans in arts and entertainment

Asian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since the first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker (the original "Siamese Twins") became naturalized citizens. Acting roles in television, cinema, and theater have been relatively few, and many available roles are for narrow, stereotypical characters. Early Asian American actors such as Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong, and Bruce Lee encountered a movie-making culture that wanted to typecast them as caricatures. Lee abandoned Hollywood, and achieved world-wide fame in Hong Kong. In 1965, a group of actors formed East West Players (EWP), to provide Asian American actors greater opportunity to perform in leading roles. Several other Asian American theatre companies were formed in other cities, providing similar outlets there.

George Takei and Pat Morita became well-known from supporting roles in Star Trek and Happy Days, two of the best-known series of the 1960s and 1970s. Miyoshi Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1957 for Sayonara and Haing Ngor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for The Killing Fields. Margaret Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994. Wah Chang was the designer for many of the props on the Star Trek series as well as The Time Machine, which received an Academy Award for special effects.

Notable works of architecture were designed by Asian Americans, such as the Louvre Pyramid (designed by I. M. Pei), the World Trade Center(designed by Minoru Yamasaki), and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (designed by Maya Lin). In commercial architecture, Gyo Obata, a founding partner of HOK, designed the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and theTaipei World Trade Center.

Many Asian Americans have also penetrated in the fashion world with Monique Lhuillier's dresses parading in the Hollywood redcarpet and Chloe Dao winning Project Runway. Vera Wang and Anna Sui are also highly accomplished fashion designers.

In the print medium, Jhumpa Lahiri received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her book The Interpreter of Maladies. Jim Lee is considered to be one of the most popular comic book artists and is one of the founders of Image Comics. Adrian Tomine's cartoons are featured in The New Yorker. Naomi Hirahara won a 2007 Edgar Award for her novel Snakeskin Shamisen.

Across genres of music, Asian Americans have gained respect and celebrity. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Zubin Mehta are significant figures in classical music. In popular music, Amerie is a notable R&B singer. James Iha is best-known as guitarist with The Smashing Pumpkins. Mike Shinoda and Joseph Hahn are members of the popular rap rock band Linkin Park. In hip-hop, Apl.de.ap is a member of The Black Eyed Peas. A colorful video by rapper Jin spiraled him to fame in 2003. Asian American jazz is a musical movement in the United States begun in the 20th century by Asian American jazz musicians.

The 1957 novel Flower Drum Song is based on the San Francisco nightclub Forbidden City. Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it into a musical that was produced on Broadway in 1958 and on film in 1961. Largely remembered for the hit song "I Enjoy Being A Girl", it would not be produced with an all-Asian cast until a 2002 Broadway revival. In 1988, Playwright David Henry Hwang's Broadway hit M. Butterfly won a Tony for Best Play, among other awards.

Lucy Liu had a big part in the Ally McBeal TV show from 1998 to 2002 before going on to lead roles in feature films. Sandra Oh won several awards for her role in Grey's Anatomy. Daniel Dae Kim has achieved some recognition as a sex symbol from his role on Lost, B. D. Wong currently stars on Law & Order: SVU after being featured in the critically-acclaimed series Oz.

Science and technology

File:TD Lee-med.jpg

Tsung-Dao Lee, Nobel laureate in physics

Asian Americans have made notable contributions to science and technology. Chien-Shiung Wu was known to many scientists as the "First Lady of Physics". Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics. Har Gobind Khorana shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in genetics and protein synthesis. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics and had the Chandra X-ray Observatory named after him. In 1984, Dr. David D. Ho first reported the "healthy carrier state" of HIV infection, which identified HIV-positive individuals who showed no physical signs of AIDS. Steven Chu shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in cooling and trapping atoms using laser light. Daniel Tsui shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998 for helping discover the fractional Quantum Hall effect.

Journalism

Connie Chung was one of the first Asian American national correspondents for a major TV news network, reporting for CBS in 1971. She later co-anchored the CBS Evening News from 1993 to 1995. At ABC, Ken Kashiwahara began reporting nationally in 1974. Ann Curry joined NBC News as a reporter in 1990, later becoming prominently associated with the Today Show in 1997. Carol Lin is perhaps best known for being the first to break news on-air of 9-11 on CNN. Recently, Juju Chang, James Hatori, John Yang and Julie Chen have become familiar faces on television news.

Cultural issues

Until the late 20th century, the term "Asian American" was adopted mostly by activists, while the average persons of Asian ancestries considered themselves their own ethnicity. The murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 was a pivotal civil rights case, marking the emergence of Asian Americans as a distinct racial group in United States.

Study has indicated that most non-Asian Americans do not differentiate between Asian Americans and Chinese Americans generally, and stereotypes towards both groups are nearly identical. A 2001 survey of Americans' attitudes toward Asian Americans and Chinese Americans indicated that 24% of the respondents disapprove of intermarriage with an Asian American, second only to African Americans; 23% would be uncomfortable supporting an Asian American presidential candidate, compared to 15% for an African American, 14% for a woman and 11% for a Jew; 17% would be upset if a substantial number of Asian Americans moved into their neighborhood; 68% had somewhat or very negative attitude toward Chinese Americans in general. The study did find several positive perceptions of Chinese Americans: strong family values (91%); honesty as business people (77%); high value on education (67%).

There is a widespread perception that Asian Americans are not "American" but are instead "perpetual foreigners". Asian Americans typically report being asked the question "where are you really from?" by other Americans, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in United States.

Model minority

Main article: Model minority

Some refer to Asian Americans as a model minority because the Asian American culture contains a high work ethic, respect for elders and high valuation of family. Statistics such as household income and low incarceration rate are also discussed as positive aspects of Asian Americans.

This concept appears to valorize Asian Americans, but it can also be considered an overly narrow and overly one-dimensional portrayal of Asian Americans, leaving out other human qualities such as vocal leadership, negative emotions, and desire for creative expression.

The model minority concept can also affect Asians' public education. Asians are often stereotyped as over-achieving students. This stereotype can adversely affect Asian American students if school officials expect them to over-achieve.

See also

• List of Russian Americans
• British Asian, British East Asian, British Chinese
• Asian Canadian
• Asian Argentines
• Asian Australians
• Hapa
• Vincent Chin
• Racial Nationalism
• Nationalism
• Got Rice?
• American-born Chinese
• Jade Ribbon Campaign
• Chinese for Affirmative Action — Chinese civil rights organization
• Stereotypes of Asians
• United States foreign born per capita income

External links

• 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States — Population tables
• UCLA Asian American Studies Center

Further reading

Books

• Helen Zia Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2000. ISBN 0-374-52736-9.
• Pyong Gap Min Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Pine Science Press, 2005. ISBN 1-4129-0556-7
• Frank H. Wu Yellow: Race in American Beyond Black and White New York: Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-00639-6
• Ronald Takaki Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans New York: Little, Brown, 1998. ISBN 0-316-83130-1
• Lisa Lowe Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0822318644

Journal

• Journal of Asian American Studies