Thu Hien Nguyen 11d April 14, 2023

Asian culture in America

What does the term “Asian American” describe?

- Americans of Asian ancestry or Asians with an American citizenship, as well as people
descending from these Asian Americans
- according to the United States Census Bureau term “Asian” is to describe people from
East, Southeast Asia and Indian subcontinent

History about Asian culture in the U.S.

The first Asian immigrants

- Chinese sailors came to Hawaii in 1789
- following Chinese immigrants, Japanese and Filipino immigrants started arriving in the
19th century
à mainly laborers for sugar plantations, construction places, mines
- the majority of immigrants were low-skilled men

Major immigration waves

- large-scale immigration from Asia in mid 19th-century, mainly Chinese immigrants
arriving at the West Coast with the discovery of Gold (formed part of the Gold Rush)
à worked in mines, on the transcontinental railroad “Central Pacific Railroad”
à more than 12000 Chinese immigrants participated (80% of the entire workforce)

- Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 à Chinese immigration was stopped

à a large wave of Japanese immigrants arrived in the U.S. to replace Chinese workers

- 1898 The United States took over colonial rule of the Philippines after their victory over
Spain in the Spanish-American War
à Filipinos became American nationals à recruiting them as cheap laborers

- after Immigration and Naturalization Act Amendment 1965 à more immigrants from
many nations
à 1975 refugees (Flüchtling) from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Anti-Asian movement and political exclusion

- Naturalization Act of 1790 à only free white people were allowed to naturalized
(einbürgern) as Americans
à only second-generation Asians were able gain American citizenship due to 14th
Amendment
- Page Act of 1875 à prohibiting further recruitment of Asian laborers
à specially to prevent Chinese women to enter the States
- Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 à prohibiting nearly all Chinese immigrants to enter the U.S.
- 1907 Gentlemen’s Agreement à prohibiting further Japanese immigrants for less restriction on
people already being in America
- 1910 immigration station Angle Island opened (active till 1940) à for interrogation of
immigrants trying to enter America
- Asiatic Barred Zone Act 1917 à prevented immigration from nearly all Asian countries,
exception Philippines
- Immigration Act 1924 à further limitations on Asian immigration
- Executive Order 9066 February 19, 1942 à internment (staatl. organisierter Freiheitsentzug)
of over 120000 Japanese Americans, due to suspicion on espionage after Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor in 1941 à deportation in internment camps till end of war
Asian culture today

Demographic
- in 2020 over 24 million Asian Americans = 7,2% of the entire population in the U.S.
à biggest ethnics: Chinese – Indian – Filipino – Vietnamese – Korean
- since 1965 Asians make up a quarter of all immigration à fastest-growing racial group
- region with the biggest Asian population: California – New York – Texas
- most spoken languages: Chinese (third most common language in the entirety of the U.S.)
– Tagalog – Vietnamese – Korean
- immigrants from 1965 till today are considered as the new and second generation
à more and more immigrants having an education or a degree
à known as the ethnic with the highest income and being best-educated out of all
immigrants
à many Asians being active in high-paying fields, such as science, engineering, medicine,
politic

Cultural influence
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration in honor of Asian culture
annually during May since 1977
- many Asian American enclaves in major cities
à Chinatowns in California, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago
à after Chinese immigration came to a halt in the 1880s – development of Japantowns in
San Francisco, Los Angeles
à after the new immigration policy in 1965 à more ethnics arrived in America à
development of more Asian enclaves, such as Little Manilas, Little Saigons, Koreatowns
- many Asian products are well-known in Western world nations, e. g. …

Sources
https://now.tufts.edu/2022/05/18/how-asian-americans-have-influenced-popular-culture
https://www.prb.org/resources/trends-in-migration-to-the-u-s/
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2012/06/19/the-rise-of-asian-americans/
https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/asian-american-timeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_immigration_to_the_United_States
https://usa.usembassy.de/gesellschaft-asians.htm
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/asiaten-in-den-usa-vorbildhafte-migrationsgeschichte-100.html
https://www.asian-nation.org/sitemap.shtml
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/29/key-facts-about-asian-origin-groups-in-the-u-s/
https://asiasociety.org/education/asian-americans-then-and-now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Americans