Atlas of Asian-American History

225 Pages·2002·10.935 MB·English

by  Monique Avakian

ATLAS OF
ASIAN-AMERICAN
HISTORY

ATLAS OF
ASIAN-AMERICAN
HISTORY
Monique Avakian
To Erin
– M.A.
Atlas of Asian-American History
Copyright © 2002 by Media Projects Inc.
Media Projects, Inc. Staff:
Executive Editor: C. Carter Smith Jr.
Project Editor: Carter Smith III
Principal Writer: Monique Avakian
Associate Editor: Karen Covington
Editorial Assistants: Ashley Bradley, James Burmester
Production Editors: Anthony Galante, Aaron Murray
Indexer: Marilyn Flaig
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
132 West 31st Street
New York, NY10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Avakian, Monique.
Atlas of Asian-American history / Monique Avakian.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN: 0-8160-3699-3 (alk. paper)
1. Asian Americans—History. 2. Asian Americans—History—Maps. I. Title.
E184.O6 .a89. 2001
973’.0494—dc21 00-049509
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities
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Cover design by Nora Wertz
Text design by Paul Agresti
Layout by Anthony Galante and Aaron Murray
Maps by Anthony Galante, Aaron Murray, and David Lindroth
Printed in Hong Kong
CREATIVE USAFOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Note on Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Chapter 1 The Asian Heritage: AShort History of a Continent . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter 2 Gam Saan: The Chinese in 19th-Century America . . . . . . . . .27
Chapter 3 Closing the Door: Asian Immigration from
Chinese Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Chapter 4 AQuestion of Citizenship: Asian-American History
from 1910 to 1946 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Chapter 5 From Red Scare to Yellow Power: Asian-American History
from 1946 to 1972 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Chapter 6 ANew Wave of Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Chapter 7 Asian America Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
Note on Photos
Some of the illustrations and photographs used in this book are old, histor-
ical images. The quality of the prints is not always up to modern standards,
as in many cases the originals are from old negatives or the originals are
damaged. The content of the illustrations, however, made their inclusion
important despite problems in reproduction.
INTRODUCTION
“Detained in this wooden house American history became not so much the
for several tens of days, it is all story of the reception that each new group
because of the exclusion law of immigrants received, or even the ways
which implicates me. It’s a pity heroes have in which each group tried to adapt to their
no way of exercising their prowess. . . .” new home, but instead an examination of
These bitter words were written by an what qualities make one an American in
anonymous Chinese immigrant, detained the first place. If a person is born and
on the Angel Island Immigration Center in raised in the United States, is that person
San Francisco Bay in about 1910. The frus- not as much an American as any other—
tration and anger so clear in this lone immi- regardless of racial identity or nation of
grant’s words had ample cause, for as a ancestry? If one’s parents were born in
Chinese, this man was a member of the first Japan instead of Britain, France, or Ger-
group of people explicitly excluded from many, should one be forbidden from own-
immigrating to the United States strictly ing property in one’s adopted home?
because of his race. Much of Asian-American history in the
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, 20th century dealt directly with questions
which denied immigration rights to such as these. World events (such as World
“lunatics,” “idiots,” and Chinese laborers, War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War,
crystallized a longstanding national debate the cold war, and even economic recessions)
in a single government action. At that time, have shaped the way in which U.S. society
when a significant proportion of the U.S. has viewed Japanese Americans, Chinese
population was either foreign born or just a Americans, Korean Americans, Vietnamese
generation or two removed from the land of Americans, and all other Asian Americans,
their ancestry, the question of who should whether U.S. or foreign born.
qualify for citizenship and who should not While racially oriented immigration
was one of the central issues in American bans are now a thing of the past, Asian
life. Americans continue to confront the burden
As this book illustrates, immigration of constant stereotyping, as the diverse
policy is a function of numerous forces. Of communities that make up Asian America
those forces, the ebbing and flowing of are still viewed by some as a monolithic
American industry’s demand for cheap— group. When the media discuss achieve-
and ideally nonunion—labor played a key ments of some Asian Americans and then
role in drawing migrant workers first from declare all Asians part of a “model minori-
China, and then from Japan, India, Korea, ty,” the individual identities of all Ameri-
and the Philippines to America’s shores. It cans of Asian descent are called into
is no accident that this first wave of Asian question, and the very real problems of
immigration coincided with the end of the those individuals who may not fit the sim-
U.S. slavery system and, soon thereafter, plistic profile go unaddressed. This book
with the birth and growth of the American attempts to correct the record by pointing
labor movement. Active recruitment of each out the ways in which such stereotypes
successive new group of laborers from Asia have shaped how mainstream America has
was a direct result of racially based animos- viewed Asian Americans and, even more
ity toward prior groups. For example, after important, the ways that individual Ameri-
the United States formally annexed the cans of Asian descent have challenged
Hawaiian Islands in the 1890s, Korean and those stereotypes.
Filipino laborers were brought to the Because Asian-American history is in
islands specifically to break up the growing truth the overlapping histories of diverse
organizational power of Japanese laborers groups of people, the nationalities dis-
who had preceded them. cussed in this book were included based on
When the backlash against immigra- volume of immigration to the United States.
tion closed the door to most Asian immi- While people from every nation on earth
grants (and to most immigrants other than have migrated to the United States over
northern Europeans) in the 1920s, Asian- time, the vast majority of Asian Americans
vii
have come from relatively few nations. For Also, a note on language. In recent
that reason, the focus of the Atlas of Asian- years, standard practice for the translation
American History is on Chinese, Japanese, of Chinese words has shifted away from the
Korean, Asian-Indian, Filipino, and South- use of Wade-Giles style to favor pinyin. In
east Asian immigration. In terms of geo- general, this book follows that trend, exept
graphic scope the book concentrates on in rare cases, where an individual is so
South, Southeast, and East Asia—essential- commonly known in a nonpinyin form that
ly from India eastward and then northward a translation to pinyin would hinder clarity.
to the Korean peninsula and Japan. As an illustrated history of the immi-
Consequently some smaller nations, gration, migration, and acculturation of
such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia, are diverse groups to American society, this
not emphasized, based on the relatively book addresses the theme of movement in
small number of immigrants in the United several ways. In one sense, the struggle of
States from those countries. Likewise, Rus- Asian Americans to achieve acceptance and
sia and the other nations of the former Sovi- full civil rights is referred to as a move-
et Union, which together encompass a vast ment. On a more basic level, the migration
portion of the Eurasian continent and are of people from place to place is another
home to significant populations that can form of movement. Beginning with the ear-
clearly be considered Asian, are also not ly Chinese miners who arrived in Califor-
included because migration from the cen- nia’s Gold Mountains in search of riches
tral Asian republics, Siberia, and elsewhere and stretching all the way to modern-day
in these regions has also been relatively professionals from the Philippines or India
small. Additionally, most immigrants from arriving to work in U.S. hospitals or high-
the former Soviet Union have come from tech laboratories, movement has defined
the European territory west of the Urals, the Asian-American experience. For that
and hence fall outside the scope of this reason, the form of this book—an atlas—is
work. especially appropriate. It is our hope that
Similarly, Pacific Islanders, though the maps included in these pages will help
sometimes included in discussion of Asian give concrete life to the story of how geo-
and Asian-American history, are not Asian, graphic as well as cultural and political
properly speaking. While the book includes borders have been crossed over the century
a brief review of precolonial Hawaiian his- and a half of Asian-American history. Like-
tory, that discussion is included to give con- wise, we hope readers come away with an
text to the larger discussion of Hawaii’s understanding of the consequences of
transformation into a plantation economy those crossings and of the barriers that
operated by white Americans and worked remain in the in the road toward full equal-
by Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, and ity for all.
other Asian laborers.
viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author and editors wish to thank The cartography work was also a col-
the many people who have con- laborative effort. Many maps were pre-
tributed greatly to this project. It was pared by David Lindroth, a very skilled
first conceived by Facts On File’s Eleanora independent illustrative map maker.
von Dehsen. Although the road to this Anthony Galante and Aaron Murray of
book’s completion has had its stops and Media Projects Incorporated contributed
starts, and bumps and turns, Eleanora and maps also, as well as handling production
her noble team of successors Nicole and layout work.
Bowen, Terence Maikels, Dorothy Cum- On the editorial side, an enormous
mings, Gene Springs, and Cathy Rincon amount of research went into this project,
have together exhibited, not only an unerr- and we are grateful for all the hard work
ing editorial and design sense of what the on that front performed by Carter Smith,
project demands, but also perseverance, Melissa Hale, Karen Covington, Kenneth
patience, and expertise. It was a pleasure West, Ashley Bradley, and Kimberly
working with them all. Horstman.
ix