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Atlas of Asian-American History PDF

225 Pages·2002·10.935 MB·English
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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 for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com 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

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