History - Asian Americans

The history of Asian American's in the United States dates back to the mid 1800's. The first wave of Asians were mostly Chinese and began immigrating in the 1840's. In the early and mid 19th century those immigrants from China, Japan, India and the Philippines came to the US as immigrants and low wage, second class cheap laborers. The immigrants were faced with intense discrimination and were not considered citizens. Only second generation Asian Americans (those born in the US) were considered citizens, and even they faced discrimination, racism, and racial prejudice.  The situation for Asian Americans in general has become substantially better in the modern era, but they are still faced with many challenges to both their old way of life and their acceptance into American culture.

Chinese
In the Asian American history, several cases of anti-Asian movements and actions have taken place, especially against the Chinese. In the 1870s, white U.S. citizens began a movement against the Chinese. Several towns and counties passed laws and restrictions that banned Chinese from various labor fields, predominantly the mining sector. White activism resulted in numerous anti-Chinese laws in states and localities, especially in California. Taking advantage of the alien status of Asians, California state laws levied special taxes on them that prevented them from testifying against whites (by declaring them American Indians) and buying land (from 1913 to the 1950s), and legalized their exclusion from public schools, among other things. Chinese immigration itself was terminated in 1882 by the Chinese Exclusion Act. As a result of such laws and of anti-Chinese sentiment, the Chinese-American community actually contracted from 124,000 in 1890 to a low of 85,000 in 1920, rising again only very gradually, to106,000 in 1940.

Japanese
A similar situation happened for Japanese immigrants. By 1910; there were over 72,000 Japanese in the continental US; mostly educated young, single males who worked as unskilled laborers on the railroads and in the mines. The ban on Japanese immigration was lifted in 1952 with the McCarran-Walter Act (the Japanese quota, however, was only 100 persons); this act also struck down racial barriers to naturalization making those born in Japan but living in the US finally eligible for US citizenship. The 1965 Immigration Act further opened up immigration to Asians by eliminating the quota system, but, in contrast to the Chinese-American and Filipino-American communities, the Japanese-American community has not experienced a huge second wave of immigration in response to the Act.

Filipinos
The third largest Asian American group comes from the Philippines. The wave of Filipinos following the 1965 Immigration Act with its provisions for Filipino immigration - for family reunification or for professional workers - has created a bipolar income and job distribution among new immigrants, similar to that experienced by the Chinese.

Since the mid-1990s, there has been an increase in hate crimes and racial attacks against Asian Americans. The anti-Asian American incidents include the use of racial slurs, property defacement, beatings, robberies, and even murders. The rise in attacks against Asian Americans is related to the increased prosperity of many Asian Americans. The negative stereotypes may lead to bias or prejudice, which may cause discriminative behavior or violence to Asian American people. Asian Americans felt more upset when they were discriminated against and consider Asian Americans as a model minority which positive stereotypes may have negative meanings.
Although the history of exclusion/prejudice against minorities is a long and arduous journey, Asian Americans have begun to be seen as the 'model minority,' one in which their values and work ethic is being appreciated and admired rather than envied and hated.