Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia [1-2] 9780765680778, 9781315706306

Citation preview

Ling austin

asian ameriCan History and Culture

ISBN 978-0-7656-8077-8

www.routledge.com

9 780765 680778

asian amErican

History and Culture a n

E n c y c L o p E d i a

EditEd by

Huping Ling

01

and

aLL an austin

ASIaN AMERICaN

HISTORY AND CULTURE A N

E N C Y C L O P E D I a VOLUME ONE - T W O

Page Intentionally Left Blank

ASIAN AMeRICAN

HISTORY AND CULTURE A N

E N C Y C l O P e D I A

VOLUME ONE-TWO

EDITeD BY

HUPING LING

AND

All AN AUSTIN

First published 2010 by M.E. Sharpe Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2010 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any informati on storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Cover photos by Getty and the following (clockwise from top left corner): Nicholas Kamm/AFP; Alex Wong; Hulton Archive/Stringer; MPI/Stringer/Hulton Archive; Max Whittaker/Stringer; David Paul Morris/Stringer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Asian American history and culture: an encyclopedia / Huping Ling and Allan Austin, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7656-8077-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Asian Americans—Encyclopedias. 2. Asian Americans—History—Encyclopedias. I. Ling, Huping. II. Austin, Allan W. E184.A75A8287 2010 973’.0495—dc22

  2009011926 ISBN 13: 9780765680778 (hbk)

Contents

McCarran-Walter Act (1952) Model Minority Music and Musicians, Asian American National Asian American Telecommunications Association Parenting and Child Rearing, Asian American Politics, Asian Americans in Proposition 209 (1996) Religion, Asian American Remittances, Asian American Science and Scientists, Asian American Theater, Asian American Transnationalism, Asian American Undocumented Immigration, Asian American War Brides and War Brides Act (1945) Youth Gangs, Asian American

VOLUME 1 Topic Finder Contributors Preface

xi xvii xxi

The Asian American Experience: History, Culture, and Scholarship 1 Adoption of Asian Children 6 Affirmative Action 8 Akaka, Daniel 10 Alien Land Law Movement 11 Amerasians and Multiracial Asian Americans 13 Angel Island Immigration Station 15 16 Anti-Asian Violence Antimiscegenation Laws 18 Asian American Dance Theatre 20 Asian American Journalists Association 22 Asian American Movement 23 Asian American Studies 26 AsianWeek 29 Assimilation and Acculturation 31 Association for Asian American Studies 34 Association for Asian Studies 34 Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists 36 Bilingual Education 38 Cable Act (1922) 40 Comedy and Humor, Asian American 41 Demonstration Project for Asian Americans 43 Film and Filmmakers, Asian American 44 Gay and Lesbian Issues, Asian American 47 Historiography and Historians, Asian American 49 51 Immigration Act of 1924 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 53 Interracial Marriage, Asian American 55 Labor and Employment, Asian American 57 Language, Asian American 61

69 70 73 75 77 80 81 84 85 88 90 91

The Bangladeshi American Experience: History and Culture

93

The Burmese American Experience: History and Culture

95

The Cambodian American Experience: History and Culture Anti-Cambodian Incidents Business and Entrepreneurship, Cambodian American Community Organizations, Cambodian American Deportation of Cambodians Education, Cambodian American Literature, Cambodian American Music and Dance, Cambodian American Political and Social Empowerment, Cambodian American Religion, Cambodian American Women, Cambodian American v

63 65 67

97 101 102 103 104 105 107 108 111 114 116

vi

The Chinese American Experience: History and Culture 119 Acculturation and the Chinese American Community 126 Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts 128 (1943) Anti-Chinese Riots 129 Banks, Chinese American 130 “Bachelor Society” 131 Bemis, Polly 132 Bowl of Rice Movement 133 Burlingame Treaty (1868) 133 Business and Entrepreneurship, Chinese American 134 Cameron House 136 Chennault, Anna C. (Chen Xiangmei) 137 Chiang, Madame Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) 138 Chin (Vincent) Incident 139 China Books and Periodicals Incorporated 140 China Lobby 141 China War Relief Association 143 Chinatowns 144 Chinatown (New York City) 144 147 Chinatown (San Francisco) Chinatown in Suburban America 151 Chinatown on the Western Frontier 152 Chinese American Citizens Alliance 153 Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association 154 Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) 156 Chinese Hospital, San Francisco 157 Chinese Language Schools 158 Chinese School (San Francisco) 160 Chu, Steven 161 Commodore Stockton School 162 Community Politics, Chinese American 163 Confession Program 167 Contract Labor, Chinese 168 Crib Papers 169 Daoist Temples in California 169 Demographics, Chinese American 170 Diaspora, Chinese 172 174 Displaced Persons Act (1948) Education, Chinese American 174 Eu, March Fong 176 Family Associations, Chinese American 177 Family Life, Chinese American 178

Festivals, Chinese American Film, Chinese Americans in Flying Tigers Gambling Among Chinese Americans Garment Factories, Chinese Americans in Gold Rush and Mining Grocery Stores and Supermarkets, Chinese American Hwang, David Henry Interracial Dating and Marriage, Chinese American Kingston, Maxine Hong Kuomintang (Guomindang) in Chinatowns Kwan, Michelle Labor and Employment, Chinese American Laundries, Chinese Lee, Bruce Lee, Rose Hum Lee, Tsung-Dao (Li Zhengdao) Lin, Maya Ying Literature, Chinese American Locke, California Locke, Gary Ma, Yo-Yo Martial Arts (Kung Fu), Chinese Media and Visual Arts, Chinese American Miss Chinatown Nightclubs, Chinese Organization of Chinese Americans Page Act (1875) Paper Sons, Paper Daughters Pei, I.M. Political and Social Empowerment, Chinese American Portsmouth Square, San Francisco Press, Chinese American Queue Ordinance (1876) Railroads, Chinese Americans and Refugee Relief Act (1953) Religion, Chinese American Restaurants and Cuisine, Chinese American Sam Yap and Sze Yap San Francisco Earthquake (1906) Sargent, Frank P. Scott Act (1888) Settlement Patterns, Chinese American

179 181 184 185 186 187 188 190 191 193 194 195 196 198 199 200 201 201 202 204 205 206 207 209 210 211 212 213 213 214 215 217 218 220 221 223 223 226 228 229 229 230 231

vii

Students, Chinese American Tan, Amy Tien, Chang-lin Ting, Samuel C.C. Tongs Tsui, Daniel C. Wang, An Wang, Charles B. Wang, Vera Wang, Wayne Wing, Yung Women, Chinese American Wong, Jade Snow Woo, Shien Biau Wu, Chien-Shiung Yang, Chen Ning The Filipino American Experience: History and Culture Acculturation and the Filipino American Community Agbayani Village Agricultural Unions, Filipino Americans and Anti-Filipino Movement Aruego, Jose Associations, Filipino American Buaken, Manuel Bulosan, Carlos Business and Entrepreneurship, Filipino American Center for Philippine Studies Compadrinazgo Cordova, Fred Demographics, Filipino American Education, Filipino American Exchange Visitor Program Family Life, Filipino American Filipinas Magazine Filipino American National Historical Society Filipino Federation of America Filipino Federation of Labor Filipino Higher Wage Movement Filipino Infantry Regiments Filipino Naturalization Act (1946) Hagedorn, Jessica

233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 242 243 246 247 247 248

251 256 258 258 259 260 261 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 271 273 274 276 276 277 278 279 280 281 282

Iglesia ni Cristo Immigration, Filipino International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Filipino Americans and Interracial Dating and Marriage, Filipino Americans Itliong, Larry Labor and Employment, Filipino American Literature, Filipino American Little Manila Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) Media and Visual Arts, Filipino American Navy, Filipinos in the U.S. Nurses, Filipino/a Political and Social Empowerment, Filipino American Religion, Filipino American Repatriation Act (1935) Restaurants and Cuisine, Filipino American Tagalog Taxi-Dance Halls Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) Women, Filipina American

283 284 286 287 288 289 292 293 295 296 297 298 299 301 302 303 305 305 306 307

VOLUME 2 The Indian American Experience: History and Culture Acculturation and the Indian American Community Anglo-Indians Association of Indians in America Bose, Sudhindra Business and Entrepreneurship, Indian American Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan Demographics, Indian American Education, Indian American Family Life, Indian American First Indo-American Bank Ghadar Movement Health and Medicine, Indian Americans in Homosexuality in the Indian American Community Hotel and Motel Business, Indian Americans in the

311 316 318 318 319 320 321 322 324 325 327 327 329 330 332

viii

Immigration, Indian American Khalsa Diwan Society Labor and Employment, Indian American Lahiri, Jhumpa Literature, Indian American Media and Visual Arts, Indian American Mehta, Zubin Mexican-Indian Marriages Mukherjee, Bharati Newsstands, Indian Pandit, Sakharam Ganesh Political and Social Empowerment, Indian American Press, Indian American Punjabi Americans Ramakrishna Mission Religion, Indian American Restaurants and Cuisine, Indian American San Francisco Radical Club Saund, Dalip Singh Seattle Exclusion League Self-Realization Fellowship Shridharani, Krishnalal Singh, Jawala Subba Row, Yellapragada Theosophical Society United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) Watumull Foundation Women, Indian American Yuba City, California The Indonesian American Experience: History and Culture The Japanese American Experience: History and Culture Acculturation and the Japanese American Community Agriculture, Japanese Americans in Anti-Japanese Movement Arai, Clarence Takeya Asiatic Exclusion League Buddhist Churches of America Business and Entrepreneurship, Japanese American Civil Liberties Act (1988)

333 336 336 339 340 342 343 344 345 346 346 347 349 350 351 351 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 363 364 366

369

371 378 380 382 384 385 386 387 388

Collins, Wayne M. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Coram Nobis Cases (1943, 1944) Day of Remembrance Diaspora, Japanese Draft Resistance, World War II Education, Japanese American Emigration Companies Ex parte Endo (1944) Executive Order 9066 (1942) Exile and Incarceration: Japanese Americans in World War II Family Life, Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team Furuya, Masajiro Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907–1908) Hawaii Seven Hayakawa, S.I. Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee Heco, Joseph Hirabayashi v. United States (1943) Hood River Incident Ichihashi, Yamato Ichioka, Yuji Inouye, Daniel K. Interracial Dating and Marriage, Japanese American Inu (Informants) Irwin, Robert Walker Issei Japan Bashing Japanese American Citizens League Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act (1948) Japanese American National Museum Japanese Associations Japanese Language Schools Japanese-Mexican Labor Association Japanese Peruvians Kibei Kitano, Harry H.L. Koda, Keisaburo Korematsu v. United States (1944) Labor and Employment, Japanese American

389 390 391 392 393 395 396 397 398 399 400 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 418 419 421 422 423 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431

ix

Literature, Japanese American Little Tokyo Manzanar Incident Martial Arts, Japanese Masaoka, Mike Masaru Matsunaga, Spark McClatchy, V.S. Midori Mineta, Norman Mink, Patsy Takemoto Myer, Dillon S. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council Native Sons of the Golden West Nisei Noguchi, Isamu Okubo, Miné Omura, James Matsumoto Ozawa, Seiji Picture Brides Press, Japanese American Redress Movement Religion, Japanese American Resettlement, Post–World War II Incarceration Restaurants and Cuisine, Japanese American Satow, Masao “Schoolboy”/“Schoolgirl” Seabrook Farms Settlements, Japanese American Shikata Ga Nai Shima, George Slocum, Tokutaro “Tokie” Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922) Tokyo Rose (Ikuko “Iva” Toguri) Tolan Committee Uchida, Yoshiko Uno, Edison Tomimaro War Relocation Authority Weglyn, Michi Nishiura Yamaguchi, Kristi Yasui v. United States (1943) The Korean American Experience: History and Culture Association of Korean Political Studies

432 434 435 436 438 439 440 440 442 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 453 455 456 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 469 470 471 472 473 473

475 480

Business and Entrepreneurship, Korean American Chang, Sarah Cho, Margaret Community Organizations, Korean American Koreagate Korean American Coalition Korean National Association Koreatown (Los Angeles) Lee, Sammy Literature, Korean American Los Angeles Riots Moon, Sun Myung Paik, Nam June Religion, Korean American Students, Korean American Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1882) War Brides, Korean Women, Korean American The Laotian and Hmong American Experience: History and Culture Community Organizations, Hmong American Political and Social Empowerment, Hmong American Religion, Hmong American Religion, Laotian American Women, Hmong American

480 483 484 484 486 487 488 488 490 490 492 493 494 495 497 498 499 500

503 508 510 511 513 514

The Malaysian American Experience: History and Culture

517

The Mongolian American Experience: History and Culture

519

The Nepalese American Experience: History and Culture

521

The Pacific Islander American Experience: History and Culture Chamorros Hapa Hawaiians Samoan Americans Tongans

523 526 527 528 530 531

x

The Pakistani American Experience: History and Culture Pakistan League of America Religion, Pakistani American

533 535 536

The Thai American Experience: History and Culture Bunker, Chang and Eng Woods, Tiger

561 569 569

The Singaporean American Experience: History and Culture

537

The Tibetan American Experience: History and Culture

571

The Sri Lankan American Experience: History and Culture

539

The Taiwanese American Experience: History and Culture 541 Business and Entrepreneurship, Taiwanese 544 American Coordination Council for North American Affairs 545 Demographics, Taiwanese American 546 Ho, David 548 Hsi Lai Temple 548 Lee, Ang 550 Lee, Yuan-Tseh 551 551 Lee (Wen Ho) Case Parachute Kids 553 Political Empowerment, Taiwanese American 553 Students, Taiwanese American 556 Taiwan Independence Movement 557 Yang, Jerry 558

The Vietnamese American Experience: History and Culture “Boat People” Bui, Tony Business and Entrepreneurship, Vietnamese American Lam, Tony Literature, Vietnamese American Little Saigon (Orange County, California) Politics and Political Empowerment, Vietnamese American Refugee Act (1980) Religion, Vietnamese American Women, Vietnamese American Chronology Bibliography Index

573 579 580 581 582 583 585 586 588 589 590 593 605 I-1

Topic Finder

(To locate an individual article, see Table of Contents for corresponding nationality section—or the Index.)

Anti-Asian Activities and Sentiment Alien Land Law Movement Anti-Asian Violence Anti-Cambodian Incidents Anti-Chinese Riots Anti-Filipino Movement Anti-Japanese Movement Antimiscegenation Laws Asiatic Exclusion League Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Executive Order 9066 (1942) Exile and Incarceration: Japanese Americans in World War II Japan Bashing Native Sons of the Golden West Queue Ordinance (1876) Seattle Exclusion League Arts, Music, and Literature Asian American Dance Theatre Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists Comedy and Humor, Asian American Film and Filmmakers, Asian American Film, Chinese Americans in Literature, Cambodian American Literature, Chinese American Literature, Filipino American Literature, Indian American Literature, Japanese American

Literature, Korean American Literature, Vietnamese American Martial Arts (Kung Fu), Chinese Martial Arts, Japanese Media and Visual Arts, Chinese American Media and Visual Arts, Filipino American Media and Visual Arts, Indian American Music and Dance, Cambodian American Music and Musicians, Asian American Theater, Asian American Asian Americans in the Military Draft Resistance, World War II Filipino Infantry Regiments Flying Tigers 442nd Regimental Combat Team Navy, Filipinos in the U.S. Biographies Akaka, Daniel Arai, Clarence Takeya Aruego, Jose Bemis, Polly Bose, Sudhindra Buaken, Manuel Bui, Tony Bulosan, Carlos Bunker, Chang and Eng Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan xi

Chang, Sarah Chennault, Anna C. (Chen Xiangmei) Chiang, Madame Kai-shek (Soong Mei-ling) Cho, Margaret Chu, Steven Collins, Wayne M. Cordova, Fred Eu, March Fong Furuya, Masajiro Hagedorn, Jessica Hayakawa, S.I. Heco, Joseph Ho, David Hwang, David Henry Ichihashi, Yamato Ichioka, Yuji Inouye, Daniel K. Irwin, Robert Walker Itliong, Larry Kingston, Maxine Hong Kitano, Harry H.L. Koda, Keisaburo Kwan, Michelle Lahiri, Jhumpa Lam, Tony Lee, Ang Lee, Bruce Lee, Rose Hum Lee, Sammy Lee, Tsung-Dao (Li Zhengdao) Lee, Yuan-Tseh Lin, Maya Ying Locke, Gary

xii

topic F inder

Ma, Yo-Yo Masaoka, Mike Masaru Matsunaga, Spark McClatchy, V.S. Mehta, Zubin Midori Mineta, Norman Mink, Patsy Takemoto Moon, Sun Myung Mukherjee, Bharati Myer, Dillon S. Noguchi, Isamu Okubo, Miné Omura, James Matsumoto Ozawa, Seiji Paik, Nam June Pandit, Sakharam Ganesh Pei, I.M. Sargent, Frank P. Satow, Masao Saund, Dalip Singh Shima, George Shridharani, Krishnalal Singh, Jawala Slocum, Tokutaro “Tokie” Subba Row, Yellapragada Tan, Amy Tien, Chang-lin Ting, Samuel C.C. Tokyo Rose (Ikuko “Iva” Toguri) Tsui, Daniel C. Uchida, Yoshiko Uno, Edison Tomimaro Wang, An Wang, Charles B. Wang, Vera Wang, Wayne Weglyn, Michi Nishiura Wing, Yung Wong, Jade Snow Woo, Shien Biau Woods, Tiger Wu, Chien-Shiung Yamaguchi, Kristi Yang, Chen Ning Yang, Jerry

Business, Industry, Labor, and Employment Affirmative Action Agriculture, Japanese Americans in Agricultural Unions, Filipino Americans and Banks, Chinese American Business and Entrepreneurship, Cambodian American Business and Entrepreneurship, Chinese American Business and Entrepreneurship, Filipino American Business and Entrepreneurship, Indian American Business and Entrepreneurship, Japanese American Business and Entrepreneurship, Korean American Business and Entrepreneurship, Taiwanese American Business and Entrepreneurship, Vietnamese American China Books and Periodicals Incorporated Contract Labor, Chinese Filipino Federation of Labor Filipino Higher Wage Movement First Indo-American Bank Garment Factories, Chinese Americans in Grocery Stores and Supermarkets, Chinese American Health and Medicine, Indian Americans in Hotel and Motel Business, Indian Americans in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Filipino Americans and Japanese-Mexican Labor Association Labor and Employment, Asian American

Labor and Employment, Chinese American Labor and Employment, Filipino American Labor and Employment, Indian American Labor and Employment, Japanese American Laundries, Chinese National Asian American Telecommunications Association Newsstands, Indian Nurses, Filipino/a Railroads, Chinese Americans and Restaurants and Cuisine, Chinese American Restaurants and Cuisine, Filipino American Restaurants and Cuisine, Indian American Restaurants and Cuisine, Japanese American Science and Scientists, Asian American Seabrook Farms Community Events and Cultural Expressions (see also Arts, Music, and Literature) Comedy and Humor, Asian American Community Politics, Chinese American Day of Remembrance Festivals, Chinese American Language, Asian American Miss Chinatown Nightclubs, Chinese Restaurants and Cuisine, Chinese American Restaurants and Cuisine, Filipino American Restaurants and Cuisine, Indian American

topic F inder

Restaurants and Cuisine, Japanese American Tagalog Taxi-Dance Halls Education, Students, and Study Asian American Studies Association for Asian American Studies Association for Asian Studies Association of Korean Political Studies Bilingual Education Center for Philippine Studies Chinese Language Schools Chinese School (San Francisco) Commodore Stockton School Education, Cambodian American Education, Chinese American Education, Filipino American Education, Indian American Education, Japanese American Historiography and Historians, Asian American Japanese Language Schools National Japanese American Student Relocation Council “Schoolboy”/“Schoolgirl” Science and Scientists, Asian American Students, Chinese American Students, Korean American Students, Taiwanese American Family, Marriage, and Sexuality Adoption of Asian Children Compadrinazgo Crib Papers Family Associations, Chinese American Family Life, Chinese American Family Life, Filipino American Family Life, Indian American

Family Life, Japanese American Gay and Lesbian Issues, Asian American Homosexuality in the Indian American Community Interracial Dating and Marriage, Chinese American Interracial Dating and Marriage, Filipino Americans Interracial Dating and Marriage, Japanese American Interracial Marriage, Asian American Mexican-Indian Marriages Parenting and Child Rearing, Asian American Geographic Locations and Communities Agbayani Village Angel Island Immigration Station Chinatown in Suburban America Chinatown (New York City) Chinatown on the Western Frontier Chinatown (San Francisco) Chinatowns Koreatown (Los Angeles) Little Manila Little Saigon (Orange County, California) Little Tokyo Locke, California Portsmouth Square, San Francisco Sam Yap and Sze Yap Yuba City, California Government Programs, Organizations, and Treaties Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Coordination Council for North American Affairs

xiii

Demonstration Project for Asian Americans Exchange Visitor Program Burlingame Treaty (1868) Confession Program Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907– 1908) Tolan Committee Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1882) War Relocation Authority Historical Events and Incidents Chin (Vincent) Incident Exile and Incarceration: Japanese Americans in World War II Gold Rush and Mining Hood River Incident Koreagate Lee (Wen Ho) Case Los Angeles Riots Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) Manzanar Incident San Francisco Earthquake (1906) Immigration, Assimilation, and Acculturation Acculturation and the Chinese American Community Acculturation and the Filipino American Community Acculturation and the Indian American Community Acculturation and the Japanese American Community Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts (1943) Affirmative Action Angel Island Immigration Station Assimilation and Acculturation Bilingual Education

xiv

topic F inder

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Chinese Language Schools Chinese School (San Francisco) Commodore Stockton School Crib Papers Deportation of Cambodians Diaspora, Chinese Diaspora, Japanese Emigration Companies Filipino Naturalization Act (1946) Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907–1908) Immigration Act of 1924 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 Immigration, Filipino Immigration, Indian American Japanese Language Schools McCarran-Walter Act (1952) Model Minority Page Act (1875) Refugee Act (1980) Refugee Relief Act (1953) Remittances, Asian American Repatriation Act (1935) Resettlement, Post–World War II Incarceration “Schoolboy”/“Schoolgirl” Scott Act (1888) Settlement Patterns, Chinese American Settlements, Japanese American Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922) Undocumented Immigration, Asian American United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) War Brides and War Brides Act (1945) Laws, Ordinances, and Court Rulings Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts (1943)

Alien Land Law Movement Antimiscegenation Laws Cable Act (1922) Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Civil Liberties Act (1988) Coram Nobis Cases (1943, 1944) Displaced Persons Act (1948) Ex parte Endo (1944) Executive Order 9066 (1942) Filipino Naturalization Act (1946) Hirabayashi v. United States (1943) Immigration Act of 1924 Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act (1948) Korematsu v. United States (1944) McCarran-Walter Act (1952) Page Act (1875) Proposition 209 (1996) Queue Ordinance (1876) Refugee Act (1980) Refugee Relief Act (1953) Repatriation Act (1935) Scott Act (1888) Takao Ozawa v. United States   (1922) Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) War Brides and War Brides Act (1945) Yasui v. United States (1943) Media: Film, Publications, Television, Radio AsianWeek China Books and Periodicals Incorporated Filipinas Magazine Film and Filmmakers, Asian American Film, Chinese Americans in Media and Visual Arts, Chinese American

Media and Visual Arts, Filipino American Media and Visual Arts, Indian American Newsstands, Indian Press, Chinese American Press, Indian American Press, Japanese American Organizations and Institutions Agricultural Unions, Filipino Americans and Asian American Dance Theatre Asian American Journalists Association Asiatic Exclusion League Association for Asian American Studies Association for Asian Studies Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists Association of Indians in America Association of Korean Political Studies Associations, Filipino American Cameron House Center for Philippine Studies Chinese American Citizens Alliance Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association China War Relief Association Chinese Hospital, San Francisco Chinese Language Schools Chinese School (San Francisco) Commodore Stockton School Community Organizations, Cambodian American Community Organizations, Hmong American Community Organizations, Korean American Family Associations, Chinese American

topic F inder

Filipino American National Historical Society Filipino Federation of America Filipino Federation of Labor Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee Hsi Lai Temple Iglesia ni Cristo International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Filipino Americans and Japanese American Citizens League Japanese American National Museum Japanese Associations Japanese Language Schools Japanese-Mexican Labor Association Khalsa Diwan Society Korean American Coalition Korean National Association National Asian American Telecommunications Association National Japanese American Student Relocation Council Native Sons of the Golden West Organization of Chinese Americans Pakistan League of America Ramakrishna Mission San Francisco Radical Club Seattle Exclusion League Self-Realization Fellowship Theosophical Society Tongs Watumull Foundation Peoples, Nationalities, and Social Groups Amerasians and Multiracial Asian Americans

Anglo-Indians Asian American Experience: History, Culture, and Scholarship Bangladeshi American Experience: History and Culture “Boat People” Burmese American Experience: History and Culture Cambodian American Experience: History and Culture Chamorros Chinese American Experience: History and Culture Filipino American Experience: History and Culture Hapa Hawaiians Indian American Experience: History and Culture Indonesian American Experience: History and Culture Inu (Informants) Issei Japanese American Experience: History and Culture Japanese Peruvians Korean American Experience: History and Culture Kibei Laotian and Hmong American Experience: History and Culture Malaysian American Experience: History and Culture Mongolian American Experience: History and Culture Nepalese American Experience: History and Culture Nisei Pacific Islander American Experience: History and Culture

xv

Pakistani American Experience: History and Culture Paper Sons, Paper Daughters Parachute Kids Picture Brides Punjabi Americans Samoan Americans “Schoolboy”/“Schoolgirl” Singaporean American Experience: History and Culture Sri Lankan American Experience: History and Culture Taiwanese American Experience: History and Culture Thai American Experience: History and Culture Tibetan American Experience: History and Culture Tongans Vietnamese American Experience: History and Culture War Brides, Korean Women, Cambodian American Women, Chinese American Women, Filipina American Women, Hmong American Women, Indian American Women, Korean American Women, Vietnamese American Youth Gangs, Asian American Political Movements and Groups Association of Korean Political Studies China Lobby Community Politics, Chinese American Ghadr Movement Hawaii Seven Kuomintang (Guomindang) in Chinatowns

xvi

topic F inder

Political and Social Empowerment, Cambodian American Political and Social Empowerment, Chinese American Political and Social Empowerment, Filipino American Political and Social Empowerment, Hmong American Political and Social Empowerment, Indian American Political Empowerment, Taiwanese American Politics and Political Empowerment, Vietnamese American Politics, Asian Americans in Redress Movement Taiwan Independence Movement Religion and Religious Institutions Buddhist Churches of America Daoist Temples in California Hsi Lai Temple

Iglesia ni Cristo Ramakrishna Mission Religion, Asian American Religion, Cambodian American Religion, Chinese American Religion, Filipino American Religion, Hmong American Religion, Indian American Religion, Japanese American Religion, Korean American Religion, Laotian American Religion, Pakistani American Religion, Vietnamese American Social Movements, Concepts, and Trends (see also Family, Marriage and Sexuality; and Immigration, Assimilation, and Acculturation) Anti-Filipino Movement Anti-Japanese Movement Asian American Movement “Bachelor Society” Bowl of Rice Movement Demographics, Chinese American Demographics, Filipino American Demographics, Indian American

Demographics, Taiwanese American Diaspora, Chinese Diaspora, Japanese Gambling Among Chinese Americans Model Minority Political and Social Empowerment, Cambodian American Political and Social Empowerment, Chinese American Political and Social Empowerment, Filipino American Political and Social Empowerment, Hmong American Political and Social Empowerment, Indian American Resettlement, Post–World War II Incarceration Settlement Patterns, Chinese American Settlements, Japanese American Shikata Ga Nai Transnationalism, Asian American

Contributors

General Editors

Allan Austin Misericordia University

Huping Ling Truman State University

Advisory Board Sue Fawn Chung University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Franklin Ng California State University, Fresno

Franklin Odo Smithsonian Institution Gary Y. Okihiro Columbia University

Yen Espiritu University of California, San Diego

Contributors Nobuko Adachi Illinois State University

T. Lachica Buenavista California State University, Northridge

Daisuke Akiba City University of New York, Graduate Center and Queens College

Mary Louise Buley-Meissner University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Anupama Arora Earlham College

Malini Cadambi New School University

W. Michael Ashcraft Truman State University

Laura M. Calkins Texas Tech University

Michelle Baildon Boston College

Craig Canning College of William and Mary

Robert Bauman Washington State University

Nathan Cao University of California

Kevin Bower James Madison University

Faye Christine Caronan University of California, San Diego

Michael Serizawa Brown Washington State University

Susie Lan Cassel California State University, San Marcos

xvii

May-lee Chai Amherst College Winberg Chai University of Wyoming Silas Chamberlin Lehigh University Doris T. Chang Wichita State University Theodore Chang Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) Samaya L.S. Chanthaphavong Independent Scholar Joseph Cheah St. Joseph College Peggy P. Chen City University of New York, Hunter College

xviii

contributors

Shelly Chen Independent Scholar

Gary Dymski University of California, Riverside

David L. Kenley Marshall University

Shu-Hsien L. Chen City University of New York, Queens College

Joe Chung Fong Berkeley Center for Globalization and Information Technology

Martin Kich Wright State University, Lake Campus

Xiaofen Chen Truman State University

Kathleen Whalen Fry Washington State University

Cindy I-Fen Cheng University of California, Los Angeles

Heather Fryer Creighton University

Christy Chiang-Hom Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Pamela Lee Gray Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne

Jane J. Cho Stephanie Po-yin Chung Hong Kong Baptist University (China)

Rudy P. Guevarra, Jr. University of California, Santa Barbara

James Ciment Independent Scholar

Vinay Harpalani University of Pennsylvania

Alfredo Manuel Coelho UMR MOISA AgroMontpellier (France)

Paul W. Harris Minnesota State University, Moorhead

Justin Corfield Geelong Grammar School (Australia)

Lisa Hinrichsen Boston University

Philip Ahn Cuddy Korean American Heritage

Daniel HoSang University of Southern California

Clark E. Cunningham University of Illinois

David Hou University of California

Evan Matthew Daniel New School University

Iris Hui University of California

Bruna Mori Darini Southern California Institute of Architecture

Daniel H. Inouye New York University

Rebecca Y. Kim Pepperdine University Wendy L. Klein University of California, Los Angeles Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff City of University of New York, Graduate Center Chana Kraus Friedberg University of Pennsylvania Andrea Kwon University of California Renee Lavin Misericordia University C.N. Le University of Massachusetts Jonathan H.X. Lee San Francisco State University Joseph Tse-Hei Lee Pace University Joy Leighton Auburn University Wei Li Arizona State University Jeehyun Lim University of North Carolina

Harvey Dong University of California

Leah Irvine University of New Brunswick (Canada)

Haiming Liu Cal Poly University, Pomona

Christie Doyle Independent Scholar

Wen Jin Northwestern University

Jennifer Liu University of California, Irvine

Haley Duschinski Ohio University

Daniel C. Kane University of Hawai’i

Andrienne Lo University of California, Los Angeles

contributors

Roger D. Long Eastern Michigan University

Franklin Ng California State University, Fresno

Cecilia Siu-Wah Poon Western Washington University

Barbara Lum Dartmouth College

Wendy Ng San Jose State University

Timothy J. Randazzo University of California

Jolanta Macek Franklin University

Alan Oda Azusa Pacific University

Padma Rangaswamy South Asian American Policy & Research Institute

Robert J. Maeda Brandeis University (Emeritus)

Gabriella Oldham Teachers College, Columbia University

Amelia Maijala Independent Scholar

Meredith Oyen Georgetown University

Elizabeth Mauldin Georgia Institute of Technology

Rodelen Paccial University of the Philippines in the Visayas

Jia Mi College of New Jersey Terese Guinsatao Monberg University of Kansas Barry Moreno Independent Scholar Suzuko Morikawa Chicago State University Emily Hiramatsu Morishima University of California, Los Angeles Tara G.V. Munson University of California, Santa Barbara Todd S. Munson Randolph-Macon College Erika A. Muse Albany College of Pharmacy Ronald Y. Nakasone Graduate Theological Union Anjana Narayan Cal Poly University, Pomona Caryn E. Neumann Miami University, Middletown

Sudarsan Padmanabhan University of South Florida Brandon Palmer Coastal Carolina University Nancy Josephine Park Claremont Graduate University Anna Pegler-Gordon Michigan State University Murriel Perez Independent Scholar Todd LeRoy Perreira San Jose State University Wade Pfau National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan) Minh-Ha T. Pham University of California Vu H. Pham University of California, San Diego Vincent K. Pollard University of Hawai’i Mary Polley University of Pittsburgh

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Angela Reyes City University of New York, Hunter College Kelly Boyer Sagert Independent Scholar Patrick Fuliang Shan Grand Valley State University Jeannie Shinozuka University of Minnesota Jaideep Singh University of California Bruce E. Stewart University of Georgia Christine M. Su University of Hawai’i Erin Suzuki University of California, Los Angeles Scott H. Tang California State University, Fullerton Antonio Thompson University of Kentucky Rhonda Tintle University of Oklahoma Andrew Urban University of Minnesota Chellammal Vaidyanathan University of Miami

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Joan S.H. Wang National Taiwan Normal University (Taiwan) Oliver Wang University of California Richard T. Wang Taiwanese American Citizens League Yosay Wangdi Grand Valley State University

Tim J. Watts Kansas State University Michael J. Wert University of California, Irvine Andrew B. Wertheimer University of Hawai’i Toru T. Yamada University of Hawai’i

Kou Yang California State University, Stanislaus Wenxian Zhang Rollins College Joseph Zheng University of California

Preface

Given the complicated reality and complex subject of this book, we, as editors, had to make difficult choices about what topics to include. As we anticipate that most users of this work will be looking for information on a specific Asian American group, the encyclopedia is organized along national lines. Since some national groups are larger and more established than others, we have provided coverage commensurate with their relative populations and immigration history. For larger groups, or those with longer histories in the United States, sections include a narrative history followed by alphabetically arranged thematic essays (on education, business, politics, and the like) and shorter entries on notable persons, events, and organizations. Mediumsized groups likewise include a narrative history, followed by a shorter series of thematic essays and topical entries. Smaller national groups are covered in a single overview essay that summarizes immigration history, cultural heritage, and contemporary social status. Articles range from as long as several thousand words for overview and thematic essays, to several hundred words for shorter entries. All in all, Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia offers coverage of the arts, culture, community, education, family, gender, marriage, occupation, and work of more than twenty national-origin groups, both historically and in contemporary American society. For a broader perspective, we have also included an extensive first section dedicated to Pan–Asian American issues, including longer thematic essays and narrower topical entries on identity, prejudice, and popular culture.

social entitlement programs, in reality Asian Americans are extraordinarily diverse in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, religion, and country or region of origin. In representing these wide-ranging histories and cultural experiences, we have taken pains to maintain a balance between sometimes competing perspectives: ethnic origin versus American reality; community life versus family life; individual achievement versus collective progress; older, more populous groups versus newer, smaller groups; and long-established institutions versus emerging ones. From the outset, Asian American History and Culture was envisioned as a comprehensive reference work in terms of breadth, depth, and authority. The final outcome, we hope, presents the major perspectives, issues, and debates in the field as well as the most up-to-date findings, information, and interpretations. To reflect the most current and authoritative views, we have relied on the collective expertise of specialists in Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and U.S. immigration history. Many of the contributors are renowned and respected scholars in their fields, whose deep research, writing, and teaching experience all are brought to bear in the designation of subjects covered in this work and the details of individual essays and entries. Many articles reflect the most contemporary research and insights from professional journal articles, scholarly monographs, and doctoral dissertations.

Acknowledgments From conceptualization to completion of this ambitious project, the editors have received indispensable assistance from a vast number of individuals and agencies. The nearly half-million-word project would not have been possible without their enthusiastic and patient participation. Our heartfelt gratitude first goes to the many contributors who wrote their assigned entries with precision, accuracy, balance, and professional objectivity while providing constructive suggestions for improvements along the way. Given the broad scale of the project, it would not have been possible to finish without the professionalism,

Authority and Balance In identifying and selecting entries and essay topics, we have consulted the existing literature on the subject and solicited the opinions of numerous experts in various fields, all for the purpose of compiling the most comprehensive, inclusive, and authoritative reference on Asian Americans to date. While the U.S. federal government historically and still today has lumped Asian and Pacific Americans into a single group for administrative purposes ranging from census taking to eligibility for xxi

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managerial skills, and efficiency of James Ciment, the managing editor, as well as Martha Whitt, Gina Terlinden, Irene Chow, and Eileen Chetti. Advisory board members Sue Fawn Chung, Yen Le Espiritu, Franklin Ng, Franklin Odo, and Gary Okihiro provided valuable general guidance and specific suggestions, ensuring the authority and comprehensiveness of the work. Catherine Turner, the associate director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pennsylvania, edited sample entries and the introduction, providing an invaluable model for others to follow. Christie Doyle, Catherine Webster, and Devon Bireta, the student assistants for Huping Ling at Truman State University, have enthusiastically helped with the various administrative tasks of the editors. The editorial and production staffs at M.E. Sharpe have worked diligently to coordinate and complete the publication process. We would also like to express our appreciation to the following organizations for placing our call for contributors in their newsletters and Web sites: the Association

for Asian American Studies, Chinese Historians in the United States, the International Society for the Studies of Chinese Overseas, H-Ethnic, H-Migration, H-Net, and the History Channel Magazine. The Asian American and ethnic studies programs and the departments of history at universities and colleges across the United States helped us identify qualified scholars as contributors. Individual members of the Association for Asian American Studies, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the International Society for the Studies of Chinese Overseas also provided support and useful input. Our colleagues and students at Truman State University and Misericordia University offered invaluable moral support and encouragement. Most importantly, our families—Sami, William, and Isaac, and Vicki, Bobby, and Hope—whose lives were directly affected by our continuous and intensive involvement in the project at every stage of its production, have wholeheartedly and steadfastly supported us with love, understanding, and good humor.

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The Asian American Experience: History, Culture, and Scholarship

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Japanese population achieved some semblance of gender balance by 1940, but the Chinese American community remained largely a “bachelor society” until the 1960s. Whatever the similarities and differences, both Chinese and Japanese immigrants faced intense discrimination, in part because most turn-of-the-twentieth-century Americans lumped them together as dangerous “Orientals.” In addition to suffering socioeconomic discrimination and racist violence, the Chinese were denied citizenship and ultimately barred from immigrating by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. While no “Japanese Exclusion Act” was ever passed, in all likelihood only Japan’s status as a world power dissuaded Congress from adopting such a law. Instead, Japanese could immigrate, within limits, until 1924, when the National Origins Act barred all Asians from coming to the United States. During World War II, while the status of Chinese Americans improved somewhat as a result of China’s cooperation with the United States against the Axis powers, Japanese Americans found their already tenuous position deteriorating. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government exiled about 120,000 Japanese

ven after Chinese immigrants began to arrive in meaningful numbers after 1849 hoping to make their fortunes in the California gold rush, most Americans continued to associate the term “immigrant” with “European.” This tendency resulted from a variety of factors beyond simple ignorance. At the time, Americans held a traditional view of the nation’s past that centered on English colonists and the East Coast, a perspective reinforced by the fact that the overwhelming majority of immigrants at the time still came from Europe. Most Americans, moreover, regarded Asians as temporary sojourners, not permanent residents. In any event, the belief that these earliest Asian newcomers were somehow not “real” immigrants has continued to shape the ways in which many Americans still imagine and understand the history of the United States. As a result, scholars and Americans in general have long pushed Asian Americans to the margins of the nation’s history.

Immigration History Histories of the two earliest groups to arrive in the United States in significant numbers, the Chinese and the Japanese, raise an important question from the outset: Just how useful is the term “Asian American”? For all that Chinese and Japanese immigrants may have shared, these two groups differed fundamentally from each other in terms of national histories, native cultures, and American experiences. Economically, for example, the typical push and pull factors of hard times at home and the hope for better opportunities abroad helped to convince both Chinese and Japanese to immigrate to the United States. Once in America, however, Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans filled very different economic niches. As a result, the Chinese newcomers became predominantly urban, while the Japanese arrivals increasingly pursued agricultural opportunities. The theme of similarity and difference likewise dominated the demographics of the immigrant communities. While both began with heavily male immigration, the

For hundreds of thousands of Asian immigrants, life in America began with processing—or detention—at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. Known as the “Ellis Island of the West,” the facility operated from 1910 to 1940. (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

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Americans from their West Coast homes and incarcerated them in detention camps in the American interior. The prejudice and discrimination heaped upon Chinese and then Japanese in the United States would be extended to other Asians, but only after they were allowed to immigrate in the postwar era. The emphasis on Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans to this point raises a second question often asked about Asian American history: Has the scholarly emphasis on these two pioneering groups obscured the importance of others? For example, the history of Filipino Americans, to cite just one group that began arriving at about the same time as the Japanese, remains relatively understudied, although scholars have begun to make strides in addressing this gap. Still, the focus on the experiences of Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans has at times concealed the stories of the earliest Filipino immigrants as well as many other groups that played important roles in both Asian American and U.S. history. Recent developments in Asian American history raise a third question: How can scholars connect the diversity and vitality of post–World War II immigration to immigration in the past? Although Congress ended Chinese exclusion in 1943 as a token of wartime partnership, and opened the way to increased immigration from Asia with the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952, today’s large-scale Asian immigration is primarily the product of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. After the passage of that landmark law, arrivals from Asia increased quickly. Filipino immigration, now consisting mostly of professionals and women, was renewed in significant numbers. Immigrants from India, again mostly well-educated professionals, arrived in large numbers as well. Koreans, who had arrived in increasing numbers after World War II and in the aftermath of the Korean War as war brides and others, also saw their American communities grow after 1965. The ill-fated U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War created an influx of refugees from Southeast Asia. Lastly, the post-1965 wave of immigration from the developing world brought smaller numbers of immigrants from every other country in Asia and the Pacific Basin. Chronicling and understanding the increase and diversification of Asian immigration after 1965 is a scholarly task that has only recently been undertaken with a serious sense of historical perspective and objective detachment.

Asian America: A Socioeconomic Overview Scholars today thus face daunting demographic complexity in studying Asian immigration over the past

one and a half centuries. While the aggregate numbers provided by the 2000 U.S. Census suggest impressive socioeconomic success for Asian American immigrants, closer analysis highlights broad diversity in the Asian American experience. Indeed, the accomplishments often mask a bimodal reality of both advancement and struggle. Today’s newcomers are much more diverse, in fact, than Asian immigrants of 150 years ago, who arrived from only a few countries, most of them single males who found an economic niche only as unskilled laborers. Immigrants in recent decades have arrived from very different circumstances—some disembarking quite poor as they fled war, poverty, and persecution, others joining families, investing their personal wealth in the U.S. economy, and filling demands for highly skilled positions such as scientists, engineers, and physicians. Occupation is closely linked to country of origin, in fact, with low-skilled workers overrepresented among refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and more highly paid professionals overrepresented among newcomers from India, China, the Philippines, and Korea. Neglecting such diversity also glosses over Asian American heterogeneity in terms of language, culture, and length of residence. The Asian American population increased dramatically in the latter part of the twentieth century, from 1.4 million in the 1970 census to almost 12 million in 2000. The increase was fueled largely by new arrivals from China, the Philippines, India, Korea, and Vietnam. Of the almost 12 million Asian Americans enumerated in 2000, just over 10 million identified themselves as Asian; the rest reported to be Asian and at least one additional racial ancestry. Five groups made up about 80 percent of Asian America: Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, and Korean Americans. Six others made up most of the rest: Japanese, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Pakistani, and Thai Americans. Chinese immigrants remain today, as they have historically, the largest single immigrant group from Asia, constituting approximately 24 percent of the total. The heterogeneity of Asian Americans appears clearly in census data tracking age. As a whole, Asian Americans fall disproportionately within the young adult category (twenty to thirty-nine years of age) and are underrepresented in the younger and older categories. With a median age of thirty-three, Asian Americans are about two years younger than the overall population. These averages, however, mask a wide range: Japanese Americans, the oldest of the Asian American groups, have a median age of forty-three, while Hmong Americans, the youngest, have a median age of just sixteen.

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As the Asian American population has continued to grow— reaching more than 15 million people and 5 percent of the U.S. total—its diverse cultures also have proliferated. Asian foods, among other cultural expressions, have become increasingly prevalent. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

While Asian American families appear quite similar to the U.S. population as a whole in terms of broad statistics, important factors differentiate subgroups. The percentage of married Asian Americans is slightly higher than the overall population but shows significant differences from group to group. According to the 2000 census, while almost two out of three immigrants from India and Pakistan were married, only slightly more than one out of three Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian Americans were. Also varying significantly are statistics on the percentage of families headed by a female (in turn correlated with poverty rates)—just over 3 percent for Indian and Pakistani Americans, and as high as 21 percent for Cambodian Americans. Also according to the 2000 census, almost 80 percent of immigrants from Asia and their descendents spoke a language other than English at home, though nearly 60 percent reported speaking English well. The Asian American population also exhibited significant differences from the overall population in terms of the ratio of native-born citizens, naturalized citizens, and noncitizens reported in the 2000 census. Compared to the 90 percent of the total U.S. population that was born in the United States, Asian Americans had a rate of only 31 percent. Again, rates for foreign-born varied significantly among subgroups, ranging from 40 percent for Japanese Americans to about 75 percent for immigrants from India, Vietnam, Korea, Pakistan, and Thailand. Importantly, given the rapidly changing face of Asian America, the majority of the foreign-born population had arrived in the United States within the previous two decades.

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As a whole, Asian Americans have made impressive educational and economic achievements. While high school graduation rates for Asian Americans equal that of the larger population, almost twice as many Asian Americans have earned a bachelor’s degree (44 percent versus 24 percent). Yet again, however, notable differences appear within the Asian community; whereas 64 percent of Indian Americans have earned a bachelor’s degree, half or better of Hmong, Cambodian, and Laotian Americans have not graduated from high school. The educational success of some Asian American groups has translated into a statistical portrait of economic advancement, although the aggregate data suggests a misleading picture of socioeconomic achievement and security. As a group, Asian Americans are more likely than the overall population to hold management and professional positions, a reality that translates into higher median earnings than the total population. On the whole, Asian American families in 2000 earned better than $9,000 more than the average American family ($59,324 versus $50,046). Indian and Japanese Americans each averaged more than $70,000 annually, in comparison to Hmong and Cambodian Americans, whose average earnings did not exceed $36,000. Not surprisingly given these differences, poverty rates vary significantly. While overall averages for Asian Americans and the total population nearly matched in 2000, poverty rates ranged from 6.3 percent for Filipino Americans to 37.8 percent for Hmong Americans. While urban enclaves—present from almost the beginning of Asian immigration as a means of preserving community, nurturing economic opportunity, and providing protection in an often-hostile country—still thrive, newcomers today are less likely to begin their lives in the United States as city dwellers. Those who arrive with financial security or desired professional skills often move directly to the safety and security of areas that have been variously labeled suburban Chinatowns, satellite cities, and ethnoburbs. As socioeconomic assimilation has accelerated in recent decades, some Asian American communities have transitioned to cultural communities and cyber communities, no longer defined by geographic space. As a result, while urban centers of ethnicity remain vital and important, a significant portion of the Asian American population is spreading beyond the traditional urban enclaves. The great diversity in the Asian American historical experience and in current socioeconomic conditions necessarily raises the issue of agency, the act of asserting political and economic power. Indeed the term “Asian American” remains ambiguous and complex, with variations of it being used to both negative and positive ends over the past

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century. Catchall terms like “Oriental” have encouraged racism, indiscriminate violence, and ultimately exclusion throughout U.S. history. Yet Asian immigrants and their descendents have also used the idea of an Asian American “community” to enact social and political change at the grassroots level. The agency demonstrated by such grassroots mobilization since the 1960s reminds us that, for too long, the few textbooks that mentioned Asian Americans at all portrayed them only as victims. Historians now must strive to capture a much more complicated Asian American past and experience that includes not only racism and victimhood but also the capacity, albeit limited at times, to assert power that has not only influenced daily lives but also shaped the larger course of both national and transnational histories.

Asian American Studies: Issues and Perspectives Facing such varied and complex questions while attempting to create a new field of study, early Asian American scholars were preoccupied with justifying the very existence of the field and with institutionalizing academic programs. Scholarly discourse in the initial period focused on the nature and scope of Asian American studies and what would become its core theories. Interdisciplinary and multidisplinary in nature, the early study of Asian America focused on history, identity, and community in both curricular development and research. Scholars applied a variety of theoretical perspectives— Marxism, racial formations, colonialism, imperialism, postcolonialism, and postmodernism, among others— in their investigations of assimilation and adaptation, identity and consciousness. Meanwhile, keenly aware of the field’s emergence as a product of the social movements of the 1960s, Asian American scholars consciously linked their work with community and activism. As a result, Asian American studies served as a training ground for future community leaders, while also connecting academics and students with grassroots community organizations. In recent decades, facing increasing globalization as well as a more diverse Asian American and Pacific Island population—those born in the United States, refugees from Southeast Asia, and new immigrants from the Asian Pacific Rim and other locations—scholars have made concerted efforts to develop alternative paradigms that provide a more inclusive and international portrait of Asian Americans. Many students of Asian America thus call for “transnational” histories that acknowledge the continuing connections between immigrants and their

homelands, which result in ethnic communities that transcend borders and cultures. As pointed out by anthropologists Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Blanc-Szanton, such cross-border relationships may be familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political. Some scholars, led by Lisa Lowe, have urged the reconceptualization of the Asian American experience in terms of heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity. Others, like Ling-Chi Wang, propose a dual-domination model for understanding Asian Americans through the close examination of diplomatic relations between the United States and Asian countries as well as the extraterritorial interaction between Asian American communities and their respective homelands. Still others, including Sau-Ling C. Wong, have invoked the concept of “de­ nationalization” to address the transnational experiences between Asia and Asian America, while Erika Lee and Lok Sui apply “hemispheric” approaches to compare and contrast Asian American experiences in various localities of the Americas. Such studies have also prompted new avenues of inquiry into Asian American communities. Scholars such as Stephen S. Fujita and David J. O’Brien emphasize “quasi kin” characteristics in explaining why contemporary Japanese Americans have been able to retain a high level of involvement in their ethnic community while, at the same time, many of them have become structurally assimilated into mainstream American life. Alternatively, Linda Võ and Rick Bonus note the “fluidity” of recent Asian American communities, while Huping Ling has introduced the idea of “cultural communities” in conceptualizing contemporary Asian American communities in hinterland and suburban areas. All the while, scholars such as Shilpa Davé, Leilani Nishime, Tasha G. Oren, and Robert G. Lee point out the dangers of using “victimization and alienation” models to represent immigrant-based communities. Huping Ling and Allan W. Austin

Further Reading Austin, Allan W. From Concentration Camp to Campus: Japanese American Students and World War II. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Chan, Sucheng. Survivors: Cambodian Refugees in the United States. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Daniels, Roger. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988. Davé, Shilpa, Leilani Nishime, Tasha G. Oren, and Robert G. Lee. East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2005.

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Espiritu, Yen Le. Home Bound: Filipino American Lives Across Cultures, Communities, and Countries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Freeman, James M. Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese-American Lives. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1989. Fugita, Stephen S., and David J. O’Brien. Japanese American Ethnicity: The Persistence of Community. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. Leonard, Karen Isaksen. The South Asian Americans. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997. Ling, Huping. Surviving on the Gold Mountain: A History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. ———. Chinese St. Louis: From Enclave to Cultural Community. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004. ———. Voices of the Heart: Asian American Women on Immigration, Work, and Family. Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2007. ———, ed. Emerging Voices: Experiences of Underrepresented Asian Americans. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008.

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———, ed. Asian America: Forming New Community, Expanding Boundaries. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009. Lowe, Lisa. Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. Min, Pyong Gap. Caught in the Middle: Korean Merchants in America’s Multiethnic Cities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Okihiro, Gary Y. Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History and Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994. Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989. Tchen, John Kuo Wei. New York Before Chinatown: Orientalism and the Shaping of American Culture, 1776–1882. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. U.S. Census Bureau. We the People: Asians in the United States, Census 2000 Special Reports. December 2004. Võ, Linda Trinh, and Rick Bonus, eds. Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.

Asian Americans Alphabetical Entries

Adoption of Asian Children

able circumstances to be more willing to give up their infants and young children for adoption. Perhaps the most visible examples of this situation were the events surrounding the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Weeks before the South Vietnamese government fell to advancing North Vietnamese Communist forces that April, President Gerald R. Ford approved Operation Babylift, which saw the airlift of 2,700 orphans out of Vietnam and their adoption by families in the United States. Many of the adoptees were children of American GIs whose Vietnamese mothers had put them up for adoption; many were malnourished, sick, or disabled. The first military flight out of the country during the final North Vietnamese takeover of Saigon crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 154 children and adults on board. Thereafter, several planeloads reached the United States safely, where the children were adopted into predominantly white families. Also during the 1970s, adoptions from other Asian countries, such as China, South Korea, the Philippines, and India began accelerating. With economic conditions worsening, a number of governments began to streamline their adoption procedures to make it easier for overseas families to adopt children. While comprehensive statistics on Asian adoptees remain elusive, the U.S. Department

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he adoption of Asian-born children by new parents in the United States became increasingly common in the latter years of the twentieth century and continues into the twenty-first century. The U.S. State Department reported that in fiscal year 2005, visas issued for U.S. citizens to adopt children from Asian countries more than doubled since 1996, to roughly 10,000 per year. A variety of economic, cultural, and demographic factors have contributed to this phenomenon. On the “push” side, an increased number of unwanted children from impoverished areas, combined with a devaluation of girls in some cultures, has led many Asian mothers to give their children up for adoption. “Pull” factors in the United States and other Western countries have included large numbers of couples that are unable or unwilling to conceive children themselves and have created a demand for overseas adoptees. At the same time, inside the United States, the number of children available for adoption, especially infants, has dropped considerably in recent decades and has also led many prospective adopters to look at Asian children as potential adoptees. But while many child welfare experts laud the fact that unwanted Asian children are finding homes in America and the West, some are concerned about the children’s social and cultural well-being. As adopted Asian children grow up in predominantly white families, they often encounter adjustment and ethnic identity issues and conflicts about their “place” in American society.

Immigration Visas Issued to Orphans by Country of Origin and Year(s)

Country China Russia South Korea Guatemala India Romania Ukraine Vietnam Colombia Kazakhstan Philippines Bulgaria Cambodia

Background The adoption of Asian-born children by American (predominantly white) parents became increasingly common beginning in the 1970s. Several Asian countries— including Cambodia, China, Laos, and Vietnam—were experiencing political and economic upheavals that resulted in the worsening of living conditions for many of their citizens, particularly poor, working-class, and rural families. These events led many families in vulner-

Average per Year (1989–2008)

Total (1989–2008)

2008 Only

2,975 2,653 1,704 1,643 371 351 333 302 302 290 265 95 56

66,535 53,069 34,087 32,856 7,417 7,029 6,654 6,032 7,064 5,804 5,302 1,891 1,128

3,909 1,861 1,065 4,123 307