Asian American History

The Forgotten History of Japanese Internment in Hawaii

by Olivia Tasevski

Although Hawaii is associated with the United States being victimized by foreign attack, the history of internment of Japanese Americans on the islands should also remind us of the U.S. government's human rights abuses. 

Cash Reparations to Japanese Internees Helped Rebuild Autonomy and Dignity

by Morgan Ome

Many recent proposals for African American reparations prescribe particular uses for compensation, such as securing housing. But the lesson of the $20,000 payments made to Japanese-American internees and their descendants is that restoring dignity and autonomy means letting recipients decide how to spend any payment for themselves. 

Professor Helps Rescue "Lost" Asian American Silent Film

Denise Khor's research on film culture seemed to show that the prints of the 1914 film "The Oath of the Sword" had been lost. But one museum had a decaying copy in a vault, and a restored version has premiered as the oldest known Asian American film. 

Paul Watanabe, Historian and Manzanar Survivor, Makes Sure History Isn't Forgotten

The UMass-Boston professor brings students each spring to the California desert to visit the site where his own family was interned for more than four years. 

Onoto Watanna, the First Asian American Screenwriter

by Ben Railton

Under the pen name of Onoto Watanna, a woman named Winnifred Eaton of British and Chinese descent became a literary prodigy, penning romance novels, ethnic cookbooks, and screenplays—and a searing critique of the treatment of writers in Hollywood that rings true today. 

"Generation Connie": A News Anchor and Her First-Generation Namesakes

The practice of choosing American names for immigrant children coincided with the peak of Connie Chung's career as the national face of CBS News. Adopting her name symbolized mobility and potential for a generation of Asian American women recently come of age. 

Labor Secretary Nominee Julie Su Shaped by Work on 1990s Sweatshop Trafficking Case

With a prominent record of advocating for immigrant workers, Su faces indifference or outright hostility from moderate Democrats and Republicans as her nomination to succeed Marty Walsh at the Department of Labor advances. 

The Power and Betrayal of Cross-Ethnic Solidarity in the 1903 Oxnard Beet Strike

by Frank P. Barajas

The Japanese Mexican Labor Association overcame the deliberate ethnic division of the farm labor force in Oxnard, California to win a major strike in the sugar beet fields in 1903, overcoming violent repression. Anti-Asian prejudice in the broader labor movement ended this successful experiment to the detriment of generations of workers. 

Violence and the Unmaking of Asian-American Exceptionalism

by Gaiutra Bahadur

A series of violent anti-Asian attacks in the author's community during the 1990s underscores the debt Asian Americans owe to the African American movements for emancipation and civil rights, and the need for cross-racial solidarity in the face of racist oppression. 

Anthony Chen on the History of Affirmative Action in Higher Ed

The Northwestern historian's new book will arrive as the Supreme Court potentially decides the fate of affirmative action in college admissions. 

What Anna May Wong's History Tells us About Oscar's Asian and Asian American Moment

by Katie Gee Salisbury

The first Asian-American film star got her break when a film company cast ethnic actors in a 1922 film made to test out the new Technicolor technology. But Hollywood's racial politics and commercial imperatives kept other Asian actors from stardom. 

Is Harvard Actually Discriminating Against Asian Applicants?

by Julie J. Park

The data supporting the charge that Harvard's affirmative action policies amount to discrimination against Asian American students isn't as clear-cut as has been reported, says an education researcher who's investigated the policies. Blaming race-based affirmative action conceals the preferences given to legacies, athletes, and donors' children. 

Parallels and Divergences in Jewish and Asian American History

by Joel Kotkin

"The fate of Asians and Jews in America is about more than two minority groups. It is about the efficacy of equal and fair treatment under the law, and a democratic system based on merit rather than ethnicity."

Creating the First Complete List of Names of Interned Japanese Americans

Duncan Ryuken Williams of the University of Southern California led a research team for three years assembling a documentary record that could restore the individuality of 125,000 victims of internment. 

Some Asian American Activists Helped Build Affirmative Action; Today Some are Working to Dismantle It

by Ellen Wu

The midcentury rise of fascism and struggles for Black civil rights gave some Japanese American activists an opening to argue for principles of proportionality in ethnic representation in politics, education, employment, and other areas, key support for the group of policies that became affirmative action. 

Sociologist: Yes, Harvard Discriminated Against Jews. No, It's Not an Apt Metaphor for Affirmative Action

by Jerome Karabel

Despite the enthusiasm of the plaintiffs and the conservative justices for the comparison, Harvard's treatment of Asian American applicants today doesn't match its treatment of Jewish students in the 1920s. 

What American Dream did Asian Immigrants Find in the Southern California Suburbs?

by James Zarsadiaz

Asian-American suburbs grew east of Los Angeles in part because developers catered to a growing market and in part because Asian Americans embraced some of the anti-urban tropes common in postwar America. Today conflict still surrounds how much diversity the suburban ideal can accommodate.

The Forgotten Violence of the US-Philippines Relationship

by Adrian De Leon

By declaring a relationship of "friends, partners, and allies" between the United States and the Philippines, and embracing the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the United States concealed its violent conquest of the islands and its ongoing support for authoritarian rule there. 

Los Angeles Project Aims to Name Every Interned Japanese American

The government's rosters of interned Japanese Americans are incomplete and error-ridden. A new project seeks a complete documentation of the missing names. 

Los Angeles to Memorialize 1871 Anti-Chinese Massacre

Architect Annie Chu describes the task of using design and space to evoke an emotional connection to the victims of mass violence whose identities and stories have been largely lost.