Asian exclusion era (1882–1952) Amid the industrial capitalist expansion, a large number of Asian immigrants were admitted to the United States to fulfill the labor shortage. The majority of them were worked as manual laborers such as plantation workers and railroad workers for long hours and a small amount of pay. In response to the influx of Asian laborers, there has been a growing nativist hostility towards Asians in American society, which transformed into prevalent anti-Asian discrimination, violence and eventually exclusion laws. In face of the labor exploitation and exclusion, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese and South Asian immigrants actively resisted through legal means, strikes and protests, and letter writing to show they also deserved U.S. citizenship and protection of rights as White Americans. For those who already settled in the United States, they were also restricted from reentering if they had left the country. In addition, this Act also made Chinese permanent aliens by excluding them from U.S. citizenship. In addition, the first Chinese-language newspaper in the United States,
The Chinese American, was established in 1883 to raise awareness of the racism against Chinese and unite the Chinese American community. Moreover, Chinese Americans directly challenged the exclusion policies by circumventing the restrictions and bringing the cases to the courts. They adapted their migration strategies and exploited the loopholes in the laws. Knowing that foreign-born children of Chinese-American citizens were entitled to American citizenship, many Chinese fabricated paper documents to claim to be the offsprings of Chinese Americans to enter the U.S. and obtain citizenship. Others took advantage of the checks and balances of the American political system by using litigation in the federal courts to combat the forces that opposed their entry. They hired highly experienced attorneys and chose the courts that had the most favorable rules or laws for Chinese immigration. As a result, thousands of Chinese immigrants successfully entered the US through the
writs of habeas corpus issued by the courts. The Chinese resistance was not limited to the American continent and had expanded to many other regions in Asia. The Anti-American Boycott, or the
Chinese Boycott of 1905, which spanned from 1905 to 1906, was an internationally coordinated boycott of U.S. goods and services which was staged in order to protest against the
Chinese Exclusion laws in China and a handful of cities in
Southeast Asia. Primarily, the boycott focused on the enforcement of the laws by the Immigration Bureau, which sought to deny entry to Chinese people who were legally exempted from the law, such as diplomats, merchants and their relatives, students and tourists. On May 10, 1905, the Shanghai Chinese Chamber of Commerce called for a boycott of American goods if certain conditions were not met regarding immigration and trade policies.
Korean Similar to Chinese immigrants, Korean also faced prevalent discrimination when they came to work as laborers in the United States. The same economic logic was used to justify the exclusion of Korean because they were accused of stealing the jobs from the Whites. Like their Chinese peers, they contested the policy through legal means. In 1921, Easurk Emsen Charr, a Korean-born US Army veteran, petitioned for American citizenship on the basis of his military service in the US army. Although his petition was denied by the court on the basis that Koreans were "of Mongol family", this case was marked as one of the first significant challenges to exclusion laws initiated by Korean Americans. Besides resistance to exclusion, Korean Americans also actively engaged in Korean independence movement. During the Japanese colonization of Korea between 1910 and 1945, many Koreans escaped the country and sought refuge overseas, particularly in the United States. In 1909,
Korean National Association was founded in San Francisco to advocate for Korean independence. After 1910, mass protests were organized by Korean nationalists in the United States to denounce the Japanese's annexation of Korea and call for unity against Japanese colonizers. This is largely due to the U.S. colonization of the Philippines following the end of the
Spanish-American War in 1901. Many Filipinos migrated to the mainland U.S. in search for economic opportunities, but they were relegated to the most low-ranking and most exploitable jobs. Deemed as uncivilized savages, they faced unequal treatment at work. The first Filipino American labor organization, Anak ng Bukid, or Children of the Farm, was created in 1928 in
Stockton, California, and the first Filipino strike took place in
Watsonville two years later. By the 1930s, numerous Filipino labor unions emerged, including the Filipino Labor Union, which specifically called for higher wages, union recognition and improved working conditions. While Filipino men gained the right to vote in local Filipino elections in 1907, Filipina women did not gain the same rights until 1937. To advocate for Philippine independence, a group of Filipino politicians and their wives visited
President Warren G. Harding in 1922. The wives of these delegates were led by
Sofia de Veyra and were advocating not only for independence from the United States but also for suffrage rights in the Philippines. Through alliances with mainland American suffragists, Filipina activists organized a trans-Pacific suffragist movement and campaigned against
imperialism. Although not much is known about this delegation, the women would spend decades advocating for their right to vote and other human rights causes.
Japanese The number of Japanese immigrants sharply increased as a result of the labor shortage after the restrictions of Chinese immigration in the late nineteenth century. A vast majority of the immigrants arrived in
Hawaii as plantation workers in the late nineteenth century. Exploited as cheap and hard labor, Japanese immigrants were under a rigid system of control and physical punishment. To complain about the harsh working and living conditions on the plantations, they initiated a series of work stoppages in the 1880s and 1890s. However, the stoppages were not sufficient to alleviate the mistreatment, which eventually led to the "Great Strike of 1909" when thousands of Japanese workers across
Hawaii protested against the plantation owners and demanded better pay and welfare. As more Japanese left the plantations and entered the mainland U.S. for new economic opportunities, anti-Japanese sentiments also rose. Violence and discrimination targeted at Japanese were prevalent. In response to the growing racism stimulated by the "
Yellow Peril" trope, Japanese immigrants formed their own organizations and social clubs to advance their interests as a group. While some vocally opposed to the discriminatory laws claiming that they were unconstitutional, some attempted to mold the mass of Japanese as respectable subjects that were assimilable to the mainstream American community. In 1922,
Takao Ozawa, a Japan-born immigrant who had lived in the United States for more than twenty years, countered the US ban on naturalized citizenship on Japanese by filing his case to the Supreme Court. Instead of arguing that the racial restrictions were unconstitutional, Ozawa contended that Japanese people should be properly classified as "free white persons". As expected, he was denied citizenship because the Court thought he was not White enough to be naturalized. The exclusion of Japanese reached its peak after Japan's
attack of Pearl Harbor during the
World War II. Deeming the Japanese in the US as threats to the country's national security, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order to relocate and incarcerate over one hundred twelve thousand Japanese Americans to the internment camps across the country. A few Japanese challenged the constitutionality of the racially based curfews and incarceration. For instance,
Minoru Yasui and
Gordon Hirabayashi deliberately disobeyed the curfew orders to get arrested so that they could contest the constitutionality of the executive orders in the courts. Similarly,
Fred Korematsu refused to leave his home for the internment camps and later brought his case to the
Supreme Court, which, however, upheld the constitutionality of the internment. The unsatisfactory conditions in these camps were recorded by various sources such as Takuichi Fuijii, whose accounts are compiled into a book known as Takuichi Fuijii's Diary. After the war, a younger generation of Japanese Americans started to demand an official apology and reparations from the US government. Inspired by the
civil rights movements in the 1960s, the "redress movement", instead of centering on the documented property losses, aimed to address the broader injustice and psychological suffering caused by the incarceration.
The era of social change (1960s – late 20th century) The 1960s is marked by a formation of a collective Asian American identity. Different ethnic groups came together to fight against anti-Asian racism. At the same time Asians were seen participating in activism that covered a more diverse range of sociopolitical issues, such as anti-war movement, labor movement, women's rights and LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Asian Americans for Action The Asian American Movement The 1960s was an era of social change. The rise of liberal, radical ideas especially among college students prompted a series of social and political movements against racism, colonialism, imperialism, gender inequality and so on. Among all the racially conscious movements,
Asian American Movement was a middle-class reform effort which was organized by Asian Americans and it aimed to achieve racial equality, social justice and political empowerment in a culturally pluralistic American society. The Movement spanned from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, and it signified an uptick in representation and activism within the Asian American community, a response to the discriminatory policies and sentiments which it had faced for a very long time. The
Asian American Movement was closely linked to other social and political activism during the same era such as the
labor movements,
Civil Rights Movement,
anti-Vietnam War movement,
Free Speech Movement and
anti-imperialist movement.
Delano Grape Strike The
Delano Grape Strike was one of the first nationwide demonstrations initiated by Asian Americans. The Strike significantly impacted labor rights and unionization opportunities in the United States. On September 8, 1965, over 2,000 Filipino-American farm workers went on strike and refused to pick grapes in the valley north of
Bakersfield, California. This strike initiated a series of activist and labor-related events that would occur over the next 5 years. At the height of the
Civil Rights Era, the
Delano Grape Strike aimed to improve rights for laborers and minorities in the United States, especially Filipino and Mexican Americans. Not only was the strike beneficial for the representation of Asian Americans in the political and activist sphere, but achieved widespread, tangible results for labor rights and the unionization of minorities in the United States. Lifelong activist,
Larry Itiliong, spearheaded the movement and garnered the support of fellow activist
Cesar Chavez to strike for better pay, adequate medical care, and retirement funds. The movement was met with backlash and hostility from growers and police, but received support from figures like
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Robert F Kennedy. Many households nationwide stopped buying grapes in support of this civil rights movement, and union workers in California dockyards let non-union grapes rot in port rather than load them. By the summer of 1970, many of the major California grape growers were forced to pay grape pickers an increase in wages to $1.80 an hour, plus 20 cents for each box picked, contribute to the union health plan, and ensure that their workers were protected against pesticides used in the fields. The
Delano Grape Strike represented a turning point in Asian American activism and an exercising of constitutional rights that had been denied to Asian Americans for many years.
Third World Liberation Front Strikes In 1968, in the
San Francisco Bay Area, activists from college campuses such as the
University of California, Berkeley and
San Francisco State University protested the absence of Asian American experiences from university curricula and the Eurocentric curriculum employed by universities. College activists focused on a variety of issues, including establishing an ethnic studies college, improving the conditions of
San Francisco's Chinatown, and protesting the eviction of Filipino and Filipina residents from the
International Hotel (San Francisco). The battle for the
International Hotel in San Francisco involved UC Berkeley students and different groups of activists, who protested the rapid urban renewal of largely minority communities. Predominantly Filipino and Filipina citizens were affected by these urban renewal policies, but the evictions were experienced by a number of different minority groups as well. The protests of these evictions started in late 1977, and symbolized the unification of the Asian American community to protest civil rights. Throughout the 1970s in the Midwest, college students of Asian descent organized communities of support, and many eventually migrated to coastal cities that had stronger Asian communities. Asian American college students nationwide also protested the
model minority framework that many Americans had used to view Asians. Opponents of this framework considered the challenges faced by Asian Americans in a white-dominated society nonexistent.
The murder of Vincent Chin On June 19, 1982, a Chinese American man named Vincent Chin went out with friends in Detroit to celebrate his upcoming wedding. Two white men,
Ronald Ebens and
Michael Nitz, thought Chin was Japanese and beat him to death with baseball bats. Vincent Chin's murder was the first federal civil rights trial for an Asian American, and the two men responsible for Vincent Chin's murder were given a $3,000 fine and zero prison time. The sentencing incited national outrage and fueled a movement for Asian American rights. Led by activist
Helen Zia, several Asian American lawyers and community leaders banded together to create
American Citizens for Justice. This group gathered several diverse groups like churches, synagogues, and black activists to protest the murderers sentencing. This movement inspired other Asian Americans across the country to hold their own demonstrations. Vincent Chin's death and the demonstrations that followed provided inspiration for a group that has faced a long history of discrimination in the United States. A result of the
Killing of Vincent Chin and the trial that ensued was that there was now a larger population of people who could identify with the new pan-Asian American community and protest violations of their civil rights.
LGBTQ+ activism Asian Americans have been actively involved in queer organizing since the 1950s. The establishment of
Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian civil and political rights group in the US was made possible by Filipina Rose Bamberger who recruited the initial members of the group in 1955. Later during the 1970s and 1980s, many Asian Americans played important leadership roles in queer activism and the
AIDS movement. For instance,
Crystal Jang was among the earliest
Chinese Americans who publicly challenged anti-LGBTQ laws by speaking up against the
Briggs Initiative, a California proposition that legalized the firing of all LGBTQ teachers. In the early 1980s, Unbound Feet, a Chinese American feminist and queer writing and performance collective, was established to address sexist and racist oppression in society, immigration, and family issues, and challenged stereotypes of Chinese women as passive and subservient. As out lesbian performers, their core members Tsui, Sam, and Woo helped bring visibility to lesbians within the Asian American community and obtained a large Asian lesbian following. Their main objective is to stand in solidarity with
people of color and support Black communities which are facing
racial injustice. Their mission is built on the Ferguson National Demands, which call for the elimination of discrimination and police brutality and support in employment and housing for oppressed people in the US. These demands also address the
school to prison pipeline:
mass incarceration of people of color, and other demands regarding racial issues which are plaguing
American society. Asians 4 Black Lives primarily focuses on solving the problems which exist within African American communities because it believes that finding justice for these communities is the foundation which liberation for other minority groups can be built upon. Its activism includes blockading
Home Depot in response to the Emeryville Police Department's murder of
Yuvette Henderson, and protesting in front of the
Oakland Federal Building and the
Oakland Police Department. It has also initiated action to build houses for impoverished people. In addition, it is involved in the work of groups such as the
Blackout Collective, #BlackBrunch, and the
Onyx Organizing Committee among many others. Asians 4 Black Lives is also working with
Letters for Black Lives in a combined effort to root out “anti-blackness” (the notion that
African Americans are inferior) in communities. Its goal is to encourage members of older and younger generations to have discussions about issues which are related to
racism and
discrimination.
Stop Asian Hate rallies Movements like "Wash the Hate", "Hate is a Virus", "Take Out Hate", and the non-profit organization
Stop AAPI Hate were created in order to support Asians who were attacked during the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The slogan "Stop Asian Hate" was frequently used in February 2021 and the usage of it became more popular due to an increase in the number of attacks which were committed against elderly Asian-Americans, like the
killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee, which occurred one month earlier. Asian American celebrities like
Daniel Dae Kim,
Chrissy Teigen,
Olivia Munn and others condemned these attacks. Later, the usage of the slogan "Stop Asian Hate" became more popular, particularly after the
2021 Atlanta spa shootings in mid-March and later, the usage of it continued to become more popular, particularly after more acts of violence were committed against Asians in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.
Make Us Visible and the K-12 Asian American History Movement Led nationwide by Make Us Visible, Asian American serving organizations began advocating and successfully enacting variations of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history in K–12 classrooms beginning in 2021. Make Us Visible's state chapters have successfully advocated for 8 laws across 6 states over the past 5 years. In July 2021, the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act, which was led by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and
The Asian American Foundation was signed into law, making
Illinois the first state in the US to require all public schools to teach a unit of Asian American history. The legislation went into effect starting with the 2022–2023 school year. According to the bill, the curriculum would require the inclusion of the contributions of Asian Americans toward civil rights, the contributions of Asian American individuals in government, arts, humanities, and sciences, and the contributions of Asian American communities to the US. Public elementary and high schools in Illinois are also required to include content on the history of Asian Americans in Illinois and the Midwest. In January 2022,
New Jersey became the 2nd state the require the inclusion of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in public school curriculum after Governor
Phil Murphy signed bill S4021/A6100 into law. On the same day, Governor Murphy also signed another law (S3764/A3369) that will establish a Commission for Asian American Heritage within the state’s Department of Education to help develop curriculum guidelines for public and nonpublic schools in the state. These legislative acts were led by the New Jersey chapter of Make Us Visible (MUV NJ), which has advocated for the teaching of Asian American history and worked to create state resources. The bill was primarily authored by state senator
Vin Gopal. In June 2022,
Connecticut passed legislation mandating the teaching of AAPI history in public schools, which takes effect in 2025. Notably, Connecticut is the first state to pass this mandate with state funding, allocating more than $140,000 to developing curricula on Asian American history. This legislation was led by Rhode Island's chapter of Make Us Visible (MUV RI) and introduced by Representative
Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung. In 2023,
Florida became the first Republican-led state to require AAPI history instruction in primary and secondary schools after efforts by Florida's chapter of Make Us Visible (MUV FL). This legislation is also the first in the country to specifically require instruction on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Cuban American legislators Representative
Susan Plasencia and Senator
Ana Maria Rodriguez. The bill unanimously passed through the Floor of the House of Representatives and was co-sponsored by Black, Latino, and Jewish legislators. In 2024,
Delaware became the seventh state to require AANHPI history instruction in primary and secondary schools after efforts by Delaware's chapter of Make Us Visible (MUV DE). This legislation requires the inclusion of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history as well as other racial, ethnic, and cultural histories in Delaware's K–12 classrooms. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Senate Majority Leader
Bryan Townsend and Representative
Sophie Phillips. In 2026,
Maine became the eighth state to require AANHPI history instruction in primary and secondary schools after efforts by Maine's chapter of Make Us Visible (MUV ME). Notably, Maine is the lowest-percentage Asian American state (1.2% Asian alone; 1.9% Asian alone or in combination), ranking fifth behind West Virginia, Mississippi, Montana, and Wyoming, to adopt such a mandate. In addition to requiring AANHPI history, LD 957 establishes a fully funded advisory committee to collect information and prepare classroom-ready teaching materials. The law also directs the Maine Department of Education to identify and make available instructional resources, develop best practices and exemplar modules, provide a progress report on implementation, and enable school districts to conduct curriculum audits. The bill, introduced by Representative
Eleanor Sato and sponsored by Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, passed unanimously in both chambers. Make Us Visible has chapters in 25 total states in the US, which have continued to work towards the integration of Asian American experiences into K–12 curriculum.
See Us Unite See Us Unite is an activist movement which is designed to educate the public on
Asian American history, increase cross-cultural solidarity with the
AAPI community, and "amplify voices as we unite to change people's perception about what it means to be an American." This campaign highlights historical and modern inequities including violence against Asian American women, anti-Asian discrimination, and Asian American stereotypes. See Us Unite has launched a video campaign that seeks to bring attention to issues important to the AAPI community. These videos include informational segments on the
Chinese Exclusion Act,
Sammie Ablaza Wills, prejudices against
Sikh Americans, and more. The
May 19 Project is social media campaign designed to highlight cross-cultural
solidarity between the AAPI and
African American communities. May 19 is the shared birthday of
Malcolm X and
Yuri Kochiyama. == Characteristics of contemporary Asian American activism ==