Misplaced Pages

#799200

108-658: The George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award was established in 2009 to recognize young and talented filmmakers that have shown an exemplary commitment to filmmaking within the Asian and Asian American film genre. This award is given on an annual basis by the George C. Lin Memorial Fund on behalf of The San Diego Foundation, Asian Pacific American Film, Inc. (of Washington, DC), and The San Diego Asian Film Foundation, and includes

216-573: A eugenics advocate, and Senator David Reed were the two main architects of the act. They conceived the act as a bulwark against "a stream of alien blood"; it likewise found support among xenophobic and nativist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan . However, some proponents, such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL), welcomed the act for reducing cheap immigrant labor that would compete with local workers. Both public and Congressional opposition

324-532: A 2023 study in the American Economic Journal. Farming, a sector of the economy highly reliant on migrant labor, shifted towards more capital-intensive forms of agriculture, whereas the mining industry, another immigrant-reliant industry, contracted. Looking back on the significance of the act, Harry Laughlin , the eugenicist who served as expert advisor to the House Committee on Immigration during

432-519: A Gallup survey conducted from June to September 2012, 4.3% of Asian Americans self-identify as LGBT , compared to 3.4% of the general American population. This makes the Asian-American population disproportionately over-represented within the LGBT community. In a Gallup survey conducted in 2017, 4.9 percent of Asian Americans identified as LGBT, representing the second-highest growth of LGBT representation in

540-650: A PBS interview from 2004, a panel of Asian American writers discussed how some groups include people of Middle Eastern descent in the Asian American category. Asian American author Stewart Ikeda has noted, "The definition of 'Asian American' also frequently depends on who's asking, who's defining, in what context, and why... the possible definitions of 'Asian-Pacific American' are many, complex, and shifting... some scholars in Asian American Studies conferences suggest that Russians, Iranians, and Israelis all might fit

648-588: A cash prize. George C. Lin was the founding executive director of Asian Pacific American Film, Inc., and associate festival director of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation. Director Tze Chun received the inaugural award for his feature film debut Children of Invention . Best Short Documentary Best Short Narrative Best Feature Documentary Best Feature Narrative The mission of the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival

756-728: A coalition, recognizing that they shared common problems with racial discrimination and common opposition to American imperialism , particularly in Asia. The movement developed during the 1960s, inspired in part by the Civil Rights Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War . "Drawing influences from the Black Power and antiwar movements, the Asian American movement forged a coalitional politics that united Asians of varying ethnicities and declared solidarity with other Third World people in

864-402: A cultural or ancestral connection to a faith tradition despite their lack of formal religious affiliation. Conversely, Indian, Filipino, and Vietnamese Americans are considerably less likely to be religiously unaffiliated and more likely to express some form of connection to a religious tradition. The percentage of Christians among Asian Americans has sharply declined since the 1990s, chiefly as

972-523: A cultural or familial closeness to Christianity. This means that about 51% of Asian Americans express some connection to the Christian faith. Filipino and Korean Americans display particularly strong affiliations with Christianity. Among Filipino Americans, 74% identify as Christian, and when considering those who feel culturally close to Christianity, this figure rises to 90%. Among Korean Americans, 59% identify as Christians, and 81% express some connection to

1080-530: A disproportionately large number as Chief Marketing Officers. Asian Exclusion Act The Immigration Act of 1924 , or Johnson–Reed Act , including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act ( Pub. L.   68–139 , 43  Stat.   153 , enacted May 26, 1924 ), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. It also authorized

1188-488: A final short film that premieres during the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival . Asian Pacific American Film, Inc. (APA Film) was established in 2000. APA Film produces an annual film festival based in Washington, DC devoted to film and media arts made by and/or about Americans of Asian Pacific Islander descent and other Asian diasporic groups from around the world. As a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity under 501(c)(3) of

SECTION 10

#1733084885800

1296-700: A growth from 26% in 2012. The majority of these individuals describe their religion as "nothing in particular" rather than explicitly identifying as atheist or agnostic. Despite a lack of formal religious affiliation, a significant number of religiously unaffiliated Asian Americans maintain a connection to various religious or philosophical traditions due to cultural or ancestral reasons. In total, only 12% of Asian Americans report having no connection to any religious or philosophical tradition. Among Asian Americans, Chinese and Japanese Americans are more likely to be religiously unaffiliated, with 56% and 47% respectively identifying as such. Both groups are also more likely to feel

1404-617: A heterogeneous group of people in the United States who can trace their ancestry to one or more countries in East, South, or Southeast Asia. Because they compose 7.3% of the entire US population, the diversity of the group is often disregarded in media and news discussions of "Asians" or of "Asian Americans". While there are some commonalities across ethnic subgroups, there are significant differences among different Asian ethnicities that are related to each group's history. The Asian American population

1512-461: A homogenous, Northern European–descended nation: in reality, 15 percent of the nation were immigrants in 1890." The 1890-based quotas were set to last until 1927, when they would be replaced by of a total annual quota of 150,000, proportional to the national origins figures from the 1920 census . However, this did little to diversify the nations from which immigrants came because the 1920 census did not include Blacks, Mulattos, and Asians as part of

1620-487: A lesser degree – Korean and Filipino laborers began arriving and putting down roots in Western United States , an exclusionary movement formed in reaction to the " Yellow Peril ." Valentine S. McClatchy , the founder of The McClatchy Company and a leader of the anti-Japanese movement, argued, "They come here specifically and professedly for the purpose of colonizing and establishing here permanently

1728-689: A note that read: "Appealing to the American people". American businesses situated in Japan suffered the economic brunt of the legislation's repercussions, as the Japanese government subsequently increased tariffs on American trading by '100 per cent'. Passage of the Immigration Act has been credited with ending a growing democratic movement in Japan during this time period, and opening the door to Japanese militarist government control. According to David C. Atkinson, on

1836-472: A quarter of all immigrants to the United States. Asians have made up an increasing proportion of the foreign-born Americans: "In 1960, Asians represented 5 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population; by 2014, their share grew to 30 percent of the nation's 42.4 million immigrants." As of 2016, "Asia is the second-largest region of birth (after Latin America) of U.S. immigrants." In 2013, China surpassed Mexico as

1944-490: A result of large-scale immigration from countries in which Christianity is a minority religion (China and India in particular). In 1990, 63% of the Asian Americans identified as Christians, while in 2001 only 43% did. This development has been accompanied by a rise in traditional Asian religions , with the people identifying with them doubling during the same decade. Because Asian Americans or their ancestors immigrated to

2052-738: A strong and loyal fanbase among their fellow Asian Americans. There have been several Asian American-centric television shows in American media, beginning with Mr. T and Tina in 1976, and as recent as the TV series Fresh Off the Boat in 2015. In the Pacific, American beatboxer of Hawaii Chinese descent Jason Tom co-founded the Human Beatbox Academy to perpetuate the art of beatboxing through outreach performances, speaking engagements and workshops in Honolulu ,

2160-410: A trade. The other 15% went disproportionately to Eastern and Southern Europe. The act established preferences under the quota system for certain relatives of U.S. residents, including their unmarried children under 21, their parents, and spouses at least 21 and over. It also preferred immigrants at least 21 who were skilled in agriculture and their wives and dependent children under 16. Non-quota status

2268-520: A variety of ways. It increased restrictions on Asian immigration, raised the general immigrant head tax, excluded those deemed to be diseased or mentally unwell, and in light of intense lobbying by the Immigration Restriction League , introduced the literacy test for all new immigrants to prove their ability to read English. In the wake of the post–World War I recession , many Americans believed that bringing in more immigrants would worsen

SECTION 20

#1733084885800

2376-435: Is by country of origin before immigration to the United States, and not necessarily by ethnicity, as for example (nonexclusive), Singaporean Americans may be of Chinese , Indian , or Malay descent. Asian Americans include multiracial or mixed race persons with origins or ancestry in both the above groups and another race, or multiple of the above groups. According to estimates from the 2022 American Community Survey ,

2484-428: Is greatly urbanized , with nearly three-quarters of them living in metropolitan areas with population greater than 2.5 million. As of July 2015 , California had the largest population of Asian Americans of any state, and Hawaii was the only state where Asian Americans were the majority of the population. The demographics of Asian Americans can further be subdivided into, as listed in alphabetical order: This grouping

2592-631: Is the US Census Bureau definition, which includes all people with origins in East Asia , South Asia , and Southeast Asia . This is chiefly because the census definitions determine many governmental classifications, notably for equal opportunity programs and measurements. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , "Asian person" in the United States is most often thought of as a person of East Asian descent. In vernacular usage, "Asian"

2700-446: Is to bring attention to the creative output from Asian Pacific American (APA) communities and encourage the artistic development of APA films in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. The mission of Asian Pacific American Film, Inc. embodies the following goals: The P.O.V. Youth Filmmaker Workshop, a youth filmmaking training program designed to empower and provide a voice to local Asian Pacific American youth by teaching them

2808-568: Is usually used to refer to those of East or Southeast Asian descent, with South Asians not included as often. This differs from the US census definition and the Asian American Studies departments in many universities consider all those of East, South, or Southeast Asian descent to be "Asian". In the US census , people with origins or ancestry in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia are classified as part of

2916-599: The 2030 census . Some Central Asian , ancestries, including Afghan, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek, were previously recognized as "White' but have since been designated as Asian as of 2023. The "Asian" census category includes people who indicate their race(s) on the census as "Asian" or reported entries such as " Chinese , Indian , Bangladeshi , Filipino , Vietnamese , Indonesian , Korean , Japanese , Pakistani , Malaysian , and Other Asian". In 2020, Americans who identified as Asian alone (19,886,049) or in combination with other races (4,114,949) made up 7.2% of

3024-455: The American economy , and were unable to adapt to American culture . Eugenics was used as justification for the act's restriction of certain races or ethnicities of people to prevent the spread of perceived feeblemindedness in American society. Samuel Gompers , himself a Jewish immigrant from Britain and the founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), supported the act because he opposed

3132-624: The Asian race ; while those with origins or ancestry in West Asia ( Israelis , Turks , Persians , Kurds , Assyrians , Arabs , etc.) and the Caucasus ( Georgians , Armenians , Azerbaijanis , Chechens , Circassians , etc.) are classified under the "Middle Eastern and North African " race, and those with origins from Central Asia ( Kazakhs , Uzbeks , Turkmens , Tajiks , Kyrgyz , Afghans , etc.) are not mentioned in any racial definitions provided by

3240-598: The Immigration Act of 1917 , it governed American immigration policy until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 , which revised it completely, was passed. The act provided that no alien ineligible to become a citizen could be admitted to the U.S. as an immigrant. That was aimed primarily at Japanese aliens, although they were not explicitly named in the act. It imposed fines on transportation companies who landed aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law . It defined

3348-580: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 . The Naturalization Act of 1790 declared that only people of European or white descent were eligible for naturalization, but eligibility was extended to people of African descent in the Naturalization Act of 1870 . Chinese laborers and Japanese people were barred from immigrating to the U.S. in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the (unenforced) Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 , respectively. A limitation on Eastern and Southern European immigration

DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-402: The U.S. State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service . The act also mandated no alien to be allowed to enter the U.S. without a valid immigration visa issued by an American consular officer abroad. Consular officers were now allowed to issue visas to eligible applicants, but the number of visas to be issued by each consulate annually was limited, and no more than 10% of

3564-727: The Vietnam War . Asian American immigrants have a significant percentage of individuals who have already achieved professional status, a first among immigration groups. The number of Asian immigrants to the United States "grew from 491,000 in 1960 to about 12.8 million in 2014, representing a 2,597 percent increase." Asian Americans were the fastest-growing racial group between 2000 and 2010. By 2012, more immigrants came from Asia than from Latin America. In 2015, Pew Research Center found that from 2010 to 2015 more immigrants came from Asia than from Latin America, and that since 1965; Asians have made up

3672-481: The unemployment rate . The First Red Scare of 1919–1921 had fueled fears of foreign radicals migrating to undermine American values and provoke an uprising like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia . The number of immigrants entering the United States decreased for about a year from July 1919 to June 1920 but doubled in the year after that. With significant post-war activity U.S. Representative Albert Johnson ,

3780-691: The use of the word American in different contexts. Immigration status, citizenship (by birthright and by naturalization), acculturation, and language ability are some variables that are used to define American for various purposes and may vary in formal and everyday usage. For example, restricting American to include only US citizens conflicts with discussions of Asian American businesses, which generally refer both to citizen and non-citizen owners. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey of Asian Americans found that 28% self-identify as "Asian", with 52% preferring to refer to themselves by more specific ethnic groupings and 10% simply self-identifying as "American". In

3888-399: The 17th century, large-scale immigration did not begin until the mid-19th century. Nativist immigration laws during the 1880s–1920s excluded various Asian groups, eventually prohibiting almost all Asian immigration to the continental United States. After immigration laws were reformed during the 1940s–1960s, abolishing national origins quotas , Asian immigration increased rapidly. Analyses of

3996-527: The 1920 census figures, and the overall immigration limit reduced to 150,000. The act was seen as causing many Jews to instead immigrate to mandatory Palestine , spurring the Fourth Aliyah . In 1937, the Peel Commission noted the act spurred immigration levels not anticipated during the drafting of the 1922 Mandate for Palestine . The law was not modified to aid the flight of Jewish refugees in

4104-521: The 1924 quota, only 4,000 per year were allowed since the 1890 quota counted only 182,580 Italians in the U.S. By contrast, the annual quota for Germany after the passage of the act was over 55,000 since German-born residents in 1890 numbered 2,784,894. Germany, Britain, and Ireland had the highest representation in 1890. The provisions of the act were so restrictive that in 1924 more Italians, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Spaniards, Chinese, and Japanese left

4212-416: The 1930s or 1940s despite the rise of Nazi Germany . The quotas were adjusted to allow more Jewish refugees after World War II , but without increasing immigration overall. The act has been characterized as the culmination of decades of intentional exclusion of Asian immigrants. The act had negative economic effects. Economists have argued that both innovation and employment were negatively affected by

4320-451: The 2010 census have shown that, by percentage change, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States. As with other racial and ethnicity -based terms , formal and common usage have changed markedly through the short history of this term. Prior to the late 1960s, people of various Asian ancestries were usually referred to as Yellow , Oriental , Asiatic , Brown , Mongoloid , or Hindoo . Additionally,

4428-459: The American definition of 'Asian' originally included West Asian ethnic groups, particularly Turkish Americans , Armenian Americans , Assyrian Americans , Iranian Americans , Kurdish Americans , Jewish Americans of Middle Eastern descent, and certain Arab Americans , although in modern times, these groups are now considered Middle Eastern American and grouped under White Americans in

DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-569: The American economy. Asian Americans have been disproportionately successful in the hi-tech sectors of California's Silicon Valley, as evidenced by the Goldsea 100 Compilation of America's Most Successful Asian Entrepreneurs. Compared to their population base, Asian Americans today are well represented in the professional sector and tend to earn higher wages. The Goldsea compilation of Notable Asian American Professionals show that many have come to occupy high positions at leading US corporations, including

4644-516: The American population used for the quotas.  The lowest quota per country was 100 individuals, but even then only those eligible for citizenship could immigrate to the U.S. (i.e. only whites in China could immigrate). Establishing national origin quotas for the country proved to be a difficult task, and was not accepted and completed until 1929. The act gave 85% of the immigration quota to Northern and Western Europe and those who had an education or had

4752-606: The Asian American population was composed of the following groups: Not including Kazakh or Uzbek (Specified) (No group specified) In 2010, there were 2.8 million people (age 5 and older) who spoke one of the Chinese languages at home; after the Spanish language , it is the third most common language in the United States. Other sizable Asian languages are Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu) , Tagalog , Vietnamese , and Korean , with all four having more than 1 million speakers in

4860-571: The Census and Department of Commerce estimated the National Origins of the White Population of the United States in 1920 in numbers, then calculated the percentage share each nationality made up. The National Origins Formula derived quotas by calculating the equivalent proportion of each nationality out of a total pool of 150,000 annual quota immigrants, with a minimum quota of 100. This formula

4968-506: The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 to the final quota year of 1965. The 1922 and 1925 systems based on dated census records of the foreign-born population were intended as temporary measures; the 1924 Act's National Origins Formula based on the 1920 census of the total U.S. population took effect on July 1, 1929. The act also established the "consular control system" of immigration, which divided responsibility for immigration between

5076-612: The Internal Revenue Code, the value of goods, services, and benefits received in exchange for support is determined by APA Film. Any contribution above that amount is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all

5184-561: The Japanese government's perception of the act, "this indignity is seen as a turning point in the growing estrangement of the U.S. and Japan, which culminated in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor ". The act's revised formula reduced total emigration from 357,803 between 1923 and 1924 to 164,667 between 1924 and 1925. The law's impact varied widely by country. Emigration from Great Britain and Ireland fell 19%, while emigration from Italy fell more than 90%. From 1901 to 1914, 2.9 million Italians immigrated, an average of 210,000 per year. Under

5292-624: The Philippines and Vietnam); and 8.3% were from West Asia . Prior to the 1960s, Asian immigrants and their descendants had organized and agitated for social or political purposes according to their particular ethnicity: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, or Asian Indian. The Asian American movement (a term coined by the Japanese American Yuji Ichioka and the Chinese American Emma Gee ) gathered all those groups into

5400-400: The U.S. according to the 1890 census . A more recent census existed, but at the behest of a eugenics subcommittee chaired by eugenicist Madison Grant , Congress used the 1890 one to increase immigrants from Northern and Western Europe and to decrease those from Eastern and Southern Europe. According to Commonweal , the act "relied on false nostalgia for a census that only seemed to depict

5508-438: The U.S. government had maintained a cordial economic and political relationship. In Japan, the bill was called by some the "Japanese Exclusion" act. Japanese Foreign Minister Matsui Keishirō instructed the Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Masanao Hanihara , to write to Hughes: the manifest object of the [section barring Japanese immigrants] is to single out Japanese as a nation, stigmatizing them as unworthy and undesirable in

SECTION 50

#1733084885800

5616-503: The U.S. than arrived as immigrants. During World War II, the U.S. modified the act to set immigration quotas for their allies in China. The immigration quotas were eased in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and replaced in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 . The law sharply curtailed emigration from countries that were previously host to the vast majority of the Jews in

5724-478: The U.S., almost 75% of whom emigrated from Russia alone. Because Eastern European immigration did not become substantial until the late 19th century, the law's use of the population of the U.S. in 1890 as the basis for calculating quotas effectively made mass migration from Eastern Europe, where the vast majority of the Jewish diaspora lived at the time, impossible. In 1929, the quotas were adjusted to one-sixth of 1% of

5832-408: The US population. Chinese, Indian, and Filipino Americans make up the largest share of the Asian American population with 5.5 million, 5.2 million, and 4.6 million people respectively. These numbers equal 23%, 20%, and 18% of the total Asian American population, or 1.5%, 1.2%, and 1.2% of the total US population. Although migrants from Asia have been in parts of the contemporary United States since

5940-552: The United States Census Bureau. As such, "Asian" and "African" ancestry are seen as racial categories only for the purpose of the census, with the definition referring to ancestry from parts of the Asian and African continents outside of West Asia, North Africa , and Central Asia . In 1980 and before, census forms listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups, along with white and black or negro . Asian Americans had also been classified as "other". In 1977,

6048-430: The United States and abroad. Segments of the movement struggled for community control of education, provided social services and defended affordable housing in Asian ghettoes, organized exploited workers, protested against US imperialism, and built new multiethnic cultural institutions." William Wei described the movement as "rooted in a past history of oppression and a present struggle for liberation". The movement as such

6156-590: The United States from many different countries, each Asian American population has its own unique immigration history. Filipinos have been in the territories that would become the United States since the 16th century. In 1635, an "East Indian" is listed in Jamestown, Virginia ; preceding wider settlement of Indian immigrants on the East Coast in the 1790s and the West Coast in the 1800s. In 1763, Filipinos established

6264-499: The United States, behind Hispanic Americans . Religious affiliation of Asian Americans in 2023 According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted from July 5, 2022, to January 27, 2023, the religious landscape of Asian Americans is both diverse and evolving. The survey reveals that 32% of Asian Americans are religiously unaffiliated, up from 26% in 2012. Christianity remains the largest faith group among Asian Americans at 34%, although it has seen an 8% decline since 2012. As of

6372-592: The United States, consolidating the prohibition of Asian immigration. President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, resulting in the internment of Japanese Americans , among others. Over 100,000 people of Japanese descent, mostly on the West Coast, were forcibly removed, in an action later considered ineffective and racist. Japanese Americans were kept isolated in military camps just because of their race including children, old person and young generation. 'Issei:The first generation' and 'Children of

6480-764: The United States. In 2012, Alaska , California, Hawaii, Illinois , Massachusetts, Michigan , Nevada , New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington were publishing election material in Asian languages in accordance with the Voting Rights Act ; these languages include Tagalog, Mandarin Chinese , Vietnamese , Spanish, Hindi , and Bengali . Election materials were also available in Gujarati , Japanese , Khmer , Korean , and Thai . A 2013 poll found that 48 percent of Asian Americans considered media in their native language as their primary news source. The 2000 census found

6588-585: The Western Hemisphere: Immigrants from Asia were banned, and the total annual immigration quota for the rest of the world was capped at 165,000—an 80% reduction of the yearly average before 1914. The act temporarily reduced the annual quota of any nationality from 3% of their 1910 population , per the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, to 2% as recorded in the 1890 census ; a new quota was implemented in 1927, based on each nationality's share of

SECTION 60

#1733084885800

6696-501: The act sought to establish a distinct American identity by preserving its ethnic homogeneity. Reed told the Senate that earlier legislation "disregards entirely those of us who are interested in keeping American stock up to the highest standard—that is, the people who were born here." He believed that immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, most of whom were Catholics or Jews, arrived sick and starving, were less capable of contributing to

6804-428: The art of movie-making, has been a part of Asian Pacific American Film, Inc. since 2006. The program consists of a series of workshops taking place over the course of six consecutive weekends, during which participants will learn the necessary skills and steps to create a short film from conception to completion. The P.O.V. workshop also provides an opportunity to showcase students’ work to the general public by creating

6912-496: The bill, in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said that the bill would have to be revisioned "to make its operation simple, humane, and free from the misery and disappointment to which would-be immigrants are now subjected." Members of the Senate interpreted Hanihara's phrase "grave consequences" as a threat, which was used by hardliners of the bill to fuel both houses of Congress to vote for it. Because 1924

7020-520: The camps' are two great documentaries to represent the situation of Japanese American's during World War II. World War II-era legislation and judicial rulings gradually increased the ability of Asian Americans to immigrate and become naturalized citizens. Immigration rapidly increased following the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 as well as the influx of refugees from conflicts occurring in Southeast Asia such as

7128-516: The census. The term "Asian American" was coined by historian-activists Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee in 1968 during the founding of the Asian American Political Alliance , and they were also credited with popularizing the term, which meant to be used to frame a new "inter-ethnic-pan-Asian American self-defining political group". This effort was part of New Left anti-war and anti-imperialist activism, directly opposing what

7236-626: The cheap labor that immigration represented even though the act would sharply reduce Jewish immigration. Both the AFL and the Ku Klux Klan supported the act. Historian John Higham concludes: "Klan backing made no material difference. Congress was expressing the will of the nation.". Lobbyists from the West Coast , where a majority of Japanese, Korean, and other East Asian immigrants had settled, were especially concerned with excluding Asian immigrants. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act had already slowed Chinese immigration, but as Japanese and – to

7344-442: The creation of the country's first formal border control service, the U.S. Border Patrol , and established a "consular control system" that allowed entry only to those who first obtained a visa from a U.S. consulate abroad. Enacted amid increasing public and political anxiety about the country's rapid social and demographic changes, the 1924 act supplanted earlier legislation by vastly reducing immigration from countries outside

7452-426: The diverse peoples of Asia, and for being considered a racial category instead of a non-racial "ethnic" category. This is namely due to the categorization of the racially different South Asians and East Asians as part of the same "race". Furthermore, it has been noted that West Asians (whom are not considered "Asian" under the US census) share some cultural similarities with Indians but very little with East Asians, with

7560-544: The eyes of the American people. And yet the actual result of that particular provision, if the proposed bill becomes law as intended, would be only to exclude 146 Japanese per year.... I realize, as I believe you do, the grave consequences which the enactment of the measure retaining that particular provision would inevitably bring upon the otherwise happy and mutually advantageous relations between our two countries. Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette , who did not vote on

7668-456: The fact that "Asian American" is generally synonymous with people of East Asian descent, thereby excluding people of Southeast Asian and South Asian origin. Some South and Southeast Asian Americans may not identify with the Asian American label, instead describing themselves as "Brown Asians" or simply "Brown", due to the perceived racial and cultural differences between them and East Asian Americans. The demographics of Asian Americans describe

7776-401: The faith. Most Filipino Americans are Catholic (57%), whereas Korean Americans tend to be Protestant, with 34% identifying as evangelical Protestants. Religious disaffiliation among Asian Americans has been steadily increasing. 32% of Asian Americans identify as religiously unaffiliated, which encompasses individuals identifying as atheist, agnostic, or "nothing in particular". This represents

7884-552: The federal Office of Management and Budget issued a directive requiring government agencies to maintain statistics on racial groups, including on "Asian or Pacific Islander". By the 1990 census, "Asian or Pacific Islander (API)" was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry as a subcategory. Beginning with the 2000 census, two separate categories were used: "Asian American" and "Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander". The definition of Asian American has variations that derive from

7992-418: The field's subject of study." Jeff Yang , of The Wall Street Journal , writes that the panethnic definition of Asian American is a unique American construct, and as an identity is "in beta ". The majority of Asian Americans feel ambivalence about the term "Asian American" as a term by which to identify themselves . Pyong Gap Min , a sociologist and Professor of Sociology at Queens College , has stated

8100-534: The first Japanese American naturalized US citizen in 1858. Chinese sailors first came to Hawaii in 1789, a few years after Captain James Cook came upon the island. Many settled and married Hawaiian women. Most Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii or San Francisco arrived in the 19th century as laborers to work on sugar plantations or construction place. There were thousands of Asians in Hawaii when it

8208-579: The first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker (the original "Siamese Twins") became naturalized citizens. Throughout the 20th century, acting roles in television, film, and theater were relatively few, and many available roles were for narrow, stereotypical characters. Bruce Lee (born in San Francisco, CA) only achieved movie stardom after leaving the United States for Hong Kong. More recently, young Asian American comedians and film-makers have found an outlet on YouTube allowing them to gain

8316-493: The indigenous peoples of the continent of Asia, the usage of the term "Asian" by the United States Census Bureau is a race group that only includes people with origins or ancestry from East Asia , South Asia , Southeast Asia , and select parts of Central Asia and excludes people with ethnic origins in certain parts of Asia, including West Asia who will be categorized as Middle Eastern Americans starting from

8424-549: The islands from Spain following the latter's defeat in the Spanish–American War . Under United States law during this period, particularly the Naturalization Act of 1790 , only "free white persons" were eligible to naturalize as American citizens. Ineligibility for citizenship prevented Asian immigrants from accessing a variety of rights, such as voting. Bhicaji Balsara became the first known Indian-born person to gain naturalized US citizenship. Balsara's naturalization

8532-647: The latter two groups being classified as "Asian". Scholars have also found it difficult to determine why Asian Americans are considered a "race" while Americans of Hispanic and Latino heritage are a non-racial "ethnic group", given how the category of Asian Americans similarly comprises people with diverse origins. However, it has been argued that South Asians and East Asians can be "justifiably" grouped together because of Buddhism's origins in South Asia. In contrast, leading social sciences and humanities scholars of race and Asian American identity point out that because of

8640-470: The legislative process, praised it as a political breakthrough in the adoption of scientific racism as a theoretical foundation for immigration policy. Due to the reliance upon eugenics in forming the policy, and growing public reception towards scientific racism as justification for restriction and racial stereotypes by 1924, the act has been seen as a piece of legislation that formalized the views of contemporary U.S. society. Historian Mae Ngai writes of

8748-519: The mining business and later in the construction of the transcontinental railroad . By 1852, the number of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco had jumped to more than 20,000. A wave of Japanese immigration to the United States began after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. In 1898, all Filipinos in the Philippine Islands became American nationals when the United States took over colonial rule of

8856-469: The more prominent languages of the Asian American community to include the Chinese languages ( Cantonese , Taishanese , and Hokkien ), Tagalog , Vietnamese , Korean , Japanese, Hindi, Urdu , Telugu , and Gujarati . In 2008, the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese languages are all used in elections in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington state. According to

8964-531: The most recent Pew Research Center survey, approximately 34% of Asian American adults identify as Christians , a decrease from 42% in 2012. This decline is especially notable among Protestants, who currently constitute 16% of the Asian American population, down from 22% in 2012. Catholics, on the other hand, have maintained a relatively stable presence, making up 17% of the Asian American adult population, nearly unchanged from 19% in 2012. Beyond formal religious identification, an additional 18% of Asian Americans report

9072-425: The national origins quota system: At one level, the new immigration law differentiated Europeans according to nationality and ranked them in a hierarchy of desirability. At another level, the law constructed a White American race, in which persons of European descent shared a common Whiteness distinct from those deemed to be not White. In 1928, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler praised the act for banishing "strangers of

9180-414: The proud Yamato race ." He cites their supposed inability to assimilate to American culture and the economic threat that they posed to white businessmen and farmers. Opposing the act, U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes said, "The legislation would seem to be quite unnecessary, even for the purpose for which it is devised." The act faced strong opposition from the Japanese government with which

9288-508: The quota could be given out in any one month. Aliens were not able to leave their home countries before having a valid visa, as opposed to the old system of deporting them at ports of debarkation. That gave a double layer of protection to the border since if they were found to be inadmissible, immigrants could still be deported on arrival. The National Origins Act authorized the formation of the United States Border Patrol , which

9396-521: The racial constructions in the United States, including the social attitudes toward race and those of Asian ancestry, Asian Americans have a "shared racial experience". Because of this shared experience, the term Asian American is argued as still being a useful panethnic category because of the similarity of some experiences among Asian Americans, including stereotypes specific to people in this category. Despite this, others have stated that many Americans do not treat all Asian Americans equally, highlighting

9504-418: The removal of restrictive "national origins" quotas in 1965 , the Asian American population has diversified greatly to include more of the peoples with ancestry from various parts of Asia. Today, "Asian American" is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research, although it is often shortened to Asian in common usage. The most commonly used definition of Asian American

9612-687: The restrictions. In a 2020 paper, the economists Petra Moser and Shmuel San demonstrated that the drastic reduction in immigration from Eastern and Southern European scientists led to fewer new patents, not only from immigrants but also from native-born scientists working in their fields. Even the mass migration of unskilled workers had been a spur to innovation, according to a paper by Kirk Doran and Chungeun Yoon, who found "using variation induced by 1920s quotas, which ended history's largest international migration" that "inventors in cities and industries exposed to fewer low-skilled immigrants applied for fewer patents." Nor did US-born workers benefit, according to

9720-459: The small settlement of Saint Malo, Louisiana , after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships . Since there were no Filipino women with them, these "Manilamen", as they were known, married Cajun and indigenous women. The first Japanese person to come to the United States, and stay any significant period of time was Nakahama Manjirō who reached the East Coast in 1841, and Joseph Heco became

9828-522: The term "immigrant" and designated all other alien entries into the U.S. as "non-immigrant," or temporary visitors. It also established classes of admission for such non-immigrants. The act set a total immigration quota of 165,000 for countries outside the Western Hemisphere , an 80% reduction from average before World War I, and barred immigrants from Asia, including Japan. However, the Philippines

9936-459: The term is merely political, used by Asian American activists and further reinforced by the government. Beyond that, he feels that South Asians and East Asians do not have commonalities in "culture, physical characteristics, or pre-migrant historical experiences". Scholars have grappled with the accuracy, correctness, and usefulness of the term Asian American. The term "Asian" in Asian American most often comes under fire for only encompassing some of

10044-504: The top single country of origin for immigrants to the US. Asian immigrants "are more likely than the overall foreign-born population to be naturalized citizens"; in 2014, 59% of Asian immigrants had US citizenship, compared to 47% of all immigrants. Postwar Asian immigration to the US has been diverse: in 2014, 31% of Asian immigrants to the US were from East Asia (predominantly China and Korea); 27.7% were from South Asia (predominantly India); 32.6% were from Southeast Asia (predominantly

10152-457: The total U.S. population in the 1920 census , which would govern U.S. immigration policy until 1965. According to the Department of State, the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity." The 1924 act would define U.S. immigration policy for nearly three decades, until being substantially revised by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and ultimately replaced by

10260-536: The westernmost and southernmost major US city of the 50th US state of Hawaii . When Asian Americans were largely excluded from labor markets in the 19th century, they started their own businesses. They have started convenience and grocery stores, professional offices such as medical and law practices, laundries, restaurants, beauty-related ventures, hi-tech companies, and many other kinds of enterprises, becoming very successful and influential in American society. They have dramatically expanded their involvement across

10368-401: Was accorded to wives and unmarried children under 18 of U.S. citizens; natives of Western Hemisphere countries, with their families; non-immigrants; and certain others. Subsequent amendments eliminated certain elements of the law's discrimination against women , but this was not more fully achieved until 1952 . In 1927, the 1924 act was modified to use census data from 1920. The Bureau of

10476-602: Was an election year , and he was unable to form a compromise, President Calvin Coolidge declined to use his veto power to block the act, although both houses passed it by a veto-overriding two-thirds majority. The act was signed into law on May 24, 1924. The immigration act made permanent the basic limitations on immigration to the United States established in 1921 and modified the National Origins Formula , which had been established in that year. In conjunction with

10584-503: Was annexed to the United States in 1898. Later, Filipinos also came to work as laborers, attracted by the job opportunities, although they were limited. Ryukyuans would start migrating to Hawaii in 1900. Large-scale migration from Asia to the United States began when Chinese immigrants arrived on the West Coast in the mid-19th century. Forming part of the California gold rush , these early Chinese immigrants participated intensively in

10692-598: Was confirmed as applying regardless of race or ancestry by the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). From the 1880s to the 1920s, the United States passed laws inaugurating an era of exclusion of Asian immigrants. Although the exact number of Asian immigrants was small compared to that of immigrants from other regions, much of it was concentrated in the West , and the increase caused some nativist sentiment which

10800-532: Was established two days after the act was passed, primarily to guard the Mexico–United States border . A $ 10 tax was imposed on Mexican immigrants, who were allowed to continue immigrating based on their perceived willingness to provide cheap labor. The act was seen in a negative light in Japan, causing resignations of ambassadors and protests. A citizen committed seppuku near the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo with

10908-452: Was first proposed in 1896 in the form of the literacy test bill. Henry Cabot Lodge was confident the bill would provide an indirect measure of reducing emigration from these countries, but after passing both houses of Congress, it was vetoed by President Grover Cleveland . Another proposal for immigration restriction was introduced again in 1909 by U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge . The Immigration Act of 1917 restricted immigration further in

11016-470: Was known as the " yellow peril ". Congress passed restrictive legislation which prohibited nearly all Chinese immigration to the United States in the 1880s. Japanese immigration was sharply curtailed by a diplomatic agreement in 1907. The Asiatic Barred Zone Act in 1917 further barred immigration from nearly all of Asia, the "Asiatic Zone". The Immigration Act of 1924 provided that no "alien ineligible for citizenship" could be admitted as an immigrant to

11124-534: Was minimal. In the wake of intense lobbying , it passed with strong congressional support. There were nine dissenting votes in the Senate and a handful of opponents in the House of Representatives , the most vigorous of whom was freshman Brooklyn Representative Emanuel Celler , a Jewish American . Decades later, he pointed out the act's "startling discrimination against central, eastern and southern Europe." Proponents of

11232-404: Was most active during the 1960s and 1970s. Increasingly Asian American students demanded university-level research and teaching into Asian history and interaction with the United States. They support multiculturalism and support affirmative action but oppose colleges' quota on Asian students viewed as discriminatory. Asian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since

11340-474: Was not the norm but an exception; in a pair of cases, Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), the Supreme Court upheld the racial qualification for citizenship and ruled that Asians were not "white persons". Second-generation Asian Americans, however, could become US citizens due to the birthright citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ; this guarantee

11448-482: Was then a U.S. colony and so its citizens were U.S. nationals and could thus travel freely to the U.S. The act did not include China since it was already barred under the Chinese Exclusion Act. The 1924 act reduced the annual quota of any nationality from 3% of their 1910 population (as defined by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921) to 2% of the number of foreign-born persons of any nationality residing in

11556-504: Was used until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 adopted a simplified formula limiting each country to a flat quota of one-sixth of one percent of that nationality's 1920 population count, with a minimum quota of 100. Listed below are historical quotas on emigration from the Eastern Hemisphere , by country, as applied in given fiscal years ending June 30, calculated according to successive immigration laws and revisions from

11664-445: Was viewed as an unjust Vietnam War . Prior to being included in the "Asian" category in the 1980s, many Americans of South Asian descent usually classified themselves as Caucasian or other . Changing patterns of immigration and an extensive period of exclusion of Asian immigrants have resulted in demographic changes that have in turn affected the formal and common understandings of what defines Asian American. For example, since

#799200