Asian Americans Part 2

Chinese and Japanese Americans

Chinese Americans

A collective and highly diverse group whose U.S. presence spans over five generations. Diversity exists in national origin, dialect, region, and political background. Chinese Americans experienced systematic exclusion and racial scapegoating, most notably through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, but also show high educational attainment and entrepreneurial activity, alongside a persistent poverty rate due to labor segmentation and immigration inequality.

Japanese Americans

Immigrants and descendants shaped by 19th-century changes in Japan (push factors) and U.S. racial hostility toward Asians. Their history is defined by discriminatory legislation, the anti-Japanese movement, and most dramatically, wartime incarceration during WWII. Over generations, Japanese Americans became one of the most upwardly mobile Asian American groups, with strong postwar resettlement and integration.

Immigration (data, statistics)

Demographic Characteristics

Chinese and Japanese Americans are concentrated mainly in California and the West Coast, with growing populations nationwide.

• Education: High bachelor’s degree attainment (Chinese Americans: 56%)

• Labor force: High professional/managerial employment but lower labor participation rates

• Income: Higher-than-average household income

• Homeownership: Slightly lower than White Americans

• Poverty: Higher among Chinese Americans than Japanese Americans

• Health insurance & voting: Generally strong but uneven by class and immigration status

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

The first U.S. law to ban immigration based on race/nationality, suspending Chinese labor immigration and denying naturalization. It legalized racial discrimination, reinforced anti-Chinese violence, and shaped U.S. immigration policy until its repeal in 1943, though full equality came much later.

Chinatowns / Ethnic Enclaves

Urban ethnic enclaves that served as “cultural decompression chambers” for new immigrants. While economically marginalized and associated with sweatshops and overcrowding, Chinatowns also became tourist centers. Tourism masked poverty but helped sustain businesses. Movement out of Chinatown often symbolized upward mobility.

Social Organizations

Key institutions that supported Chinese American survival:

• Clans (tsu): Kinship-based mutual aid

• Benevolent associations (hui kuan): Regional origin–based organizations providing dispute resolution, protection, and political advocacy

• Ton-s: Secret societies with political, social, and sometimes illegal functions

Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA)

The most powerful umbrella organization in many Chinatowns, acting as an unofficial Chinese government. It mediated disputes, defended Chinese Americans legally and politically, and represented community interests to U.S. authorities.

“Tiger Mother”

A parenting model popularized by Amy Chua (2011) emphasizing strict discipline, academic excellence, and parental authority. In the PPT, it reflects broader Chinese American cultural values around achievement and family hierarchy, though it is controversial and not universally practiced. (Amy Chua, Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother (2011), Wall Street Journal, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” (2011))

Familism

A cultural orientation emphasizing family loyalty, obligation, and collective responsibility over individualism. Among Chinese Americans, familism supports low divorce rates, strong intergenerational ties, and reliance on extended family networks.

Anti-Japanese Movement

A wave of racial hostility and economic fear targeting Japanese immigrants, rooted in competition for land and labor. It led to discriminatory laws, segregation, and eventually wartime incarceration under the guise of national security.

Japanese American Generations

• Issei: First generation, foreign-born, barred from citizenship

• Nisei: U.S.-born citizens, many incarcerated during WWII

• Sansei: Third generation, greater acculturation

• Yonsei: Fourth generation, fully Americanized

Each generation showed increasing assimilation.

Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL)

The oldest Asian American civil rights organization, advocating for citizenship rights, loyalty during WWII, and later leading the redress and apology movement.

Kibei

A subgroup of Nisei educated in Japan, often viewed with suspicion during WWII due to cultural ties, despite U.S. citizenship.

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, triggering U.S. entry into WWII. It sparked war hysteria, leading to the scapegoating of Japanese Americans as security threats.

Enemy Aliens

A legal designation applied to Issei, who were barred from citizenship and treated as hostile foreigners after Pearl Harbor.

“Fifth Column”

The accusation that Japanese Americans secretly aided Japan. This baseless claim justified mass incarceration despite lack of evidence.

Executive Order No. 9066

Signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Feb. 19, 1942), authorizing the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, based solely on ancestry.

Japanese American Exclusion and Incarceration

The forced relocation of ~120,000 people to 10 camps across 7 states, marked by loss of property, civil rights violations, and long-term psychological and economic damage.

Loyalty Questionnaire (1943)

A controversial survey assessing loyalty, especially Questions 27 and 28, which led to community division and segregation at Tule Lake. Like if u would give up ur Japanese citizenship and serve the US military.

Key Supreme Court Cases

• Hirabayashi (1943) – upheld curfews

• Yasui (1943) – upheld restrictions

• Korematsu (1944) – upheld incarceration

• Endo (1944) – ruled loyal citizens could not be detained

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

A congressional commission that investigated incarceration and concluded it was caused by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and political failure.

Personal Justice Denied (1983)

The commission’s report formally acknowledging injustice and recommending reparations.

Civil Liberties Act of 1988

Signed by Ronald Reagan, it issued a formal apology and $20,000 compensation to surviving internees.