ASS 100

Labors

for the midterm you can find the information

identify Yuki M


Lecture


Emperor Meiji saw the need to modernize

Lecture on Japanese American immigration history, covering the four common experiences framework: turmoil in Japan, migration draws, oppression/exclusion, and resistance/settlement. Ends teasing Korean American history next session.


Turmoil in Japan & Migration Draws

  • Meiji-era modernization pressure pushed poor farming-class Japanese to emigrate, avoiding colonization fate.

  • Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (C&H) recruited Japanese laborers to replace Chinese after Exclusion Act.

  • 39% of Japanese immigrants were women, enabling family formation; today most Japanese Americans are 5th-6th gen citizens.


  • Brazil holds the largest Japanese population outside Japan; jiu-jitsu introduced there by immigrants.


Oppression & Exclusion

  • 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement barred laborers but allowed women for family reunification, appeasing US public while respecting post-Russo-Japanese War Japan.

  • California Alien Land Laws (1913, 1920) blocked ownership; families used citizen children, then leases, to work around them.

  • Ozawa v. US ruled Japanese not white, ineligible for citizenship until after WWII.

  • Plantation bosses used racial divide-and-conquer, sparking Hawaii race wars; EO 9066 interned 120,000, two-thirds citizens.


Resistance & Settlement

  • Kenjinkai mutual aid groups, Japantowns, and historic settlement in Compton, Boyle Heights, East LA.

  • Japanese-Mexican Labor Alliance (JMLA, Oxnard 1904) and Uehu Uehu Hawaii strike united workers across ethnic lines.


Next Session Preview

  • Korean American history next, framed by Japanese occupation erasing Korean culture, followed by Indian American history.



Lecture covering upcoming facilitation groups, then Korean-American and Indian-American immigration history: cultural preservation under Japanese occupation, Sikh Punjabi settlement, and the racial politics of the Thind citizenship case.


Course Logistics

  • Wed the 23rd: students form facilitation groups for weeks 7–10 (race/class, women's issues, model minority, media).

  • Monday = sociology 101 lecture; Wednesday = student-led group discussion with attendance taken.

  • Next week: World War II, Filipino-American history, and a United Farm Workers documentary.


Korean-American Immigration

  • 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa began Japan's systematic erasure of Korean language/culture, driving emigration to preserve identity.

  • First wave 1902–1905 spanned all four immigrant categories: laborers, entrepreneurs, political refugees, professionals.

  • Most westernized Asian group of the era: majority Presbyterian/Methodist via 1800s missionary work, English-literate.

  • WWII-era Korean Americans wore "I am Korean" badges and declared loyalty to distinguish themselves from Japanese.


Indian-American Immigration

  • 1907–1917 first wave: mostly Sikh Punjabi men recruited as laborers after Chinese/Japanese/Korean exclusion; ended by 1917 Barred Zone Act.

  • Bhagat Singh Thind: WWI vet denied citizenship despite Aryan/Caucasian argument, failing the "common sense" whiteness test.

  • Swastika originally a Buddhist/Hindu Sanskrit symbol of compassion, twisted into the Hakenkreuz only ~1920.

  • Punjabi-Mexican intermarriage communities (e.g. Yuba City) show cross-immigrant family formation as a survival strategy.


Next Steps

  • (qt_ instinctz) Deliver Filipino-American history lecture and screen United Farm Workers documentary next week.

  • (qt_ instinctz) Return to racialization topic in week 7.

  • (qt_ instinctz) Administer first midterm in week 6.


Decisions Made

  • Weeks 7–10 Wednesday sessions will be student-facilitated group discussions with attendance recorded.

  • Facilitation group sign-ups happen on Wednesday the 23rd.



lecture

A CSUN Asian-American studies lecture covered course logistics (Wednesday group sign-ups, upcoming midterm), the DreamWorks film \"Forgotten Island\" as community event credit, and Filipino-American history from Spanish/U.S. colonization through the 1965 Delano grape strike led by Larry Itliong.


Course Logistics & Midterm

  • Class is transitioning from art history to contemporary life, with more discussion, writing prompts, and group work in the second third.

  • First midterm covers material since day 1; posted on Canvas next Monday and walked through in week 6.

  • Group formation happens Wednesday in person; missing it means being assigned to any group with room.

  • One likely midterm question: list the four common social and historical experiences of Asian-Americans.


"Forgotten Island" & Media Representation

  • DreamWorks film "Forgotten Island" opens Friday, starring Her HDR, from the "Pusanguso" (2022) team, focused on Filipino-American mythology.

  • Multiple CSUN alums contributed: rapper Carl Angelo on the soundtrack, NBC Universal staff on promotion and VFX, DreamWorks Media Tech VP is a CTVA alum.

  • Currently ~100% on Rotten Tomatoes; compared to "Spider-Verse" and Pixar's "Coco".

  • Show-and-tell: 1993 comic introducing Grail (Joel Oladay), first Filipino-American superhero by Whilce Portacio; Shang-Chi debut with Spider-Man.


Turmoil in the Philippines & U.S. Colonization

  • Philippines has 7,000+ islands and 180+ languages; 300+ years of Spanish rule ended with the 1898 revolution, inspired by the Mexican Revolution.

  • U.S. troops landed in 1898 as part of expansion (Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Wake Island); Philippine-American War (1899-1902) killed an estimated 1M+.

  • Philippines was a U.S. colony from ~1900 to 1946; independence granted July 4, 1946, though June 12 remains the recognized Independence Day.

  • Southern Philippines had a longstanding Muslim presence (Manila was a Muslim kingdom pre-Spain); militant resistance continues today.


Immigration, Exclusion & Anti-Miscegenation

  • 1903 Pensionado Act sent Filipino students to U.S. universities and built American schools in the Philippines; ran through the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act.

  • Filipinos entered as replacement laborers alongside Mexicans; classified as U.S. nationals, so 1924 Immigration Act exclusion did not apply to them.

  • Filipinos could not vote, own land, become citizens, or marry white Americans; faced violence during the Great Depression (e.g., Stockton, 1930).

  • Roldan v. Los Angeles County (1933): court ruled Filipinos were Malay, not Mongolian, allowing interracial marriage; law was amended weeks later to add "Malay".


Resistance, Settlement & the Delano Grape Strike

  • Filipino Americans built churches, unions, and extended-family networks; culinary innovation (kare-kare, sinigang) emerged from poverty.

  • Boxing offered a path out of poverty; first Filipino world champion (1923) was Francisco Guilledo, stage name Pancho Villa.

  • Sept 7, 1965: Larry Itliong and ~1,500 Filipino "manongs" struck Delano grape growers; Mexican workers under Chavez/Huerta joined Sept 16, forming the UFW.

  • 1970 UFW contract won, but new seniority rules sidelined migrant Filipinos; Itliong resigned, and later built a manong retirement home (1974).


Next Steps

  • (Speaker 1) Publish the first midterm on Canvas next Monday and walk students through the format in week 6.

  • (Speaker 1) Facilitate group sign-ups and mini group activities in class this Wednesday.

  • (Speaker 1) Cover World War II and the post-1965 era in the next class session.

  • (Everyone) Sign up for a group in person on Wednesday; latecomers get placed wherever there is room.

  • (Everyone) Submit community event reports (including any "Forgotten Island" screening) by December 15, earlier preferred.


Decisions Made

  • Attending a theatrical screening of "Forgotten Island" counts for community event credit, with proof via screenshots or selfies.

  • Wednesday's class will be used for in-person group sign-ups instead of lecture content.