ASA 001

  1. 1924–1945 periodization 

– labor migrations, Oriental Problem, & immigration exclusion 

– emergence of sizeable American born second generation in 1920s 

– delay in emergence of 2nd generation 

– 1924 Immigration Act regulated all immigration to the U.S by setting annual quota system based on national origins & favored western and northern Europe with high quotas 

  1. Paper sons & daughters 

– asked many questions regarding family 

– two sons did separate testimonials that claim to be sons of a merchant (Angel Island interrogations) 

  1. Nisei (second generation Japanese) 

– outnumbered Issei gen by 1941 

– resided in Hawaii & mainland

  1. Mexican-Punjabi marriages & families 

 Ambiguous racial status of Mexicans – white or non white??? (Seen as as Spanish, sometimes seen as African) 

  1. Second generation dilemma 

This generation did not follow obedience, old traditions & was seen as losing respect for their parents and culture. Fell victim to the same discrimination their parents face despite being American born; culturally American (this is the 2nd gen. dilemma)

– U.S citizens 

– acculturated into American culture 

– language obstacles (so many barriers, could not speak the language of their parents)

  1. “New Chinese American woman” 

– a concept established by Flora Belle Jan. Chinese women integrating into American society by rejecting the traditional and passive role of a Chinese American woman; gaining economic independence & balancing culture. 

  1. “Double victory” campaign

 During WW2, they had a victory in domestic warfare & addressing racism

  1. Executive Order 8802 

– established by Roosevelt, prohibited discrimination in employment based on race, color, or national origin (during WW2) 

  1. United Korean Committee 

1941, UKC formed and they were involved anti Japanese colonial movement

  1. “Little Brown Brother”

– or “Christian allies” refers to Filipinos who assisted in the war effort (WW2) 

  1. Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1943) 

– This allowed for extended naturalization rights to Asian Indians and Filipinos at 1946

– Koreans and Japanese Americans were not able to receive citizenship until later 

  1. “Fifth column threat” (meaning enemy within the country) 

– Japanese in Hawaii had aided Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor; fears of the “Fifth Column”

  1. Munson report (1941) resulted in 25pg report on Japanese Americans were no more likely to be disloyal 

  2. Executive Order 9066 “authorizing the secretary of war to prescribe military areas” established designated military areas in HI & established incarceration camps. This order permitted the mass removal of Japanese Americans  

  3. Hawaii martial law

During 1941, after PH, Japanese American racially profiled/discriminated against. SC issues executive orders. Fears of connection of war and Japanese Americans (the connection) Restrictions were established

  1. Military necessity 

Government argued that they had no means to test Japanese Americans’ loyalty “A Jap’s a Jap”

This was established to maintain military necessity, even if it means going above due process law

  1. War Relocation Authority (WRA) 

War Relocation Authority viewed Nisei as the spokesperson for the Japanese community (JACL Japanese American Citizens League) which advocated for mass removal; Japanese community must obey to American incarceration to prove loyalty; this shows promotion of assimilation

  1. Designated military areas 1 & 2

They are removed from west coast to different areas in the U.S

  1. Assembly centers DeWitt issues civilian exclusion order34; all Japanese ancestry, citizen or not, are to omitted from their homes for military expansion (95% of the Japanese American community) War Relocation Authority executes this  

– While camps were built, Japanese were sent to assembly centers 

  1. Hirabayashi v. United States 

Gordon Hirabayashi refused to comply with curfew & internment orders enforced by WRA. He argued that these restrictions violated his constitutional rights. 

  1. Korematsu v. United States 

 Fred Korematsu was convicted of failure to appear in the assembly center.

  1. “A Jap’s a Jap” 

Government argued that they had no means to test Japanese Americans’ loyalty “A Jap’s a Jap”

This was established to maintain military necessity, even if it means going above due process law.

  1. Kibei (American born Japanese people but then returned to Japan to become cultured)

  2. “Leave clearance applications” (1942) Leaving internment camps required a clearance process; this was based on the Loyalty Review Program (questionnaire #27 & #28)

  3. No-no boys

Japanese people who failed the loyalty test were then sent to camps & could not leave the camp. These questions regarded connection/inheritance to Japanese culture 

  1. 442 Regiment Combat Team 

U.S army unit that was composed of Japanese American soldiers/Nisei; they demonstrated loyalty to the U.S. because of remarkable achievements 

  1. “Go for broke!” Pidgin for What do we have to lose? 




  1. Ex Parte Mitsuye Endo (1944)

Mitsuye Endo was wrongfully detained and sent to a Utah internment camp; despite the fact she had no ties to “enemy” and worked at the DMV as a Nisei. In a SC case, the court ruled that no one could detain any Japanese American who was loyal to the U.S

  1. 1945-1965 periodization 

Post WWII Changes and immigration (1945-1965)

  1. 1924-1945

  2. 1965- 

  3. 1975- marks the vietnam withdrawal with a lot of refugees going to the U.S

    1. Asians being the oriental problem to becoming the racial solution or from yellow peril to model minority 



McCarran - walter act (1952) or immigration and Nationality Act of 1952

  1. Naturalization to Japanese and Koreans

  2. Immigration from “Asian - Pacific Triangle”

    1. Which span from from japan to the pacific, it eliminated 

  3. Eliminate racially 

Reconfiguration in demographic makeup of Asian America 

  1. Increase in migration o

War brides Act (1945) and Fiancees Act (1946)

  1. Reconfiguration of the population

  2. Chinese population tripled

  3. By 1945 they were mostly american born

Provisions of McCarran-Walter 

Korean War

  • 1950-1953

  • Mostly women migration

Philippines 

Leaves to large amounts of filipinas coming in

Cold War anxieties

China is enemy which is the impact of bringing political refugees in china 



  1. Racial liberalism 

integration of non-whites into American society, promoting the incorporation of minorities into this society, it's about reform, and gradually including minorities. It doesn’t change what America is 



  1. War Brides Act 1945 Permitted wives and children of U.S. military men to immigrate to the U.S.

  2. McCarran-Walter Act 1952 

Asian Americans could become naturalized citizens; however the act still retained a quota system that limited the number of immigrants allowed from each country based on the number of people already living in the U.S from those countries. *Asia Pacific Triangle 

  1.  Transnational adoptees During Korean War (1950-53) many Koreans enter the U.S as military brides & adoptees

  2.  “American connection” 

  • Changing immigration legislation – 1965 Immigration Act 

  • Migration Networks – Chain migration

  • Globalization – Restructuring of global economy 

  • U.S Involvement in Asian countries – Refugee exodus

  1. Post-1965 Asian immigration 

Many refugees from Indochina that were fleeing from communist wars came to the U.S. 

(Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)

  1. Immigration Act of 1965 

Abolished racial quotas, prioritized families and immigrants with high skills to come into the U.S, more refugees entered 

  1. Restructuring global economy 

Post-World War II shifts in the global economy, including deindustrialization in the U.S. and the rise of export-oriented economies in Asia, which influenced migration patterns and economic opportunities.

  1. “Brain drain” 1965-1975

    1. The great majority of those came through the professional and occupational categories, so they were referred to as this

    2. The us is draining the urbanized colonized middle class professionals from asian countries

Urbanized, college-educated, middle class

  1. Duality of post 1965 Asian immigration 

Migration networks

  1. Chain migration

    1. Creates conditions for these immigrants 

  2. Migration is sustained by family, kinship, and friendship networks entering through quota and non-quota family reunification categories

Significant class differences within and among asian american communities

  1. Chinese vast and class differences 

Bipolar communities 

Regional differences coming from other differences 

“Uptown chinese vs downtown chinese”

  1. Downtown chinese are people who work low paying jobs, non-english speaking etc

  2. Uptown better paying jobs etc

  1. Bipolar communities

 Describes the socioeconomic stratification within Asian American communities, with a coexistence of affluent professionals and working-class individuals, often living in the same geographic areas 

  1. French Indochina There was French rule over Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia. All escaped from it, but then became subject to communism 

  2. First Indochinese War 1946-1954 War that fought for independence between French colonial forces & Viet Minh (sought to end French rule) The war resulted in the Geneva Accords which divided Vietnam into two zones: North Vietnam & South Vietnam. 

  3. Dien Bien Phu (Viet Minh victory over the French) 

 Ngo Dinh Diem in the South & Ho Chi Minh in the North

  1. “Domino theory” 

fear of the “domino theory” therefore established the containment policy. The ultimate fear was japan falling into communism because the rest would follow

  1. Ngo Dinh Diem ruled over the South. The U.S. aided Ngo.  Vietcong was against his ideology as Diem was anti-communist. 

  2. Second Indochinese War (1965-1975)

– U.S. support for South Vietnam

– Multi front war 

– The Hmong and the “Secret War” in Laos 

– U.S tried to destroy Ho Chi Minh trail (a supply route that the Viet Minh used to support Vietcong) used bombing attacks; but couldn’t destroy the trail

– U.S. President Nixon begins to bomb Cambodia in secrecy 

– U.S. President Nixon establishes Vietnamization policy; withdraw U.S. military from Vietnam & leave Vietnam to fight on their on

→ this leads to the fall of Saigon, Laos & Cambodia (they all fall under communist rule) 

  1. Refugee someone who forced to leave their home country due to war/persecutionsz 

  2. 3 waves of SEA Migrations

    1. 1st wave: 95% came from vietnam, they were mostly high ranking south vietnamese (high in society, urbanized=came from saigon), they had high levels of education, english language proficiency, westernized, christian but most catholic 

    2. 2nd wave: It was mostly “Boat” and “Land” People, they were heterogeneous national: ethnic, regional, and class demographics, far less christians, many of the refugees came by boat to thailand, the ones from cambodia and laos were referred to as land people.

      1. Flee to refugee camps along Thailand border from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

        1. Targeted enemies of the state 

        2. Economic devastation from war

    3. 3rd wave: 1980s Orderly departure programs meaning they came in as immigrants it benefited kids that were born from soldiers and vietnamese children 

  3. Volags (voluntary agencies) helped families get adjusted to American society

1975 Indochinese Resettlement Assistance Act (seen as a temporary process)

  1. Secondary migrations 

  2. Sino-vietnamese 

– Sino-Vietnamese were targeted by communist governments as the Sino Vietnamese had history in mercantilism

– Boat people; many tried to escape through overseas (attacks from Thai pirates, scarcity of food and fuel) 

  1. “The Secret War” 

War between the Laos ethnicity group & the Hmong

  1. Khmer Rouge was led by Pol Pot who was a communist. Pol Pot desired to eliminate unneeded elements of Cambodia and established killing fields 

  2. 1980 Orderly Departure Act (ODP) was an agreement between U.S and Vietnam, allowed Vietnamese families to enter as immigrants 

  3. “Vietnam syndrome” the fear of revisiting the Vietnam War, a traumatic historical event

  • The U.S being at war with itself, they didn’t have support from the people back home, want to forget about the war

  1. Opoyop people fleeing for a home (refugee) (p 43)

Pathet Lao took control after many years of civil wars. Pathet Lao seeked to eliminate the Hmong. Many were being persecuted by Pathet Lao