OVERVIEW: ASIAN AMERICANS/PACIFIC ISLANDERS

 

Overview from California Department of Education

​​

                                                               

 The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum posted on the Department website (www.cde.ca.gov) has guidelines for schools and districts, rationales for ethnic studies, and a (massive) section with background information about a number of ethnic groups, including resources and sample lessons. Below are the chapters and URLs for each separate chapter as the whole publication is huge. Resources listed in the pull down menu are in addition to what is included in the Model Curriculum chapters.

​

                  ETHNIC STUDIES MODEL CURRICULUM

​

                                Table of Contents
Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Preface p.1
Chapter 1 – Introduction and Overview p.7
Chapter 2 – District Implementation Guidance p. 23
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter2.pdf
Chapter 3 – Instructional Guidance for K-12 Education p.33
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter3.pdf
Chapter 4 – Sample Lessons and Topics p.73
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter4.pdf
Chapter 5 – Lesson Resources p. 411
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter5.pdf
Chapter 6 – UC Approved Course Outlines p. 425
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter6.pdf

​

                              Regional Overview

​

East Asia (China, Japan, the  Koreas, Vietnam particular) share beliefs about the right way  to live in an orderly and stable (‘harmonious ’)  society created 2500 years ago by the Chinese philosopher Confucius (Kong Fu Tse). created the rules for a social system of peace and harmony that became the dominant philosophy of all East Asia. Social harmony and order would come from ‘right living’ and following the five essential relationships: Ruler to ruled, father to son, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother, and friend to friend. The duty of the first in each of these is to protect and preserve the second. The duty of the second is to obey the first. If the first does not adequately protect the second, the bond is undermined and broken. If the second does not obey the first, the bond in broken. Children born in the United States of immigrants from East Asia would often obey their fathers and follow his direction for schooling and career regardless of their own desires. Second and third generation East Asian Americans are often conflicted by the dominant culture’s emphasis on learning independence from one’s parents and creating one’s own life independent of parents. East Asian Americans grow up knowing that preserving the honor of their family is paramount and independence should not undermine the family.

​​

The first Asians to come to what would become the United States were Filipinos who arrived in Morro Bay in 1587, as part of the Spanish trade route from the Philippines to New Spain. A few East Indians were in the British colonies by 1775, A few Chinese merchants were in the US East Coast by 1815.

​

Some immigration from southern China began in the late 1840’s. Most came for the California gold rush (the Chinese name for California at the time was ‘gold mountain’) Agricultural workers arrived especially bringing knowledge of citrus farming to southern California.  Immigration increased dramatically in the 1850’s. Civil unrest especially in South China (the Tai Bing Rebellion, which saw at least 20 million Chinese killed…see Chinese American section below) and the California Gold Rush both ‘pushed’ and ‘pulled’ 25,000 Chinese to California by 1852. More came later as railroad builders along with more farm workers. The 1880 US Census reported 105,465 Chinese in the United States; immigrant population had peaked at 300,000 a few years earlier.

​

Anger and resistance to Chinese immigrants produced the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. No Chinese could enter the US except close relatives of Chinese already in the United States.

 

Japanese immigrants began to replace Chinese farm workers after 1882, The 145 Japanese in the US according to the 1880 Census grew to 24, 326 in 1900, while the Chinese population declined to 89, 863. Resistance to Japanese immigration followed the pattern of resistance earlier to Chinese immigrants.  Japan and the United States settled the ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ of 1907, in which Japan would not allow anyone to leave Japan to go to the United States, again allowing for immediate relatives. (Japanese immigrants had come in large numbers to Hawaii, which was not taken over by the US until 1898, and were not included in the Census as Japanese Americans until Hawaii became a state in 1959)

​​

No Asian immigrants (or African Americans or Native Americans) were able to become full US citizens because the Naturalization Act of 1790 extended citizenship only to “free white persons’ of ‘good moral character”. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution of 1866 declared that ‘all persons born in the United States…are citizens of the United States’. While this meant the newly freed African Americans and by inference Native Americans were citizens, only the children of Asian American immigrants born in the US were citizens, never those who immigrated themselves,

​​

As the Chinese American and Japanese American population grew with children, resistance to Asians in general resulted in the most important restrictive immigration law in 1924, the Immigration Act of that year. No ‘aliens; ineligible for citizenship’ would be allowed to immigrate, period. No one from anywhere in Asia could immigrate to the United States. The US Supreme Court ruled soon after that Asians were not Caucasian and thus could not immigrate.  

​

Entry to World War II in 1941 put the United States in an awkward position: The Republic of China was an ally against the Empire of Japan. Hitler’s Germany was blatantly anti Semitic and anti Slavic (Polish and Russian) as well as anti everyone not Germanic Caucasian (Aryan, in Hitlerian terminology). The situation for Japanese Americans became a disaster fueled by racism (see section below); in 1943 legislation said Chinese immigration would be allowed and that all non citizen Chinese persons already in the United States could become citizens.

​

The US in taking the lead in founding the United Nations as the war ended took many public positions opposing racism. In 1952 legislation removed the 1790 ‘free white person’ requirement for citizenship that had blocked any immigration from Asia. While the 1924 quota system was retained, a few Asian immigrants were now allowed each year.

The most drastic overhaul of the immigration system was The Immigration Act of 1965.This  was a huge reversalin US policy about immigration. The 1924 quotas were dropped. The US would accept up to 170,000 Asian immigrants a year, with exceptions allowing for refugees from wars against Communism. Asian immigration immediately jumped, in some cases going from 100 a year to 12,000 a year from individual Asian countries.

​

The 1970 Census showed 600,000 Japanese Americans (now including those in Hawaii) living in the US along with 435,000 Chinese Americans. Estimates in 2019 placed the numbers at 5,400,000 Chinese Americans and 1,400,000 Japanese Americans. Other Asian and Pacific Islands populations in the US grew just as dramatically.

The URL below each listing below traces the specific experiences of each Asian/Pacific Islander community as ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors led people to come to the United States. For some, immigration itself was a challenge over many decades. For all the challenges of living in a new homeland was experienced differently,

​

The background and experience of immigrants from each society is discussed in some detail below, at each URL.

​

See also 'Luna New Year' under the 'School Observances' pull down. 

​

                           Japanese Americans: Americans:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n9g4VKPACouCfuuypPYZlzfbtkLBk5AdlKFAvdkpzS0/edit?usp=sharing