Source link : https://bq3anews.com/how-asian-american-became-a-racial-grouping-and-why-many-with-asian-roots-dont-identify-with-the-term-these-days/
For the first time, in 1990, May was officially designated as a month honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Though the current U.S. administration recently withdrew federal recognition, the month continues to be celebrated by a wide array of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
People from the Pacific Islands have their own distinct histories and issues, delineated in part by a specific geography. Yet when we refer to the even broader category of Asian Americans, a concept with a deep yet often unknown history, who exactly are we referring to?
There are nearly 25 million people of Asian descent who live in the United States, but the term Asian American remains shrouded by cultural misunderstanding and contested as a term among Asians themselves.
As a professor of Asian American studies, I believe it is important to understand how the label came into being.
A long history of Asian people in America
The arrival of people from Asia to the U.S. long predates the country’s founding in 1776.
After visits to modern-day America that began in the late 16th century, Filipino sailors formed – as early as 1763 – what is believed to be the first Asian settlement in St. Malo, Louisiana.
But it wasn’t until the 1849 California Gold Rush that Asian immigration to the U.S. – from China – began on a mass scale. That was bolstered in the 1860s by Chinese laborers recruited to build the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Starting toward…
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Author : bq3anews
Publish date : 2025-05-13 18:25:00
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