1 - Asian Americans: Rights Denied and Attained

Summary

Asian Americans, a category created by the American government rather than a unified ethnic group, have experienced a wider variety of discrimination than any other group. This is not to say that they are the most discriminated against or the most disadvantaged. Native Americans and African Americans have endured and continue to endure a greater and deeper denial of rights. Moreover, large numbers of Asian Americans - and absolute majorities of some discrete ethnic groups - have achieved middle-class status. The separate history of Asian Americans is worth noting both for its own sake and to emphasize an important but often ignored fact: Racism in the United States has not been bichromatic, a matter of black and white, but multichromatic, a matter of red, black, yellow, brown, and white. In this chapter I examine the major rights that Asian Americans have achieved after first being denied them by American governments, and then I indicate the successful strategies employed by various groups and their leaders to achieve specific rights. The major rights considered during specific eras are: (1) The right of naturalization (1870-1952); (2) the right of immigration (1882-1952); (3) the right of family reunification (1882-1965); (4) the right to earn a living (1850s-1965); (5) the right of residence (1850s-1948); (6) the right of integrated schooling (1860s-1954); (7) the right to marry (1850s-1967); (8) the right to equal accommodation (1850s-1964); and (9) the right to redress for past governmental wrongs (1988).