Course Outline for Ethnic Studies 43
Asian American History: Early 20th Century - 21st Century

Effective: Fall 2022
SLO Rev: 10/01/2019
Catalog Description:

ES 43 - Asian American History: Early 20th Century - 21st Century

3.00 Units

(See also HIS 43 )
A historical survey and critical comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on Asian Americans from the early 20th century to the present. Major topics will include wars, refugees, immigration policies and settlement patterns, citizenship, laws, labor and socioeconomic class, decolonization, anti-racist struggles, resistance and solidarity, education, discrimination, and social identity. An intersectional frame will be applied, examining the role of race, ethnicity, immigration status, religion, language, gender, sexuality, and class. The course will interrogate the term “Asian American” and apply comparative analysis among diverse groups including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian. This course includes analysis of the U. S. Constitution, Supreme Court Rulings, and California State and local government issues related to the rights of Asian Americans. (May not receive credit if HIS 43 has been completed successfully).
2203.00 - Ethnic Studies
Letter Grade Only
Type Units Inside of Class Hours Outside of Class Hours Total Student Learning Hours
Lecture 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Total 3.00 54.00 108.00 162.00
Measurable Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. Critically analyze the intersection of race and racism as they relate to class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, and/or age in Asian American communities and other communities of color;
  2. Critically review how struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as experienced and enacted by Asian Americans and other communities of color are relevant to current and structural issues such as communal, national, international, and transnational politics as, for example, in immigration, reparations, settler-colonialism, multiculturalism, language policies.
  3. analyze and articulate the concepts of race and racism, the racialization process, eurocentrism, and white supremacy in addition to the competing forces of self-determination, liberation, anti-racism and decolonization and how these forces shape and explain the historical and cultural experiences of Asian Americans in the United States;
  4. examine the relationship of Asian Americans to the Federal, state and local governments from the WWII era until the 21st century;
  5. compare the experiences of Asian Americans with the U.S. government to other major racial/ethnic groups (African Americans, American Indians, European Americans, Latinx Americans);
  6. compare and contrast the relationship and features between the California Constitution, state, and local government and court decisions that impacted Asian Americans since the early 20th century;
  7. understand the critical racial perspective on the social, political, historical, economical, and cultural formations of Asian Americans in comparison with other major racial/ethnic groups such as African Americans, American Indians, European Americans, and Latinx Americans;
  8. compare and contrast the shifting and increasingly diverse demographics and settlement patterns of Asian American communities locally, in California, in the West coast, the East coast, and the growing Asian American communities of the Midwest and Southeast;
  9. identify the impact of nationalism and U.S. imperialism on immigration, citizenship, and domestic policies affecting Asian Americans, by examining local and state laws in California;
  10. analyze the U.S. role in World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War and its impact on U.S. economy, immigration laws and patterns, Asian/Asian American identity, political participation, and geographic settlement and movement;
  11. analyze the impact of U.S. wars and militarism on women in Asia;
  12. discuss the shifting role of ethnic Asian and pan-Asian groupings and communities before 1965 and after;
  13. examine the role of Asian Americans and the third world Liberation Front in developing Ethnic Studies as a social movement in California and across the nation;
  14. assess various Asian American social movements, labor movements, and immigration reform from the 20th and 21st centuries;
  15. analyze linkages between US foreign policy and its effects on immigration and transnational communities;
  16. critically analyze Asian American historical issues through the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality;
  17. examine a range of primary and secondary sources such as oral histories, court rulings, newspaper articles, memoirs, poems, political cartoons, and other visual media.
Course Content:

  1. Immigration laws and policies as related to concepts of race, racism, racialization, eurocentrism, white supremacy, and anti-Asian practices:

    1. 1907, "Gentlemen's Agreement" between the U.S. and Japan, whereby Japan stops issuing passports to laborers desiring to emigrate to the U.S.

      1. Intersection of race, gender, immigration: 1907-1920 Loophole in “Gentlemen’s Agreement” allowed wives and children to immigrate, so many women from Japan, Okinawa, and Korea began immigrating to Hawaii as “Picture Brides” until 1920 when anti-Japanese sentiment influenced the Japanese government to stop issuing passports to “picture brides”

    2. 1910s – Angel Island detention center, ill treatment and interrogation of early Asian immigrants and white supremacist ideas around Chinese immigrants carrying disease, unfit for entry

      1. Connection to eurocentric immigration policies which prioritized European immigrants and excluded and detained immigrants from Asia

    3. 1917 Immigration Law (Asiatic Barred Zone Act) as a white supremacistpolicy- barring immigration from a geographic Asia-Pacific "barred zone" (including India)

    4. Anti-racist struggle as related to challenging laws: 1922, Takao Ozawa v. U.S., Supreme Court upholds 1790 naturalization act, claiming Japanese are ineligible for naturalization because Ozawa wasn’t white or what is “popularly known as the Caucasian race”

    5. Intersection of race, gender, and citizenship: 1922 Cable Act determines that an American female citizen who marries “an alien ineligible to citizenship” would lose her citizenship

    6. Anti-racist struggle as related to challenging laws: 1923, U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind Supreme Court decision declares Asian Indians ineligible for naturalized citizenship based on the familiar or common understanding that “Hindus” were not white

    7. 1924 Immigration Act as a white supremacistpolicy-denies entry to virtually all Asians.

    8. 1927, Lum v. Rice, US Supreme Court as a white supremacistcase, supporting structural racism - upheld racial segregation  - claimed that the exclusion on the account of race of a Chinese American child did not violate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on the authority that Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) deemed that separate was equal for Asians as it was for Blacks

    9. Intersection of race, nationality, citizenship and immigration: 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act ended Asian exclusion, and ended naturalization for whites only

    10. Intersection of race, nationality, class, and immigration: 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Cellar Act) abolished national origins quota system, and replaced with preference system based on skills and family ties.

    11. Intersection of race, nationality, class, and immigration: Class-divide in post-1965 Asian American community as result of post-1965 immigration policies

    12. Intersection of class, nationality, and immigration: 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act allowed undocumented people to apply for legal status, while also imposing penalties on employers for hiring undocumented people.

    13. 1988 - American Homecoming Act allows children in Vietnam born of American fathers to immigrate to the U.S.

    14. Intersection of class, nationality, and immigration: 2012 DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – an executive order by President Barack Obama which gave temporary legal status to the close to 1 million undocumented youth in the U.S. About 20% of those who applied for DACA came from Asian countries. Asian American community continues to fight for immigrant rights.

  2. California constitution, government, laws, policies, and cases

    1. Review the Constitution of the State of California

    2. Review the nature and processes of California state and local government and how it impacted Asian Americans

      1. Intersection of race and gender:1905, Section 60 of California's Civil Code amended to forbid marriage between whites and "Mongolians"

    3. Intersection of race and immigration:1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires destroy all municipal records, giving Chinese immigrants an opportunity to claim U.S. citizenship and begin to petition to bring over wives and children – the start of Chinese immigrants coming as “Paper sons”

    4. Intersection of race and citizenship: California Alien Land Law of 1913 – prohibits “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from buying land – Asian immigrants find loopholes to begin buying land

    5. 1956, California repeals its Alien Land Law

    6. Anti-racist struggles connected to present-day education and language policies and practices - 1974, Lau v. Nichols rules that school districts with children who speak little to no English must provide bilingual education

  3. Anti-Asian Violence

    1. Intersection of race, gender, and sexuality:1930, anti-Filipino riot in Watsonville, California in reaction to marriage between a Filipino man and white woman;

    2. anti-racist struggle in connection to present-day social and legal policies around anti-Asian hate and violence: 1982, Vincent Chin killing leading to pan-Asian American justice and mobilization movement of the 1980s

    3. anti-racist struggle in connection to present-day policies and movements around interracial solidarity:  in aftermath of 1992, April 29, “LA riots” where Korean businesses were looted and burned in reaction to outrage over Rodney King verdict, efforts of Black-Korean solidarity for next several decades

    4. Intersection of race, nationality, and religion: 2001 – September 11 attack on the World Trade Center leads to increased hate crimes against Muslim and South Asian communities, and surveillance by local and federal police agencies of Muslim communities and activists. 

  4. WWII and Japanese Internment

    1. December 7, 1941- Japanese military attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the United States enters World War II; 2,000 Japanese community leaders along Pacific Coast states and Hawaii are rounded up and interned in Department of Justice camps

    2. 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, enabling the establishment of "internment camps" for 120,000 Japanese Americans and others deemed "enemy aliens" regardless of citizenship

    3. 1943, Congress repeals all Chinese exclusion laws, grants right of naturalization and a very small immigration quota to Chinese (105 per year)

    4. 1945, August 6 - atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and August 9, on Nagasaki, ushering in the nuclear age; August 14, 1945 - Japan surrenders, ending World War II

    5. Intersection of race, gender, and immigration:1945, Dec 28 – War Brides Act – allowed the immigration of spouses and children of U.S. military personnel. A new racialized and gendered image of Asian wives as “assimilable Americans” was developed during this era.

    6. anti-racist struggle in connection to present-day social and political policies related to reparations and redress:

      1. 1983, Fred Korematsu, Min Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi file petitions to overturn their World War II convictions for violating the curfew and evacuation orders.

      2. 1987 - The U.S. House of Representatives votes 243 to 141 to make an official apology to Japanese Americans and to pay each surviving internee $20,000 in reparations.

      3. 1988 - The U.S. Senate votes 69 to 27 to support redress for Japanese Americans, creating The Civil Liberties Act of 1988

      4. 1989 - President George Bush signs into law an entitlement program to pay each surviving Japanese American internee $20,000.

    7. Intersection of race, imperialism, and gender: 1991 – Kim Hak-Sun was the first woman to come forward about the plight of “Comfort Women” – the estimated 200,000- 400,000 children and women from occupied territories in Asia who were coerced into sex slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during WWII. This brought up related issues around exploitation and rape of Asian women around U.S. military bases both during wars and after.

  5. Cold Wars and Refugees

    1. 1950 – 1953, Korean War

    2. 1955 – start of the Vietnam War

    3. 1965 – 1973, CIA’s Secret War in Laos – CIA recruited (or coerced) Hmong and Iu Mien people in Laos to fight against the Viet Cong. U.S. dropped more than 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos, making it the most heavily bombed country per capita in history.

    4. 1975 – Vietnam War ends, US pulls out of Southeast Asian, more than 130,000 refugees enter the U.S. from Vietnam, Kampuchea (Cambodia), and Laos as Communist governments are established there

    5. 1975 – 1979 – Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge, exterminated more than 2 million Cambodians, and led to a mass exodus of refugees. Over 150,000 escaped to the U.S.

    6. 1978 – Second wave of Vietnamese refugees, “boat people,” came to the U.S. – nearly 2 million left Vietnam (closer to 3 million if counting Laos and Cambodia), over 700,000 refugees settled in the U.S. between 1975-2002.

  6. Anti-racist, liberatory solidarity struggles engaged in by Asian Americans and connection to present-day social, educational, political, and cultural policies and practices

    1. 1965 – 1970 – The Delano Grape Strike – first led by Filipino farm workers and president of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, Larry Itliong, soon joined by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta of the National Farm Workers Association and Latinx farm workers. The unions join to form the United Farm Workers.

    2. 1968 – third world Liberation Front strike at San Francisco State College demands the establishment of an ethnic studies program – longest student strike ever – 5 months

    3. Intersection of race, nationality, and class: 1968 -1977 – elderly and low-income Filipino and Chinese residents of the I-Hotel (International Hotel) in San Francisco were forcefully evicted by the police, while thousands picketed to protect the last of Manilatown against the expansion of the financial district. This movement for housing rights continued for decades, leading to the establishment of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation which rebuilt low-income senior housing and a community center. Connection to present-day struggles for housing rights and access. 

    4. 1969 – students at UC Berkeley strike for ethnic studies

    5. Intersection of race, gender, and sexuality: 1960-90s - Gender and sexuality based movements led by Asian American women 

    6. Intersection of race, gender, and class: 1980s - garment workers movement

    7. Asian American movement leaders/activist engaged in interracial solidarity movements

      1. Yuri Kochiyama, Richard Aoki, Grace Lee Boggs, Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz

Methods of Instruction:
  1. Lecture/Discussion
  2. Written assignments
  3. Textbook reading assignments
  4. Large and small group presentation
  5. Distance Education
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  1. Group presentation on the impact of U.S. Imperialism and Cold Wars on Asian immigration and settlement in the U.S. Choose from the following: sex workers in Asia around U.S. military bases; impact of the Korean War on Korean American immigration; impact of the CIA’s Secret War on Hmong and Iu Mien refugees; impact of the Vietnam War on Vietnamese refugees and Vietnamese American identity.
  2. Essay: Summarize the role and impact of Asian American civil rights leaders in major social movements such as the development of ethnic studies, farm workers' rights, or housing rights and compare and contrast with major civil rights leaders from a different racial/ethnic groups, such as Latinx and African American leaders.
  3. Analyze the California Constitution and legislation efforts and their impact on racial minorities. How are historical moments and demographic shifts reflected in the law?
  1. Attendance
  2. Final Examination or Project
  3. Exams/Tests
  4. Group Projects
  5. Papers
  6. Research Projects
Upon the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. Synthesize factual information and historical evidence from a variety of sources and identify the connections between them.
  2. Demonstrate a body of knowledge about and critical understanding of historical eras, their key events and ideas, and the process of change over time.
  3. Analyze the causes and consequences of political, economic and social change.
  4. Compare and contrast the struggles and contributions of Asian Americans in the formation of the United States and California, with other major groups like European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Chicanx/Latinx.
Textbooks (Typical):
  1. Lee, E (2015). The Making of Asian America: A History. Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.
  2. Schlund-Vials, C.J., K. S. Wong, J.O. Chang (2017). Asian America: A Primary Source Reader (1st). Yale University Press.
  3. Lee, J.H.X. (2015). History of Asian Americans: exploring diverse roots. Greenwood.
  4. Kurashige, L. (2016). Two faces of exclusion: the untold history of anti-asian racism in the United States. The University of North Carolina Press..
  5. Nguyen, P.T. (2017). Becoming refugee american: the politics of rescue in little saigon. University of Illinois Press.
  6. Okubo, M. (2014). Citizen 13660 University of Washington Press.
  7. Mabalon, D.B. and Romasanta, G (2018). Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong Bridge and Delta Publishing.
Abbreviated Class Schedule Description:
A historical survey and critical comparative analysis of the impacts of race, racialization, white supremacy, imperialism, war, social inequity, and migration on Asian Americans from the early 20th century to the present. The course will interrogate the term “Asian American” and apply comparative analysis among diverse groups including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian. (May not receive credit if ES 43 has been completed successfully). (May not receive credit if HIS 43 has been completed successfully).
Discipline:
Ethnic Studies*