achievement
Dalip Singh Saund Takes Office in Congress
Sworn in on the opening day of the 85th Congress, the Punjabi-born Californian became the first Asian American, first Indian American, and first Sikh elected to the US Congress.
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achievement
Jay Kim Enters Congress
Jay Kim of California was sworn into the US House as the first Korean American member of Congress. (Shares Jan 3 with Saund, Duckworth, and Harris.)
achievement
Mazie Hirono Enters the US Senate
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii was sworn into the US Senate as the first Asian American woman senator, the first immigrant woman senator, and the first senator born in Japan. (Shares Jan 3-the day Congress convenes-with several other Asian American political firsts.)
achievement
Tammy Duckworth Enters Congress
Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and double amputee born in Bangkok, took her US House seat as the first Thai American woman and first person born in Thailand in Congress, and the first woman with a disability elected to the House. (Shares Jan 3 with Dalip Singh Saund.)
achievement
Kamala Harris Enters the US Senate
Kamala Harris was sworn in as a US senator from California, the first Indian American and the second Black woman to serve in the Senate. (Shares Jan 3 with Dalip Singh Saund and Tammy Duckworth.)
achievement
Patsy Mink Enters Congress
Sworn in Jan 4, 1965, the Hawaii Democrat became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman in Congress; she later co-authored Title IX.
resistance
1895 Wilcox Rebellion (Counter-Revolution)
Royalists led by Robert Wilcox mounted an armed attempt to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani and the Hawaiian Kingdom; the Republic crushed it in three days, then arrested the Queen on Jan 16 and forced her abdication on Jan 24.
achievement
March Fong Eu Sworn In as California Secretary of State
On January 6, 1975, March Fong Eu was sworn in as California Secretary of State — the first Asian American elected to statewide constitutional office in the United States, and earlier the first Asian American woman elected to the California legislature.
injustice
Massie Case: Killing of Joseph Kahahawai
Native Hawaiian Joseph Kahahawai was kidnapped and killed by relatives and associates of Thalia Massie after a mistrial in her disputed assault case; the killers' 10-year sentences were commuted to one hour, exposing racial injustice in the islands.
Content note: racial violence
history
'Model Minority' Myth Coined
Sociologist William Petersen's New York Times Magazine article 'Success Story, Japanese-American Style' popularized the 'model minority' idea; scholars note it was used to dismiss other groups' claims of racism and still burdens Asian Americans today.
achievement
Nikki Haley Becomes Governor of South Carolina
Nikki Haley took office as governor of South Carolina-the first Indian American woman to serve as a US governor, and the state's first woman and first person of color in the office.
history
First Korean Immigrants Arrive in Hawaii
The RMS Gaelic arrived in Honolulu carrying 102 Koreans-laborers recruited for Hawaii's sugar plantations plus women and children-marking the start of Korean immigration to the United States; Jan 13 is now observed as Korean American Day.
achievement
Bobby Jindal Becomes Governor of Louisiana
Bobby Jindal was inaugurated as governor of Louisiana, the first Indian American governor in US history and, at 36, the nation's youngest sitting governor at the time.
achievement
Chien-Shiung Wu Proves Parity Violation
Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu announced experimental proof that nature violates 'conservation of parity,' overturning a basic assumption of physics; her Columbia colleagues Lee and Yang won the Nobel, but Wu-later the first woman to lead the American Physical Society-did not. (Shares Jan 15 with Gary Locke's governorship.)
achievement
Gary Locke Becomes Governor of Washington
Gary Locke was inaugurated as governor of Washington, the first Chinese American governor in US history and the first Asian American governor of a mainland state.
injustice
Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom
American businessmen and sugar planters, backed by US Marines, deposed Queen Liliuokalani and overthrew the sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom.
injustice
Stockton Schoolyard Shooting
A gunman opened fire on the schoolyard at Cleveland Elementary, killing five Cambodian and Vietnamese refugee children and wounding about 30 others before killing himself; he had voiced resentment of Asian immigrants. (Shares Jan 17 with the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.)
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Watsonville Anti-Filipino Riots Begin
Five days of mob violence against Filipino farmworkers began Jan 19; on Jan 23, rioters killed 22-year-old Fermin Tobera.
Content note: racial violence
resistance
Oyama v. California Decided
The Supreme Court ruled that California's Alien Land Law, as applied, violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Fred Oyama, a US citizen whose immigrant father had bought land in his name. The Court did not strike the law itself. (Shares Jan 19 with the 1930 Watsonville anti-Filipino riots.)
resistance
Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920
Filipino workers walked out on Oahu's sugar plantations, soon joined by the Federation of Japanese Labor, in a multiethnic strike of some 8,300 workers demanding higher wages.
achievement
Kamala Harris Sworn In as Vice President
Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President of the United States, becoming the first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian American to hold the office. (Shares Jan 20 with the 1920 Oahu sugar strike.)
history
Angel Island Immigration Station Opens
The Angel Island Immigration Station opened in San Francisco Bay; often called the 'Ellis Island of the West,' it processed-and, under the exclusion laws, often detained and interrogated-hundreds of thousands of Asian immigrants until 1940. (Shares Jan 21 with Lau v. Nichols and the Monterey Park shooting.)
resistance
Lau v. Nichols Decided
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that San Francisco schools' failure to provide English-language support to Chinese-speaking students violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
history
Monterey Park Lunar New Year Shooting
A gunman killed 11 people, most of them older Asian Americans, at a dance studio during Lunar New Year celebrations in the majority-Asian city; investigators cited a personal rather than racial motive. (Shares Jan 21 with Lau v. Nichols.)
Content note: mass shooting
resistance
Third World Liberation Front Strike at UC Berkeley
A multiracial student coalition-including the Asian American Political Alliance-launched the Third World Liberation Front strike at UC Berkeley, winning the creation of ethnic studies; with the SF State strike it anchored the emerging Asian American Movement.
history
Half Moon Bay Farm Shootings
A farmworker fatally shot seven people-five Chinese and two Latino-at two mushroom farms; the attack drew national attention to conditions faced by immigrant farmworkers.
Content note: mass shooting
achievement
Ellison Onizuka Becomes First Asian American in Space
The Hawaii-born astronaut launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-51-C).
achievement
Elaine Chao Confirmed to the Cabinet
Elaine Chao was confirmed as US Secretary of Labor, the first Asian American woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet; she led the department for eight years. (Shares Jan 29 with Mee Moua's 2002 election.)
achievement
Mee Moua Elected to Minnesota Senate
Mee Moua won a Minnesota state Senate special election to become the first Hmong American elected to any US state legislature; she had come to the US as a child refugee.
history
Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 Signed
The Kingdom of Hawaii and the US signed the Reciprocity Treaty, granting Hawaiian sugar duty-free US access and binding the islands economically to America-accelerating the plantation economy and the path to annexation. (Shares Jan 30 with Fred Korematsu Day.)
achievement
First Fred Korematsu Day
California observed the first Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution on Jan 30-Korematsu's birthday-making it the first US holiday named for an Asian American; several states later adopted it.
resistance
Korean National Association Founded
Korean immigrants merged mainland and Hawaii groups to form the Korean National Association in San Francisco; led by Ahn Chang-ho, it became the main organizing body for Koreans in America and a hub of the diaspora's independence movement. (Shares Feb 1 with the 442nd RCT's activation.)
achievement
442nd Regimental Combat Team Activated
President Roosevelt activated the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated Nisei unit drawn from Hawaii and the mainland camps that became the most decorated unit of its size in US military history.
achievement
'Linsanity' Begins
Jeremy Lin's breakout game for the New York Knicks launched 'Linsanity'; the undrafted, Harvard-educated guard became one of the NBA's first American-born stars of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
achievement
Satya Nadella Becomes Microsoft CEO
Satya Nadella, an Indian American engineer, was named Microsoft's third chief executive on February 4, 2014 — among the highest-profile leadership roles reached by an Asian American in the tech industry.
injustice
Asiatic Barred Zone Act Enacted
Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1917 over the President's veto, barring immigration from most of Asia via a defined 'Asiatic Barred Zone.'
injustice
Eureka Chinese Expulsion
After a city councilman was killed by a stray bullet, a mob expelled virtually the entire Chinese community-about 480 people-from Eureka within two days, a 'method' that spread across the West. (Shares Feb 7 with the 1886 Seattle expulsion.)
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Seattle Anti-Chinese Expulsion
A mob tied to the Knights of Labor rounded up most of Seattle's Chinese residents and forced them toward a waiting steamship; violence, federal troops, and martial law followed. (Shares Feb 7 with the 1885 Eureka expulsion.)
Content note: racial violence
resistance
Oxnard Sugar Beet Strike and the JMLA
Japanese and Mexican sugar-beet workers formed the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association-the first major multiracial farm-labor union in California-and walked off the job, winning by March; the AFL then refused a charter unless Japanese members were excluded, and the union refused.
achievement
Chloe Kim Wins Olympic Snowboarding Gold
Chloe Kim won the Olympic snowboard halfpipe at Pyeongchang, becoming, at 17, the youngest woman to win Olympic snowboarding gold.
resistance
Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund Created
More than 60 years after the Rescission Act, Congress created the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund (in the 2009 Recovery Act), granting one-time payments to surviving Filipino WWII veterans-a partial redress for benefits long denied.
injustice
Rescission Act Strips Filipino Veterans' Benefits
President Truman signed the Rescission Act, retroactively stripping some 250,000 Filipino soldiers who fought under the US flag in WWII of the veterans' benefits they had been promised; of all US wartime allies, only Filipinos were denied.
injustice
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind Decided
The Supreme Court (261 U.S. 204) ruled that Indian immigrants were not 'white' and were therefore ineligible for naturalized citizenship. (Shares Feb 19 with EO 9066 - a tie-break decision.)
injustice
Executive Order 9066 Signed
President Roosevelt authorized the forced removal and incarceration of roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans. (Shares Feb 19 with the Thind ruling - a tie-break decision.)
resistance
Ford Terminates Executive Order 9066
On the 34th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, President Ford signed Proclamation 4417, 'An American Promise,' formally terminating the order and calling the wartime incarceration a national mistake. (Shares Feb 19 with EO 9066 and the Thind ruling.)
resistance
Willows Korean Aviation School Established
Backed by the Korean Provisional Government, Korean immigrants opened an aviation school in Willows, California, to train pilots for the independence struggle-a forerunner of the Republic of Korea Air Force. (Established Feb 20; grand opening July 5, 1920.)
achievement
Kristi Yamaguchi Wins Olympic Figure Skating Gold
Kristi Yamaguchi won the Olympic ladies' figure skating title at Albertville, becoming the first Asian American to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
injustice
Rice v. Cayetano Decided
The Supreme Court (7-2) struck down Hawaii's practice of limiting Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee elections to Native Hawaiian voters, ruling it an unconstitutional racial classification under the Fifteenth Amendment.
resistance
Justice Department Ends the China Initiative
The DOJ ended its 'China Initiative' after years of criticism that the program racially profiled Chinese American and immigrant scientists and chilled US research. (Shares Feb 23 with Rice v. Cayetano.)
resistance
Personal Justice Denied Report Issued
On February 24, 1983, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) issued Personal Justice Denied, concluding the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans stemmed from 'race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership' rather than military necessity. It laid the groundwork for the 1988 Civil Liberties Act and redress.
history
First Bhutanese Refugees Resettled in the US
The first Bhutanese refugee family-ethnic Nepali (Lhotshampa) expelled from Bhutan and long held in camps in Nepal-was resettled in the US, beginning a program that brought over 85,000 Bhutanese, the era's largest such resettlement.
injustice
Castle Bravo Nuclear Test at Bikini Atoll
The US detonated Castle Bravo, its largest-ever nuclear test, at Bikini Atoll; fallout contaminated inhabited Marshallese atolls, causing radiation sickness and lasting displacement and health harm.
achievement
Yahoo Incorporated
Stanford students Jerry Yang and David Filo incorporated Yahoo, turning their web directory into one of the internet era's defining companies; Yang, born in Taiwan, became a prominent Asian American tech pioneer.
injustice
Page Act Signed Into Law
The first restrictive federal immigration law effectively barred Chinese women by presuming them to be immoral.
resistance
Tape v. Hurley Decided
The California Supreme Court ruled that Chinese American children like Mamie Tape could not be barred from public school; San Francisco responded by opening a segregated 'Chinese' school. (Shares Mar 3 with the 1875 Page Act.)
injustice
San Francisco Chinatown Plague Quarantine
After a plague death, San Francisco officials cordoned off about 12 blocks of Chinatown overnight, enforcing the quarantine only against Chinese residents while letting white residents pass-an early case of race-based public-health policy. (Shares Mar 7 with the Kahoʻolawe activists lost at sea.)
resistance
Kahoʻolawe: George Helm and Kimo Mitchell Lost
Native Hawaiian activist-musician George Helm and Kimo Mitchell were lost at sea returning from Kahoʻolawe, where the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana was resisting US Navy bombing of the sacred island; their deaths galvanized the Hawaiian movement.
achievement
Ke Huy Quan Wins an Academy Award
Ke Huy Quan, who fled Vietnam as a child refugee, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Everything Everywhere All at Once-the first Vietnamese-born actor, and the first Asian man since Haing Ngor, to win the award.
injustice
Atlanta Spa Shootings
A gunman killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area spas; though the shooter denied a racial motive, the attack became a flashpoint amid a surge of anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Content note: racial and gender-based violence
history
Eddie Aikau Lost at Sea
Legendary Native Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau was lost after the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa capsized; he paddled off on a surfboard to get help for the crew and was never found, inspiring the saying 'Eddie would go.' (Shares Mar 17 with the Refugee Act of 1980.)
history
Refugee Act of 1980 Signed
President Carter signed the law creating the first permanent, uniform US system for admitting and resettling refugees, enacted amid the mass arrival of Southeast Asian refugees after the Vietnam War.
injustice
War Relocation Authority Created
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority-the civilian agency that ran the ten camps where Japanese Americans were incarcerated.
resistance
Dan Choi Comes Out to Challenge 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Lt. Dan Choi, a Korean American West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran, came out as gay on national television, becoming a leading face of the movement to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' (Shares Mar 19 with the founding of Stop AAPI Hate.)
resistance
Stop AAPI Hate Founded
As anti-Asian harassment surged early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Cynthia Choi, Russell Jeung, and Manjusha Kulkarni launched Stop AAPI Hate, which documented thousands of incidents and became a national voice against anti-Asian racism.
injustice
Manzanar Opens as First WRA Camp
The first Japanese Americans-volunteers from Los Angeles, soon followed by families removed from Bainbridge Island-arrived at Manzanar in California's Owens Valley, the first War Relocation Authority camp to open. (Shares Mar 21 with Public Law 503.)
injustice
Public Law 503 Enacted
Congress passed Public Law 503, making it a federal crime to violate military exclusion orders and giving legal force to the removal authorized by Executive Order 9066. (Shares Mar 21 with the opening of Manzanar.)
injustice
Tydings-McDuffie Act Signed
President Roosevelt signed the Philippine Independence Act, which reclassified Filipinos in the US from 'nationals' to 'aliens' and cut Filipino immigration to a quota of 50 per year.
history
Northern Mariana Islands Covenant Approved
Congress approved the Covenant making the Northern Mariana Islands a US commonwealth and extending US citizenship to its CHamoru and Carolinian people; CNMI marks the date as Covenant Day. (Shares Mar 24 with the 1934 Tydings-McDuffie Act.)
achievement
Haing S. Ngor Wins an Academy Award
Haing S. Ngor, a Cambodian doctor who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide and had never acted before, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields-the first performer of Asian descent to win the award.
injustice
Naturalization Act of 1790 Enacted
The first federal naturalization law limited citizenship to 'free white persons,' establishing the racial bar that would later exclude Asian immigrants from naturalizing for over 150 years.
achievement
Miyoshi Umeki Wins an Academy Award
Miyoshi Umeki won Best Supporting Actress for Sayonara, becoming the first performer of Asian descent to win an acting Oscar. (Shares Mar 26 with the 1790 Naturalization Act.)
resistance
United States v. Wong Kim Ark Decided
The Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship for a man born in the US to Chinese immigrant parents.
resistance
Chol Soo Lee Freed
Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant wrongfully convicted of a 1973 San Francisco murder, was freed after a pan-Asian movement-sparked by K.W. Lee's reporting-organized across ethnic lines to overturn his conviction. (Shares Mar 28 with United States v. Wong Kim Ark.)
history
Afghans and Central Asians Reclassified as Asian
A federal revision of race and ethnicity standards reclassified Afghans and Central Asians (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek) from 'White' to 'Asian,' formally recognizing them within the Asian American category for the first time. (Shares Mar 28 with Wong Kim Ark and Chol Soo Lee's release.)
achievement
Zalmay Khalilzad, First Afghan-Born US Ambassador
The Senate confirmed Zalmay Khalilzad as US ambassador to the United Nations; born and raised in Kabul, he was the first Afghan-born American to serve as a US ambassador-to Afghanistan in 2003, then Iraq, then the UN-and the first Muslim to represent the US at the UN.
injustice
Bainbridge Island Forced Removal
The roughly 220 Japanese American residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington, were the first community forcibly removed under Executive Order 9066, given six days' notice and sent to Manzanar.
resistance
American Citizens for Justice Founded
Two weeks after Vincent Chin's killers avoided prison, activists led by Helen Zia, Liza Chan, and Lily Chin founded American Citizens for Justice in Detroit-the first pan-Asian American civil-rights group of national scope, which also welcomed non-Asian allies.
resistance
East West Players, First Asian American Theater, Debuts
East West Players, founded in 1965 as the first Asian American theater company in the United States, premiered its first production, Rashomon, on April 3, 1965, at USC — creating space for Asian American actors beyond Hollywood's stereotyped roles.
history
Operation Babylift
As Saigon fell, the US airlifted some 3,000 Vietnamese orphans to America; the very first flight crashed on April 4, killing 138 aboard, most of them children.
achievement
Jensen Huang Co-Founds NVIDIA
On April 5, 1993, Jensen Huang, a Taiwanese American engineer, co-founded NVIDIA in Sunnyvale, California. The company became a leader in graphics and later AI computing, and Huang one of the most prominent Asian American figures in technology.
injustice
Yamataya v. Fisher (Japanese Immigrant Case) Decided
The Supreme Court upheld Kaoru Yamataya's deportation but held for the first time that deportation proceedings must satisfy Fifth Amendment due process.
injustice
James Wakasa Killed at Topaz
James Hatsuaki Wakasa, a 63-year-old chef, was shot dead by a guard while inside the fence at the Topaz camp in Utah; the sentry was acquitted, and inmates were later ordered to dismantle the memorial they built for him.
Content note: violence
achievement
Tiger Woods Wins the Masters
Tiger Woods, whose mother is Thai, won the Masters by a record 12 strokes at age 21, becoming the first non-white golfer-and the youngest-to win the tournament.
resistance
First Korean Congress in Philadelphia
Inspired by Korea's March 1st Movement, Philip Jaisohn convened the First Korean Congress in Philadelphia, where delegates read a Korean declaration of independence and launched a US campaign for Korean freedom.
history
Indianapolis FedEx Shooting
A former employee killed eight people at a FedEx facility, four of them members of Indianapolis's Sikh community; police said the shooting was not racially motivated.
Content note: mass shooting
history
American Samoa Deed of Cession (Tutuila)
High chiefs of Tutuila signed a Deed of Cession transferring the island to the United States; American Samoa's people became US nationals-a status that, uniquely, still does not confer birthright citizenship.
history
Fall of Phnom Penh
The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and emptied the city at gunpoint, beginning a genocide that killed some 1.5-2 million Cambodians and drove waves of survivors to seek refuge in the US. (Shares Apr 17 with the 1900 American Samoa cession.)
Content note: genocide
achievement
Herbert Choy Becomes First Asian American Federal Judge
Herbert Choy was commissioned to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, becoming the first Asian American-and first Korean American-to serve as a federal judge.
history
First Vietnamese Refugees Arrive at Camp Pendleton
On April 29, 1975, the first Vietnamese refugees arrived at Camp Pendleton, California, which opened as the first mainland U.S. processing center under Operation New Arrivals and eventually received tens of thousands.
history
Los Angeles Unrest and Saigu
During the unrest after the acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King, Korean-owned businesses in and around LA's Koreatown were disproportionately damaged and looted; Korean Americans call it 'Sa-I-Gu' (4-29).
Content note: civil unrest
history
Hawaiian Organic Act Enacted
Congress established the Territory of Hawaii and its government, conferring US citizenship on those who had been citizens of the Republic of Hawaii-part of the colonial framework imposed after the Kingdom's 1893 overthrow and 1898 annexation. (Shares Apr 30 with the 1975 Fall of Saigon.)
history
Fall of Saigon Begins Southeast Asian Refugee Migration
The end of the Vietnam War triggered the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, and later Hmong, Cambodian, and Lao, refugees in the US. (Shares Apr 30 with the 1900 Hawaiian Organic Act.)
history
Japanese American National Museum Opens
The Japanese American National Museum opened to the public in a former Buddhist temple in LA's Little Tokyo-the first US museum dedicated to the Japanese American experience. (Shares Apr 30 with the Hawaiian Organic Act and the Fall of Saigon.)
achievement
Hōkūleʻa's Maiden Voyage to Tahiti
The double-hulled voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa departed Hawaiʻi for Tahiti using only traditional wayfinding, demonstrating that Polynesians navigated the Pacific intentionally and igniting the Hawaiian Renaissance.
injustice
Geary Act Signed Into Law
Congress extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for ten more years and required Chinese residents to carry certificates of residence at all times or face arrest, hard labor, and deportation.
injustice
Chinese Exclusion Act Signed Into Law
President Chester A. Arthur signed the first US law to bar a group by nationality; it suspended Chinese labor immigration and barred Chinese immigrants from naturalization.
resistance
Great Japanese Plantation Strike
About 7,000 Japanese plantation workers on Oahu struck for months demanding pay equal to that of other ethnic groups doing the same work-the islands' first large-scale organized plantation strike.
resistance
Kiyoshi Kuromiya Born
Kiyoshi Kuromiya, born this day at the Heart Mountain concentration camp, became a civil-rights, anti-war, gay-liberation, and pioneering AIDS activist-co-founding Philadelphia's Gay Liberation Front and the Critical Path AIDS project. (Anchored on his birth anniversary.)
resistance
Yick Wo v. Hopkins Decided
The Supreme Court unanimously held that a facially neutral San Francisco laundry ordinance enforced almost exclusively against Chinese owners violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
injustice
Chae Chan Ping v. United States (Chinese Exclusion Case) Decided
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Scott Act barring the reentry of a lawfully resident Chinese laborer, establishing the 'plenary power' doctrine giving Congress near-total control over immigration.
resistance
Heungsadan (Young Korean Academy) Founded
Ahn Chang-ho founded Heungsadan in San Francisco to cultivate moral and civic leadership for the Korean independence movement; it endures as a Korean American civic institution. (Shares May 13 with the Chinese Exclusion Case.)
injustice
Asiatic Exclusion League Formed
Labor leaders and others met in San Francisco to launch the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League (later the Asiatic Exclusion League), which grew to claim 100,000 members and drove anti-Asian agitation and legislation across the West. (Shares May 14 with the Hmong airlift from Long Tieng and the injunction protecting Vietnamese fishermen.)
history
Hmong Airlift from Long Tieng
As Laos fell to the Pathet Lao, the US airlifted Gen. Vang Pao and about 2,500 Hmong who had fought in the CIA's 'Secret War' from Long Tieng to Thailand; most Hmong allies were left behind, beginning a long refugee exodus. (Shares May 14 with the 1981 injunction protecting Vietnamese fishermen.)
resistance
Injunction Halts Klan Attacks on Vietnamese Fishermen
A federal court issued an injunction barring the Ku Klux Klan from intimidating Vietnamese refugee fishermen on Galveston Bay, Texas, ending a campaign of boat burnings and armed threats.
injustice
Fong Yue Ting v. United States Decided
The Supreme Court (5-3) upheld the Geary Act's certificate-of-residence and deportation provisions, ruling that Congress's power to deport resident Chinese was as broad as its power to exclude.
achievement
I.M. Pei Wins the Pritzker Prize
Chinese American architect I.M. Pei received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honor; his works include the National Gallery's East Building and the Louvre Pyramid. (Shares May 16 with Daniel Akaka's Senate appointment.)
achievement
Daniel Akaka Enters the US Senate
Daniel Akaka was appointed to the US Senate from Hawaii, becoming the first US senator of Native Hawaiian descent; he won election that November and served until 2013.
achievement
Tye Leung Schulze, First Chinese American Woman to Vote
Tye Leung Schulze cast a ballot in San Francisco as the first Chinese American woman to vote in the United States, months after California granted women suffrage; she was also the first Chinese American woman to hold a US civil-service job. (Shares May 19 with the California Alien Land Law and Yuri Kochiyama's birth.)
injustice
California Alien Land Law Signed
Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Webb-Haney Act, barring 'aliens ineligible for citizenship'-chiefly Asian immigrants-from owning agricultural land. (Assembly passed it May 3, the date EJI uses; sources give the signing as May 19 or May 20.)
resistance
Yuri Kochiyama Born
Yuri Kochiyama, born this day, survived WWII incarceration and became a leading advocate of Black-Asian solidarity and human rights-working alongside Malcolm X and helping found Asian Americans for Action. (Anchored on her birth anniversary; shares May 19 with the California Alien Land Law.)
resistance
COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act Signed
Amid a surge of anti-Asian violence during the pandemic, President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act-sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng and Sen. Mazie Hirono-to speed hate-crime review and reporting.
history
Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act Signed
Following the fall of Saigon, President Ford signed the law funding the reception and resettlement of more than 130,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in the US.
injustice
Toyota v. United States Decided
The Supreme Court ruled that Hidemitsu Toyota, a Japanese immigrant who served roughly a decade in the US Coast Guard including during WWI, was still racially ineligible for naturalization, and canceled his citizenship.
injustice
Immigration Act of 1924 Signed
President Coolidge signed the Johnson-Reed Act, which barred virtually all immigration from Asia through its 'ineligible to citizenship' provision. (Most sources cite May 26, 1924; a few say May 24.)
injustice
Insular Cases Begin (Downes v. Bidwell)
In the first of the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court held the Constitution does not fully apply to 'unincorporated' territories-the doctrine that still shapes the status and rights of Guam, American Samoa, and other Pacific territories. (Shares May 27 with the Hells Canyon Massacre.)
achievement
The Kite Runner Published
Khaled Hosseini's debut novel The Kite Runner was published-the first widely read English-language novel by an Afghan American; it became an international bestseller and introduced many readers to Afghan life and the refugee experience.
injustice
Assassination of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes
Filipino American labor reformers Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, officers of ILWU Local 37, were assassinated in Seattle; a civil jury later found the Marcos regime had ordered the killings over their anti-Marcos organizing.
Content note: violence
achievement
Connie Chung Anchors the CBS Evening News
Connie Chung began co-anchoring the CBS Evening News, becoming the first Asian American-and second woman-to anchor a major US network nightly newscast. (Shares Jun 1 with the Domingo and Viernes assassination.)
achievement
Lea Salonga Wins a Tony Award
Filipina performer Lea Salonga won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Miss Saigon at the 45th Tony Awards, becoming the first performer of Asian descent to win a lead-acting Tony.
achievement
David Henry Hwang Wins Tony Award for M. Butterfly
At the June 5, 1988 Tony Awards, David Henry Hwang won Best Play for M. Butterfly, becoming the first Asian American playwright to win the award.
injustice
Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio Decided
The Supreme Court made employment-discrimination claims harder to prove in a suit by Filipino and Alaska Native cannery workers (Alaskeros) of ILWU Local 37; Congress partly reversed the ruling in the 1991 Civil Rights Act.
resistance
Organization of Chinese Americans Founded
On June 9, 1973, delegates convened the first national convention of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) in Washington, D.C., adopting its constitution, bylaws, and name. OCA became a leading national Chinese American civil rights and advocacy group, now OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.
achievement
Michael Chang Wins the French Open
At 17, Michael Chang won the French Open, becoming the first player of Asian descent to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest man ever to do so.
achievement
100th Infantry Battalion Activated
The Army activated the 100th Infantry Battalion, made up largely of Nisei former Hawaii National Guardsmen; the 'One Puka Puka' became one of the most decorated units of the war and a forerunner of the 442nd. (Shares Jun 12 with the Heart Mountain draft-resisters trial.)
resistance
Heart Mountain Draft-Resisters Trial
The mass trial of 63 Heart Mountain draft resisters-Fair Play Committee members who refused induction while their families were imprisoned-opened in Cheyenne; all were convicted in Wyoming's largest mass trial. (Shares Jun 12 with the 100th Battalion's activation.)
history
Loving v. Virginia Decided
The Supreme Court struck down laws banning interracial marriage; many such statutes had also criminalized Asian-white unions, so the ruling ended anti-miscegenation bars affecting Asian Americans nationwide. (Shares Jun 12 with the 100th Battalion and the Heart Mountain trial.)
injustice
Fitisemanu v. United States Decided
A federal appeals court ruled that people born in American Samoa are not guaranteed birthright citizenship, upholding the century-old Insular Cases; American Samoans remain US 'nationals,' not citizens, unless they naturalize.
history
Little Saigon Designated in Westminster
Governor Deukmejian unveiled freeway signs designating Westminster's 'Little Saigon,' recognizing the Orange County enclave that had become the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam. (A city resolution had designated the district on Feb 10, 1988.)
resistance
Congress Expresses Regret for Chinese Exclusion
The US House unanimously passed Rep. Judy Chu's resolution expressing regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act and related anti-Chinese laws; the Senate had passed a companion resolution in October 2011.
injustice
Vincent Chin Fatally Beaten
Two white autoworkers beat Chinese American Vincent Chin in a racially motivated attack; he died June 23, and his killers served no jail time.
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Hirabayashi v. United States Decided
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the wartime curfew imposed on Japanese Americans; Gordon Hirabayashi's conviction was vacated in 1986-87 after suppressed evidence came to light. (Shares June 21 with Yasui v. United States.)
injustice
Yasui v. United States Decided
Decided the same day as Hirabayashi, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Portland attorney Minoru Yasui, who had deliberately violated the military curfew to test its constitutionality. (Shares June 21 with Hirabayashi v. United States.)
achievement
Title IX Enacted
President Nixon signed Title IX, barring sex discrimination in federally funded education; its chief author was Rep. Patsy Mink, and the law was renamed in her honor after her death in 2002.
resistance
Chinese Railroad Workers Strike
Some 3,000 Chinese workers building the Central Pacific's transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada walked off the job demanding higher pay and shorter hours-among the largest labor actions of the era. (Shares Jun 24 with the 1982 Chinatown garment strike.)
resistance
New York Chinatown Garment Workers Strike
Up to 20,000 mostly Chinese immigrant women garment workers rallied and struck in New York's Chinatown, forcing employers to sign the ILGWU contract in the largest strike in Chinatown's history. (Shares Jun 24 with the 1867 Chinese railroad strike.)
history
Trump v. Hawaii Decided
Upholding a travel ban affecting several majority-Muslim nations, the Supreme Court (5-4) also formally repudiated Korematsu v. United States, stating it 'was gravely wrong the day it was decided.'
history
Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act) Enacted
Passed over President Truman's veto, the law ended the outright racial bar to naturalization dating to 1790 and gave each Asian nation a small immigration quota, though it retained restrictive national-origins quotas.
history
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Decided
The Supreme Court struck down race-conscious college admissions in a case brought in the name of Asian American applicants; AANHPI communities were sharply divided over the ruling, which rested on the 14th Amendment and Title VI.
resistance
Luce-Celler Act Signed
President Truman signed the law granting naturalization rights and small immigration quotas to Indians and Filipinos, the first time either group could become naturalized US citizens. (Some sources give July 3.)
history
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Signed
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act; its Title VI (barring discrimination in federally funded programs) was the basis of Lau v. Nichols, and Title VII (employment) underlay later Asian American workplace cases. (Shares Jul 2 with the Luce-Celler Act.)
history
First Hindu Temple in the US Consecrated
The Ganesha Temple (Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam) in Flushing, Queens, was consecrated on July 4-widely regarded as the first traditional Hindu temple built in the United States.
injustice
Bayonet Constitution Imposed
Armed white businessmen forced King Kalākaua at gunpoint to sign a new constitution that stripped the monarchy's power and disenfranchised most Native Hawaiians and Asian residents-a step toward the 1893 overthrow.
injustice
US Annexes Hawaii
President McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution annexing the Hawaiian Islands without a vote of the Hawaiian people.
history
Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
The 14th Amendment guaranteed birthright citizenship and equal protection-the constitutional foundation later used by Asian Americans in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (birthright citizenship) and Yick Wo v. Hopkins (equal protection). (Shares Jul 9 with the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.)
history
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act Signed
President Harding signed the act, championed by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, setting aside about 200,000 acres of land for homesteading by Native Hawaiians.
achievement
Duke Kahanamoku Wins Olympic Gold
Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii won the 100-meter freestyle final at the Stockholm Olympics; a Native Hawaiian, he became a global sports icon and the father of modern surfing. (Shares Jul 7 with the 1898 US annexation of Hawaii.). [DATE CORRECTED from 07-07 to 07-10: the Stockholm 1912 men's 100m freestyle final was held July 10, 1912 per Olympedia and Olympics.com; the prior 07-07 was the semifinal round.]
injustice
Filipino Repatriation Act Signed
The law offered Filipinos in the US free one-way passage to the Philippines on the condition they forfeit their right to return, an effort to reduce the Filipino population after the Tydings-McDuffie Act.
achievement
1st Filipino Infantry Regiment Established
The US Army elevated its Filipino battalion to the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in a ceremony in Salinas, California; the unit let Filipino immigrants-then barred from citizenship-serve and fight to liberate the Philippines.
injustice
Naturalization Act of 1870
Congress extended naturalization to people of African descent but pointedly left Asian immigrants barred, entrenching the 'aliens ineligible to citizenship' status that would shape Asian American life for decades.
resistance
Ghadar Party Founded
Punjabi immigrants-Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims-founded the Ghadar Party on the US West Coast to organize the overthrow of British rule in India, publishing the militant Ghadar newspaper from San Francisco. (Shares Jul 15 with Tule Lake and the Mauna Kea stand.)
injustice
Tule Lake Becomes a Segregation Center
Tule Lake in California was designated the segregation center for those who answered 'no' on the loyalty questionnaire or refused to sign; it became the largest and most heavily militarized of the ten WRA camps.
resistance
Mauna Kea Stand Against the Thirty Meter Telescope
Native Hawaiian kiaʻi (protectors) blockaded the access road to Mauna Kea to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on sacred land; the stand held for months and drew global attention. (Shares Jul 15 with Tule Lake's 1943 designation.)
achievement
Judy Chu Enters Congress
Judy Chu was sworn into the US House after a special-election win, becoming the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress.
history
Death of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee, the San Francisco-born Chinese American martial artist and actor who reshaped global perceptions of Asian Americans in film, died July 20, 1973, in Hong Kong at age 32.
history
Geneva Conference on Indochinese Refugees
With boat-people arrivals peaking near 56,000 a month, a UN conference in Geneva won pledges to more than double Western resettlement; the US led in accepting hundreds of thousands of Indochinese refugees.
history
Liberation of Guam
US forces landed to retake Guam after 31 months of harsh Japanese occupation of its CHamoru people; July 21 is still observed as Liberation Day.
achievement
Norman Mineta Joins the Cabinet
Norman Mineta became US Secretary of Commerce, the first Asian American to hold a presidential Cabinet post; he later led the Transportation Department through 9/11. (Shares Jul 21 with the Liberation of Guam.)
injustice
San Francisco Anti-Chinese Riot
A three-day anti-Chinese riot swept San Francisco, leaving four people dead and heavy property damage, and helped launch Denis Kearney's 'The Chinese Must Go' Workingmen's movement.
Content note: racial violence
history
Davis v. Guam Decided
A federal appeals court struck down Guam's planned political-status plebiscite limited to 'Native Inhabitants,' holding the restriction an unconstitutional racial proxy under the 15th Amendment-a setback for CHamoru self-determination efforts.
resistance
House Passes the 'Comfort Women' Resolution
The US House unanimously passed Rep. Mike Honda's resolution urging Japan to formally apologize for forcing some 200,000 women-many Korean, Chinese, and Filipino-into sexual slavery as 'comfort women' during World War II.
Content note: sexual violence
resistance
Commission on Wartime Relocation Established
President Carter signed the law creating the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the WWII incarceration; its 1981 hearings gave hundreds of survivors their first public voice.
history
Guam Organic Act Signed
President Truman signed the Organic Act of Guam, establishing civilian government and granting US citizenship to CHamorus after a decades-long fight capped by the 1949 Guam Congress Walkout.
achievement
Vicki Manalo Draves Wins Olympic Gold
Vicki Manalo Draves won Olympic gold in 3-meter springboard diving in London, becoming the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal; she added the 10-meter platform title three days later.
resistance
International Hotel Eviction
Riot police forcibly evicted elderly Filipino and Chinese tenants from the I-Hotel in San Francisco's Manilatown after a nine-year struggle.
achievement
Sammy Lee Wins Olympic Diving Gold
Sammy Lee won Olympic gold in 10-meter platform diving in London, becoming the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal; he repeated as champion in 1952. (Shares Aug 5 with the 2012 Oak Creek gurdwara shooting.)
injustice
Oak Creek Sikh Temple Shooting
A white-supremacist gunman killed six worshippers (a seventh died of his wounds years later) at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, one of the deadliest attacks on a US faith community.
Content note: racial violence
resistance
Voting Rights Act Language-Minority Amendments
Congress extended the Voting Rights Act and, for the first time, required bilingual ballots and voting materials for 'language minorities' explicitly including Asian Americans-a major expansion of Asian American voting access.
resistance
Civil Liberties Act Signed
President Reagan signed the law granting a formal apology and reparations to Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII.
injustice
Killing of Joseph Ileto
White supremacist Buford Furrow fatally shot Filipino American postal worker Joseph Ileto after wounding five people at a Jewish community center; Furrow said he targeted Ileto as nonwhite and a federal worker. (Shares Aug 10 with the 1988 Civil Liberties Act.)
Content note: racial violence
achievement
Sundar Pichai Becomes CEO of Google
On August 10, 2015, Sundar Pichai, an Indian American engineer, was named CEO of Google as founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin created the parent company Alphabet — among the most prominent corporate leadership roles held by an Asian American.
achievement
Crazy Rich Asians Opens
Crazy Rich Asians opened in US theaters-the first major Hollywood studio film in 25 years with a majority-Asian cast; its success reshaped industry assumptions about Asian American stories.
history
Fall of Kabul and the Afghan Resettlement
Kabul fell to the Taliban as US forces withdrew, triggering an airlift of more than 120,000 people and the largest Afghan resettlement in US history-nearly 200,000 Afghans came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome and its successor. (Shares Aug 15 with the release of Crazy Rich Asians.)
achievement
Hawaii Becomes the 50th State
Statehood also sent Hiram Fong to the US Senate as the first Asian American senator (sworn in Aug 24, 1959).
achievement
Daniel Inouye Enters Congress
Daniel Inouye was sworn in as Hawaii's first US Representative, becoming the first Japanese American in Congress; a decorated 442nd veteran, he later served nearly 50 years in the Senate.
history
Japanese American Citizens League Holds First Convention
The Japanese American Citizens League, formed in 1929 from merging Nisei groups, held its first national convention in Seattle; the JACL became a leading Japanese American civil-rights organization.
history
First Buddhist Mission on the US Mainland
Jodo Shinshu missionaries Revs. Shuye Sonoda and Kakuryo Nishijima arrived in San Francisco, founding the Buddhist Mission of North America-forerunner of the Buddhist Churches of America and the first enduring Buddhist institution on the US mainland. (Shares Sep 1 with the 1946 Great Hawaii Sugar Strike.)
resistance
Great Hawaii Sugar Strike
Some 26,000 sugar workers across 33 of Hawaii's 34 plantations struck for 79 days in the ILWU-led action-the first industry-wide strike in the islands and a turning point that broke the plantations' political power.
injustice
Rock Springs Massacre
A white mob attacked Chinese coal miners, killing at least 28, wounding 15, and burning the town's Chinatown.
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Bellingham Anti-Sikh Riots
A white mob drove South Asian, largely Sikh, mill workers out of Bellingham overnight.
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Squak Valley Attack
A group of white and Native men fired into the tents of Chinese hop pickers in Squak (now Issaquah), Washington Territory, killing three; the attackers were acquitted.
Content note: racial violence
resistance
Delano Grape Strike Begins
Filipino farmworkers with the AWOC, led by figures like Larry Itliong, launched the strike that grew into the farmworker movement.
injustice
Hanapepe Massacre
During a months-long Filipino sugar strike, a clash between strikers and police at Hanapepe, Kauai, left 16 Filipino workers and 4 police officers dead-the bloodiest episode in Hawaii's labor history.
Content note: violence
achievement
All-American Girl Premieres
Margaret Cho's All-American Girl premiered on ABC-the first US network sitcom built around an Asian American family; though short-lived, it was a landmark for representation.
injustice
Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas-station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was shot and killed four days after 9/11 in what is widely recognized as the first fatal hate crime of the post-9/11 backlash.
Content note: racial violence
injustice
Cable Act Signed
The law let most American women keep their citizenship after marrying a foreigner, but stripped citizenship from any woman who married an 'alien ineligible to citizenship'-a category that targeted Asian men.
resistance
Gordon Hirabayashi's Convictions Vacated
The Ninth Circuit vacated Gordon Hirabayashi's wartime curfew and exclusion convictions in a coram nobis ruling, finding the government had suppressed evidence-echoing Fred Korematsu's 1983 vindication.
injustice
People v. Hall Decided
In October 1854, the California Supreme Court ruled in People v. Hall (4 Cal. 399) that Chinese people could not testify against white defendants, extending the existing bar on testimony by 'Black, mulatto, or Indian' witnesses. The ruling freed three white men who had killed a Chinese miner and stood until the 1870s. [DATE CONFLICT: the exact day is disputed - Oct 1 (American Bar Association) vs. Oct 15 (California Supreme Court Historical Society; Justia reporter) vs. Oct 18; anchored on Oct 1 per Ray's call.]
injustice
Scott Act Signed Into Law
President Cleveland signed the law barring the reentry of Chinese laborers who had left the US, stranding an estimated 20,000-30,000 people abroad-including many holding valid return certificates.
achievement
Indra Nooyi Becomes CEO of PepsiCo
Indra Nooyi became CEO of PepsiCo, among the first women-and the first Indian American-to lead a Fortune 50 company. (Shares Oct 1 with the 1888 Scott Act.)
resistance
Immigration and Nationality Act Signed
President Johnson signed the Hart-Celler Act, abolishing national-origins quotas and reopening large-scale immigration from Asia.
history
First US Diwali Stamp Issued
The US Postal Service issued its first Diwali Forever stamp, honoring the festival of lights observed by Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist communities, after a years-long campaign by South Asian American advocates.
resistance
Urvashi Vaid Born
Urvashi Vaid, born this day, became a leading LGBTQ-rights strategist and, as head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1989, the first woman of color to lead a national gay-and-lesbian organization. (Anchored on her birth anniversary; shares Oct 8 with California's ethnic-studies law.)
resistance
California Requires Ethnic Studies
California became the first state to require ethnic studies for high school graduation-a milestone rooted in the Asian American and Third World student movements of the late 1960s.
resistance
First Redress Payments to Incarcerees
The first redress checks of $20,000, with signed presidential apology letters, were presented to nine of the oldest surviving former incarcerees, beginning payments under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
history
Compact of Free Association Takes Effect (Marshall Islands)
The Compact of Free Association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands took effect, ending the US-administered trusteeship and defining a lasting relationship shaped by the legacy of US nuclear testing; the FSM compact followed on Nov 3. (US approval: Public Law 99-239, Jan 14, 1986.)
resistance
US Halts the Bombing of Kahoʻolawe
After nearly two decades of Native Hawaiian activism led by the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana, President George H.W. Bush ordered a halt to US Navy live-fire bombing of the sacred island of Kahoʻolawe; it was conveyed to the State of Hawaii in 1994.
injustice
Chinese Massacre of Los Angeles
A mob of about 500 killed at least 18 Chinese residents in one of the largest mass lynchings in US history.
Content note: racial violence
history
First Sikh Gurdwara in the US Opens
The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society's gurdwara in Stockton held its first prayers-the first Sikh house of worship in the United States and a hub of early Punjabi American religious and political life. (Shares Oct 24 with the 1871 Los Angeles Chinese Massacre.)
achievement
Anna May Wong Quarter Enters Circulation
The U.S. Mint began shipping the Anna May Wong quarter on October 24, 2022, making the pioneering Chinese American Hollywood actress the first Asian American to appear on U.S. currency.
history
California Establishes Larry Itliong Day
California designated Oct 25-the birthday of Filipino American labor leader Larry Itliong-as Larry Itliong Day, honoring the man who, with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, forged the Filipino-Mexican farmworker alliance behind the Delano grape strike and the UFW.
history
Thai Town Designated in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles City Council designated the nation's first official Thai Town along Hollywood Boulevard, recognizing the largest Thai community in the United States.
injustice
Denver Anti-Chinese Riot
A mob of some 3,000 destroyed Denver's Chinatown ('Hop Alley') and beat to death laundry worker Look Young in the city's first race riot.
Content note: racial violence
achievement
Military Intelligence Service Language School Opens
The Army opened a secret Japanese-language school at the Presidio of San Francisco; its Nisei graduates-the Military Intelligence Service-served as translators and interrogators in the Pacific even as their families were incarcerated, and were later called 'America's secret weapon.'
injustice
Tacoma Chinese Expulsion
Led by the mayor and business leaders, a mob forced Tacoma's entire Chinese community out of the city and later burned their homes-a coordinated expulsion celebrated at the time as 'the Tacoma Method.'
Content note: racial violence
resistance
San Francisco State Strike Begins
The Third World Liberation Front led the longest student strike in US history, establishing the first College of Ethnic Studies.
resistance
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Established
On November 7, 1978, Hawaii voters ratified amendments from the 1978 Constitutional Convention establishing the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to advance Native Hawaiian self-determination and manage assets for Native Hawaiian beneficiaries.
resistance
Fred Korematsu's Conviction Vacated
Federal judge Marilyn Hall Patel vacated Fred Korematsu's 1942 conviction in a coram nobis proceeding after evidence showed the government had suppressed intelligence contradicting its 'military necessity' claims.
history
Death of Queen Liliʻuokalani
Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom and composer of 'Aloha ʻOe,' died at Washington Place in Honolulu at age 79.
injustice
Porterfield v. Webb Decided
Decided the same day as Terrace v. Thompson, the Supreme Court upheld California's Alien Land Law, ruling the US-Japan treaty gave Japanese immigrants no right to lease agricultural land. (Shares Nov 12 with Terrace v. Thompson.)
injustice
Terrace v. Thompson Decided
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld Washington State's Alien Land Law, allowing states to bar 'aliens ineligible to citizenship'-chiefly Asian immigrants-from owning or leasing farmland.
injustice
Takao Ozawa v. United States Decided
The Supreme Court ruled that Japanese immigrants were not 'white' and were ineligible for naturalized citizenship.
achievement
Wataru Misaka Breaks Pro Basketball's Color Barrier
On November 13, 1947, Japanese American guard Wataru 'Wat' Misaka debuted for the New York Knicks, becoming the first non-white player and first Asian American in the league that became the NBA.
achievement
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Dedicated
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed by 21-year-old Chinese American architecture student Maya Lin, was dedicated in Washington; her minimalist granite wall became one of the nation's most visited memorials. (Shares Nov 13 with the 1922 Ozawa ruling.)
injustice
Frick v. Webb Decided
A companion to Webb v. O'Brien decided the same day, the Supreme Court upheld barring Japanese immigrants from owning stock in a corporation formed to hold agricultural land. (Shares Nov 19 with Webb v. O'Brien.)
injustice
Webb v. O'Brien Decided
The Supreme Court closed a workaround to California's Alien Land Law, holding that a cropping contract letting a Japanese immigrant farm a citizen's land was itself barred. (Shares Nov 19 with Frick v. Webb.)
achievement
Kalpana Chawla Launches Into Space
The Indian-born engineer became the first woman of South Asian descent in space, aboard STS-87.
injustice
Gong Lum v. Rice Decided
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Mississippi could classify a US-born Chinese American student as 'colored' and bar her from a white school, extending 'separate but equal' segregation to Asian Americans.
resistance
Apology Resolution Signed
President Clinton signed the joint resolution formally apologizing on behalf of the United States for the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and acknowledging Native Hawaiians never relinquished their sovereignty claims.
resistance
First Day of Remembrance
More than 2,000 people gathered at the Puyallup fairgrounds-a former WWII assembly center-for the first Day of Remembrance, an event conceived by writer Frank Chin that built momentum for Japanese American redress.
history
Filipino American National Historical Society Founded
Dorothy and Fred Cordova founded the Filipino American National Historical Society in Seattle to identify, preserve, and share Filipino American history; it now has chapters nationwide.
history
Immigration Act of 1990 Signed
President George H.W. Bush signed the law raising annual immigration ceilings and expanding family and employment visas, significantly increasing lawful immigration from Asian countries.
injustice
Killing of Virgil Duyungan and Aurelio Simon
Virgil Duyungan and Aurelio Simon, leaders of Seattle's Filipino Cannery Workers' Union, were shot dead by an agent tied to the labor-contracting system they were fighting to abolish.
Content note: violence
achievement
George Ariyoshi Becomes Governor of Hawaii
George Ariyoshi was inaugurated as governor of Hawaii, the first Asian American elected governor of a US state. (Shares Dec 2 with the proclamation of the Lao PDR.)
history
Lao People's Democratic Republic Proclaimed
The Pathet Lao abolished the 650-year-old Lao monarchy and proclaimed the Lao People's Democratic Republic; the takeover drove hundreds of thousands of Lao and Hmong to flee, most eventually resettling in the US.
resistance
Manzanar Uprising
Tensions over camp conditions and suspected informants erupted into mass protest at Manzanar; military police fired into the crowd, killing two young men, James Ito and Jim Kanagawa, and wounding others.
Content note: violence
achievement
Joseph Cao Elected to Congress
Anh 'Joseph' Cao, who fled Vietnam as a child after the fall of Saigon, was elected in Louisiana as the first Vietnamese American member of Congress. (Shares Dec 6 with the 1942 Manzanar Uprising.)
injustice
FBI Arrests Issei Community Leaders
Within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI began arresting more than 1,200 Issei community leaders-Buddhist priests, language teachers, and businessmen-detaining them without charge under pre-drawn 'custodial detention' lists.
achievement
Har Gobind Khorana Receives the Nobel Prize
Har Gobind Khorana, an Indian-born American biochemist, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for helping crack the genetic code. (Shares Dec 10, Nobel Day, with Chandrasekhar's 1983 physics prize.)
achievement
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Receives the Nobel Prize
Indian-born American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theory of the structure and evolution of stars, including the white-dwarf mass limit that bears his name. (Shares Dec 10, Nobel Day, with Khorana's 1968 prize.)
achievement
Steven Chu Receives the Nobel Prize
Physicist Steven Chu shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light; he later became the first Asian American US Secretary of Energy. (Shares Dec 10, Nobel Day, with Khorana and Chandrasekhar.)
achievement
Daniel Tsui Receives the Nobel Prize in Physics
Daniel C. Tsui, a Chinese American physicist at Princeton, shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect, presented at the December 10 ceremony in Stockholm.
achievement
Roger Tsien Receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Roger Y. Tsien, a Chinese American biochemist at UC San Diego, shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein (GFP), presented at the December 10 ceremony in Stockholm.
resistance
Magnuson Act Repeals Chinese Exclusion
Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act, allowing a small immigration quota and naturalization for Chinese immigrants.
history
Mass Exclusion Orders Rescinded
The Army issued Public Proclamation 21, rescinding the mass exclusion orders effective Jan 2, 1945, and allowing most Japanese Americans to return to the West Coast-announced the day before the Supreme Court's Korematsu and Endo rulings. (Shares Dec 17 with the 1943 Magnuson Act.)
injustice
Korematsu and Endo Decided
The Supreme Court upheld the wartime exclusion of Japanese Americans in Korematsu while ruling in Endo that loyal citizens could not be detained.
history
Amerasian Homecoming Act Enacted
Signed as part of a larger appropriations law, the act gave preferential immigration status to Vietnamese children of US servicemen; about 23,000 Amerasians and 67,000 relatives eventually resettled in the US.
resistance
First Manzanar Pilgrimage
Young Asian American activists led the first organized pilgrimage to the Manzanar concentration camp, helping break decades of silence about the WWII incarceration and seeding the redress movement.
history
War Brides Act Signed
The law admitted the alien spouses and children of US service members as non-quota immigrants; because Chinese exclusion had been repealed in 1943, Chinese wives were the only Asian spouses eligible, reshaping Chinese American family life.
history
First US Lunar New Year Stamp Issued
The US Postal Service issued its first Lunar New Year stamp-a Year of the Rooster design by Hawaii artist Clarence Lee-launching a long-running series and marking federal recognition of a holiday central to many Asian American communities.