American Culture 314/History 378
History of Asian Americans in the U.S.
Scott Kurashige
University of Michigan
Course Overview
Angel Island served as a gateway to America for some and a barrier to entry for others. Histories of Asian Americans provide an opportunity to study America as both a multicultural land of opportunity and a nation marked by racial exclusion. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration.
This course provides an overview of Asian/Pacific American history from the time of early migrations to the present. Groups to be examined include Korean, Filipino, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, Chinese, and Japanese Americans. We will place these experiences into a national and international context of comparative race relations and U.S.-Asia relations. Our study will begin with the questions: What does it mean to study history from an Asian/Pacific American perspective? How and why has Asian/Pacific American history become a part of the curriculum?
Readings and lectures will engage the following historical issues and themes: 1) pre–World War II immigration and efforts to build community in the face of racial exclusion; 2) the place of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the construction of the U.S. empire; 3) the changing demographics and community composition created by new patterns of immigration, intermarriage, and international adoption; 4) the impact of the Vietnam War and the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees; 5) the construction of gender and the experience of women in Asian American communities; 6) the shifting position of Asian immigrant labor in the global economy; 7) the emergence of Asian/Pacific American activism in the fight for social justice.
View course announcement flyer.
View World War II propaganda supplement.
Required Texts
Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (1991)
Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940 (1980)
Mary Paik Lee, Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Farewell to Manzanar A True Story of Japanese American Experience during and after the World War II Internment (1973)
Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (1999)
Coursepack
Course Requirements
1) Class Participation (15%)
Participation is a large percentage of your overall grade and consists of 3 components:
a) Regular attendance and participation in lecture and discussion are mandatory. Repeated absences and/or tardies will severely lower your grade.
b) Your ability to engage in an informed and critical discussion of the readings will also weigh heavily upon your grade for participation. You are expected to have assigned readings completed before coming to class that day.
c) Your GSI will issue oral and/or written assignments related to discussion sections.
2) Online Discussion (10%)
Each week post a one- or two- paragraph response to the weekly question provided by the instructor and GSI. We encourage you read and respond to student postings. These are minimum requirements, but you may write as many posts as you wish. You are encouraged to exercise freedom in expressing your views, but be sure to treat all your classmates with respect.
3) Angel Island Paper (15%) Due Monday, February 6
4 pages. Use one or more poems in Island as a basis to create a historical character who spent time in Angel Island. Draw upon readings, lectures and discussion to reconstruct what your subject’s life might have been like. Why did they leave their homeland? What was their image of America before they came? How did their experience in Angel Island change their perspective? What did they do after they left Angel Island (if ever)? The best papers will be those that construct a creative narrative that is also a plausible account solidly backed up by historical research. You are encouraged to discuss your topic during office hours as early as possible.
4) Research Paper (30%) Due Monday, April 10
8–10 pages. The research paper is an opportunity to discover new aspects of the Asian American experience. You are encouraged to discuss your topic during office hours as early as possible. Turn in proposal worksheet (we will hand this out) no later than Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Submit work-in-progress for review by Monday, March 27. Final paper due Monday, April 10.
Choose one of the following 2 options:
a) Oral history. Conduct an interview of any Asian American age 40 or over. Place your subject’s life history into the context of Asian American history by drawing upon course materials and secondary sources.
b) Research topic. Develop a topic and reading list in conjunction with the instructor. This option is for students wishing to learn more about a specific topic in Asian American history beyond what we cover in class.
4) In-class Final Exam (30%) Thursday, April 20, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
The structure of the exam will be discussed prior to the end of the semester.
EXTRA CREDIT (Maximum 5 percentage points)
At the discretion of the instructors, you can receive up to 5 extra credit points for attending at least two Asian American campus or community events and writing a 1–2 page report for each event. To qualify, the events you choose must be approved by the professor and/or GSI prior to your attendance. In addition, your report must provide an analysis and not just a summary. It should address questions such as: How does this event provide insight into Asian American history? How could I have enhanced this event based upon what I have learned in this class? Extra credit is only available to students who have satisfied all other course requirements.
SCHEDULE OF CLASS READINGS AND LECTURES
(* denotes coursepack readings)
Week 1
Read: Chan, preface and 3–23
Jan. 9 Asians in the Americas
Jan. 11 Asian Americans in U.S. History
Week 2
Read: Chan, 25–61; Island, 1–83
Jan. 16 No lecture: Attend MLK Symposium Events
Jan. 18 Chinese Immigration
Week 3
Read: Chan, 63–100; Island, 83–173; Kwong, “Chinese Illegals are American Labor”
Jan. 23 Angel Island (Carved in Silence)
Jan. 25 Japanese Immigration
Week 4
Read: Paik Lee, preface and 3–84 (introduction is optional)
Jan. 30 Korean Immigration
Feb. 1 Struggles for Citizenship
Week 5
Read: Paik Lee, 85–164; “Oral History Primer”*; “Footsteps and Footnotes”*
FEB. 6 ANGEL ISLAND PAPERS DUE
Feb. 6 South Asian Immigration
Feb. 8 Native Hawaiians
Week 6
Read: Leonard, “Early South Asian Immigrants”*; Trask, “The Struggle for Hawaiian Sovereignty”*; Philip Vera Cruz, “A Personal History,” introduction and 1–86*
Feb. 13 The Philippine War and American Colonialism
Feb. 15 Filipino Immigration
Week 7
Read: Chan, 103–118; Farewell to Manzanar, ix-120
Feb. 20 Second Generation Dilemmas
Feb. 22 Japanese American Internment
FEB. 22 DEADLINE TO SUBMIT RESEARCH PAPER WORKSHEET
BREAK
Week 8
Read: Chan, 121–142; Farewell to Manzanar, 121–201
Mar. 6 World War II
Mar. 8 Assimilation and the Model Minority Myth
Week 9
Read: Pham, 1–41, 51–121, 136–142
Mar. 13 Cold War
Mar. 15 Korean War (SPECIAL GUEST LECTURER)
Week 10
Read: Chan, 145–165; Pham, 143–258
Mar. 20 Vietnam War
Mar. 22 Refugee Resettlement
Week 11
Read: Pham, 259–342; Hmong Means Free, “Xiong Family of Lompoc”*
MAR. 27 TURN IN WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Mar. 27 Southeast Asians in America
Mar. 29 Asian American Movement of the 1960s and 1970s
Week 12
Read: Kochiyama*; Nakamura*; Yoshimura*;“McCain’s Ethnic Slur”*; “Ex-Senator Kerry”; Kordziel*; Hsiang*; Ching Yoon Louie*; Tsang*
Apr. 3 The Justice for Vincent Chin Movement (Who Killed Vincent Chin?)
Apr. 5 Pan-Asian Identity and Community Organizing
Week 13
Read: Boggs, “Afro-Chinese Activist”*; Prashad, “Of Antiblack Racism”*; Chan, 167–188
APR. 10 RESEARCH PAPERS DUE
Apr. 10 Black-Korean Relations
Apr. 12 War Brides and Transnational Adoption
Week 14
Read: Excerpts from After the Morning Calm*; Spickard, “What Must I Be?”*
Apr. 17 Oral and Family Histories