The Making of Asian America: A History

“There are two main ways in which this history of race has played out for Asian Americans. The first is the simultaneous lumping together of diverse Asians into one homogenous group and the persistent treatment of Asian Americans as foreigners tied to Asia rather than as Americans loyal to the United States […] How Asian Americans have been defined in relation to the enduring racial divide between African Americans and whites in the United States is the second way in which race has affected Asian American life.”

Asian Americans are a diverse group, comprising people of different ethnocultural backgrounds and varied historical experiences. However, because the social attitudes, legal structures, and immigration law in the Americas categorized all Asians as a group, the author must examine their experience within this framework. At the same time, Erika Lee also highlights individual experiences and those of specific ethnic groups, such as the Hmong of Laos. In addition to the question of race, Asian American experience always occurred within the framework of the foreign policy of the United States toward their respective ancestral countries of origin. For example, Chinese Americans were perceived amicably as Allies during World War II but with suspicion after the 1949 Chinese Revolution. Both categories present some of the key ways of looking at the Asian American experience.

“In contemporary America, Asian Americans occupy unique and constantly shifting positions between black and white, foreign and American, privilege and poverty.”

When Asian Americans are classified as a group based on race, they are often compared to other groups in the US. Since the 1960s, they have been portrayed as “model minorities” and, more recently, as competitors to whites in academia and in high-earning workplaces. At the same time, they have been contrasted with other groups, such as African and Latin Americans, by using the language of “culture,” which the author views as a new form of racism.