“Diversity, Leadership, Empowerment and Beyond” was the May 2011 theme for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (APA Month). If there is a single word that best describes the Asian/Pacific American people, that word would have to be ‘diversity’ and that makes this year's theme particularly appropriate.
Representing the heritage of many lands, Asian/Pacific Americans hail from China, the Philippines, Japan, Viet Nam, Korea, Thailand, India, East and South Asia, the Pacific Islands: Hawaii, Fiji, Guam, Samoa and others. As with any people of such diversity, there are challenges among groups. Nonetheless, APAs have a strong sense of responsibility to each other. Whether aiding recent immigrants, or helping the young get established, they have a long legacy of strength in family, community and rendering aid to their own.
Although documentation reflects Asians in the Americas as early as the 1600's, APAs still find it difficult to shake their image as outsiders. Filipinos were the first to land. Arriving as forced labor on Spanish galleons, many saw their opportunity for freedom and literally jumped ship. Making their way into the Louisiana bayous, they went on to build the first permanent Asian-American settlements, including Bayou Cholas, Manila Village and St. Malo.
The Chinese were the first Asians to set out for these shores in significant numbers. Before China had fully recovered from the Opium Wars, natural disasters lead to drought and famine, plunging their country deeper into poverty. By the thousands, young men left China to find jobs. Within a month of the 1849 discovery of gold in California, they joined the rush to work in the gold mines.
Quickly earning a reputation for their strong work ethic, the Chinese were actively recruited to help build the emerging railroads. Taking the most dangerous, least desirable and often the lowest paying jobs, they were highly valued employees and instrumental in the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. They were not, however, esteemed as coworkers, nor were they included in the celebrations. Enduring prejudice, taunts and violence: segregation was part of their everyday life. Undaunted, they kept to themselves and continued working.
The Japanese came later. It was not always a direct trip from Japan to the West Coast though. The sugar boom in Hawaii had created a demand for more workers than were available, so they were recruited from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Samoa and other Pacific Islands. Many regarded Hawaii as a stepping-stone to the mainland. Problems among the races, the workers and the landowners were not uncommon. Pay scales tended to vary by race and plantation owners would deliberately recruit disparate groups and pit them against each other to keep labor costs down. More than once though the Asian groups organized and were successful in campaigning for their rights.
Despite the restrictions and hostility, most APAs felt it was worth it to work in the US. To survive they banded together, became fiercely independent and developed their own businesses, social organizations and economic systems within the walls of their own segregated communities. Chinatown in San Francisco was the first such enclave.
Today’s APA has a reputation as a model minority, successful, well educated and prosperous. For many, these successes are a reality, but one of the hardest problems still facing APAs is their inability to shake old stereotypes, and there are many who still have a hard road ahead. APAs have, however, staked their claim on American soil, they have worked hard, overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and today they share equally in the freedoms and success made possible in this great land. From government to business, to the arts, architecture, medicine and music APAs are successful and visible throughout America, now participating fully in both celebrating their Asian Pacific American Heritage and in working toward a better life for themselves, their families, their communities and their country.
For more information:
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month website.
- The Smithsonian has a listing of APA Month Activities.
Copyright 2011 Regina Garson. All rights reserved
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