Article: Asian American

An Asian American is generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry or origin who was born in or is an immigrant to the United States. The term Asian American was used informally by activists in the 1960s who sought an alternative to the term "Oriental" arguing that the term was derogatory and colonialist. Formal usage was introduced by academics in the early 1970s, notably by historian Yuji Ichioka, who is credited with popularizing the term. Today Asian American is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research. In common language, the full compound term Asian American is rarely used; instead the single adjective Asian is applied to people of Asian heritage.

As with other social identities, formal and common usage have changed markedly through the short history of this term. The most significant change occurred when the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 eliminated highly restrictive "national origins" quotas. The new country-specific quotas enabled significant immigration from every country in Asia, which led to dramatic and ongoing changes in the Asian American population. As a result of these population changes, the formal and common understandings of what defines Asian American have expanded to include progressively more of the people with ancestry from various parts of Asia.

The term Asian American

Definition

UN subregions of Asia: ██ Northern Asia ██ Central Asia ██ Western Asia ██ Southern Asia ██ Eastern Asia ██ Southeastern Asia

The term Asian American has some ambiguity that results from varying uses of both Asian and American. The term Asian in the United States is often used to refer only to people of East Asian heritage. In this context, the term "heritage" is used loosely and can refer to ancestry or cultural practices, but usually to some arbitrary combination of the two. Asians from the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia (including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia) are also Asian Americans and recognized as such by the government and in academic work. To a lesser extent, some government agencies also classify Middle Easterners as West Asians. For most of the history of South Asian Americans in the United States, they have been classified as non-White Americans; however, South Asians were previously categorized in the white racial category together with immigrants from the Middle East by some independent organizations. Lobbying by South Asian American business groups resulted in their placement into the Asian category. Other non-governmental organizations like My Space have conceived the East Indian to be its own group and separate from the Asian group. Similarly, the term American in Asian American follows imprecision in, and disputes about, the use of the word American. In some contexts, American refers specifically to citizens of the United States, although this is inappropriate for many purposes. For example, discussions of Asian American businesses rarely require the owners to be citizens. In other cases, American refers to people born in the United States (an immigrant and her American grandchildren), or people raised in the U.S. (e.g., someone who immigrated as a child and "acts" American), or people living in the U.S. (e.g., Census counts). These contexts represent various common usages of the term American that demonstrate how formal and fixed definitions capture only part of the meaning of Asian American.

Legal Definition

The development of conventional notions of Asian and American can be seen in several key Supreme Court decisions that pertain to naturalized citizenship. Historically, the Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted naturalized citizenship to "free white persons". In the 1922 case Takao Ozawa v. United States, Mr. Ozawa, an immigrant from Japan, petitioned for naturalized citizenship on the logic that "white" referred to skin complexion, so Japanese could be considered "white," and eligible for naturalized citizenship. The decision by Justice George Sutherland held that "white" referred exclusively to peoples deemed at the time to be Caucasians, and so Japanese were an "unassimilable race", lacking provisions in any Naturalization Act. The next year, in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind Justice Sutherland reversed this logic. Mr. Thind argued that South Asians were considered to be Caucasian by the physical anthropologists of the time, and should be eligible for naturalization, based on the Ozawa decision. Justice Sutherland deployed a reverse logic in Thind, writing that "[I]t may be true that the blond Scandinavian and the brown Hindu have a common ancestor in the dim reaches of antiquity, but the average man knows perfectly well that there are unmistakable and profound differences between them to-day". In other words, Ozawa was light-complexioned, but not white because he was not deemed to be Caucasian. At the same time, Thind was deemed to be Caucasian, but not white because he was not light-complexioned.

Asian Pacific Islander was a legal definition in the 1990-2000 Census but has since been split apart. Asian Pacific Islander was a racial category on the US Census between the years 1990 and 2000. According to physical anthropologist Larry Chrystal, who worked on the team to formulate the 2000-2010 racial definitions, the majority of Pacific Islander Americans and Asian Americans chose to identify as separate groups. Some people still advocate use of Asian-Pacific American even though the majority of people who would be included identify as two separate groups.

Asian American in the formal 2000-2010 US Census sense was only established in the year 2000 by the United States Office of Management and Budget, but informally could include any American citizen. The definition of Asian was established on the 2000-2010 Census questionare. It was formulated by a team of anthropologists who asked people prior to the distribution of the Census form what their own opinions of their racial identity. This polling established the formal definition of Asian as the people with origins in the orignal peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. According to Chrystal, someone could still mark Asian on the 2000-2010 Census who did not meet the formal definition. He was specifically mandated by the team of anthropologists to count people in the category they chose regardless of the race or ethncity he perceived.

By the formal 2000 US Census definition, Asian Americans, like White Americans or Hispanic Americans, cannot be defined as a homogeneous group of people sharing similar cultures or physical features. For example, considerable differences physically, linguistically, and culturally exist between Chinese Americans and Pakistani Americans. Like the term White American, saying that a person is Asian American is not specifically referring to a certain lifetyle or culture and could refer to a wide range of different Asian ethnic sub-groups. In other words, Asian American is not a very precise or accurate term, and some people prefer it to be replaced by the use of separate terms for each Asian cultural or geographical group.

Usage

In the United States, the term Asian American has widely supplanted "Oriental" to describe East Asian people regardless of nationality, upbringing, or origin. Some have argued that "Oriental" is politically loaded and referenced a colonial "other" (see Orientalism). To many people, the term "Oriental" is often seen as an unfriendly, even derogatory term. This is similar to the transition from "Negro" or "colored" to "black" or "African American".

While immigrants from the Asian Middle East (e.g., Iran, Southwest Asia) are all from the continent of Asia, they are not generally considered to be included as Asian Americans for several key reasons. For one, the term Asian American was first applied to East Asian ethnic groups, which are seen as being distinct from Middle Eastern groups. Second, Middle Eastern people are a very small proportion of the population, which limits visibility historically and currently. The 2004 Census estimate is 1.3 million people identifying as Arab, or less than 1/2% of the U.S. population. [1] Third, the Census Bureau includes Middle Eastern people in the "white" racial category, which determines many formal definitions of racial and ethnic groupings. Fourth, and perhaps most important, the Middle East is rarely referred to as part of Asia. For many of these same reasons, northern Asians such as Siberians and peoples from formerly Soviet Central Asian states are usually not spoken of as Asian Americans either and are also considered to be "white" in US Census racial classifications. But now, most formal definitions of Asian American include South Asians, and common usage often recognizes their inclusion as well.

Even though Asian American is now a very widely used term in the United States, it is mostly the younger generation of Asian Americans who refer to themselves this way. A simple analogy would be the use of terms "Irish American" and "Italian American". The double allegiance represented in such denominations (Asian and American) was largely discouraged in the early twentieth century. Ford Motor Company, for instance, encouraged all recent immigrants to think of themselves as American and not as Irish American. The American Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s (re)introduced the use of "hyphenated names" (although the hyphen is no longer used). Today, many younger Asian Americans speak of "Asian Pride". First-generation Asians are more likely to refer to themselves as "Chinese," "Korean," "Vietnamese," etc. This is mainly because first-generation Asian Americans are much more conscious of their Asian sub-group backgrounds and cultures and tend to avoid generalizations. However, Asian is almost never considered an unfriendly word, and is still currently widely used in many English-speaking countries. Many believe that the self-identification as Asian American originated from the first significant U.S. pan-Asian unified movement in protest of the contreversial decisions by the U.S. courts of the murder of Vincent Chin in 1983.

Demographics

The 2000 U.S. census recorded 12.3 million people who reported themselves as having either full or partial Asian heritage, 4.3% of the U.S. population. The largest ethnic subgroups were Chinese (2.7 million), Filipinos (2.4M), Asian Indians (1.9M), Vietnamese (1.2M), Koreans (1.2M), and Japanese (1.1M). Other sizable groups are Cambodians (206,000), Pakistanis (204,000), Laotians (198,000), Hmong (186,000), and Thais (150,000). The Asian American population is heavily urbanized, with nearly three-quarters of Asian Americans living in metropolitan areas with population greater than 2.5 million. Asian Americans are concentrated in the largest U.S. cities, with 40% of all Asian Americans living in the metropolitan areas around Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. Half of all Asian Americans (5.4M) live in Hawaii or the West Coast, mostly in California (4.2M). Census data shows that Asian American populations are growing in most major metropolitan areas, with visible communities in areas in and around Washington, D.C./Baltimore, and Houston, to name the largest examples. Asian Americans are visible and growing, but "underrepresented" (against the national aggregate) in several of the largest areas, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston, although sizable concentrations (double the national percentage) can be found in urban neighborhoods of these cities such as Albany Park in Chicago and Olney in Philadelphia. Additionally, similar Asian populations are found in suburbs of these cities such as Naperville near Chicago; King of Prussia, Upper Darby, and Cherry Hill near Philadelphia; Lowell and Lexington near Boston.

Until recently, Chinese were the only Asian American group who had a noticeable presence in large cities when it came to neighborhoods. In fact, besides having traditional Chinatowns, areas around cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles have extensive suburban enclaves, or "ethnoburbs", that are dominated by Chinese. The schools in these neighborhoods are attended by many Chinese Americans and Mandarin is usually offered as a second language. Following recent immigration waves, however, "Koreatowns" and "Little Saigons" have appeared in several cities. Large Japantowns once existed up and down the West Coast of the United States, but the ones that remain are mere vestiges of once vibrant pre-internment communities.

2000 density of Asian Americans

Asian Americans as percent of population, 2000

Demographic trends

Asian Americans tend to have larger families and earn slightly less per capita than white populations (however, they have higher median income than whites as well as higher percentage of home ownership and college graduation rate)^{[citation needed]}. The proportion of Asian Americans at many selective educational institutions far exceeds the 3% national population rate.

Such trends are less common among Asians emigrating to the United States from southeast Asian countries such as Laos, and Cambodia, among others; many of these immigrants can be considered refugees from Communist and totalitarian states and, as such, often do not have the educational or socioeconomic advantages of other Asian Americans. Many immigrants are often forced to work in minimum wage or below-minimum wage jobs, including in menial sweatshop or restaurant labor, because they fear that mainstream employers will not hire them or, if they have entered the country illegally, will report them to the government.

Criminal issues

Although Asians comprise 3.6% of the population^[1], they account for less than 1% of all jail inmates^[2]. In fact, Asians make up such a small percentage of the criminal population that the Department of Justice often does not present specific data for Asians when accounting for criminals by race.

However, this does not mean that no Asians engage in criminal activity in the U.S. Some Chinese communities have had problems with Triads, some communities have Vietnamese, Filipino, and Cambodian gangs, and the Japanese Yakuza are known to conduct criminal business in the U.S.

Health issues

The life expectancy for Asian Americans was 83, compared to 79 in Japan in 1996, and 76 for Americans of European descent. For most diseases and cancers, and indicators such as infant mortality that afflict African American at worse rates than whites, Asians have lower rates. Rates of AIDS were 3 times lower than national average in the 1990s, though they are getting closer to parity. In NYC, no births to babies exposed to cocaine were recorded. In Massachusetts, the rate of pregnant smoking was only one-quarter of the average. In California, the rate of heart disease was onle one-third of the average. Infant mortality in CA was only half the average rate. Most health studies simply omit figures on Asians rather than publicize health outcomes that are better for Asians, or state that data is insufficient to establish accurates rates for AIDS, even though Asians are a majority or the 2nd largest minority in some states.

However, there are problem areas. Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine report that East Asian immigrants in New York City are at a higher risk than other Americans for hepatitis B, a potentially deadly disease that can result in liver cancer. Approximately 1 in 7, or nearly 100,000 east Asians tested were carriers of the chronic disease. The 15% incidence of infection is more than 35 times the national average, with Chinese immigrants having the highest rate of infection.[2] Some kinds of lung cancer and stomach associated with stir fry cooking and pickled or dried foods popular in Asian diets are also higher, though other studies have tried to show Asian health declining in association with American style diets with more sugar and fat.

Asian American history

Further information: Category:Chinese American history,  Category:Japanese American history,  Category:Filipino American history, and Category:Indian American history

Early history

In 1763, Filipinos established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of current-day Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them at the time, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun women and Indians [3].

In Hawaii, Chinese sailors came to Hawaii in 1778, the same year that Captain James Cook stumbled upon the island. Many settled and intermarried with Hawaiian women. Some Island-born Chinese could be well into the 7th generation. A smaller proportion of Chinese, Korean and Japanese laborers were brought in during the 19th century to work on sugar plantations. Later, Filipinos were also brought in as laborers.

A large number of Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid 19th century. Many of these immigrants worked as laborers on the transcontinental railroad. A surge in Asian immigration in the late 19th century gave rise to a fear from some, referred to as the "yellow peril."

Effects of war

Asian participants in the American Civil War were not given citizenship, voting rights, or access to public schools because they were legally declared "neither black nor white."^{[citation needed]}

The Japanese American Internment refers to the controversial, forcible relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, 62% of whom were United States citizens, from the west coast of the United States during World War II to hastily constructed housing facilities called War Relocation Camps in remote portions of the nation's interior. President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the internment with United States Executive Order 9066.

Despite the treatment, many Japanese Americans served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Artillery Battalion is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. Composed of Japanese Americans, the 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau.

Immigration trends

Immigration trends of recent decades have dramatically altered the statistical composition and popular understanding of who is an Asian American. This transformation of Asian America, and of America itself, is the result of legislation such as the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. The McCarran-Walter Act repealed the "free white persons" restriction of the Naturalization Act of 1790, but it retained the quota system that effectively banned nearly all immigration from Asia. However Asian immigration increased significantly after the 1965 Immigration Act altered the quota system.

Historically, Asian Americans have largely been perceived as members of the East Asian ethnic groups, specifically Chinese and Japanese, the two largest ethnic groups before 1965, as well as Filipinos who became colonial subjects of the US in 1898 due to the Spanish-American War (also see Philippine-American War). This occurred despite the early presence of Korean and Indian immigrants in the early 1900s.

The rapid change in Asian American demographics occurred after enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act. This act replaced exclusionary immigration rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act and its successors, such as the Reed-Johnson Act or 1924 Immigration Act, which effectively excluded "undesirable" immigrants, including Asians. The 1965 rules set across-the-board immigration quotas for each country, opening the borders to immigration from Asia for the first time in nearly half a century.

Two other influences, however, have been equally worthy of attention. First, in the wake of World War II, immigration preferences favored family reunification. This may have helped attract highly skilled workers to meet American workforce deficiencies. Secondly, the end of the Korean War and Vietnam War and the so-called "Secret Wars" in Southeast Asia brought a new wave of Asian American immigration, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia arrived. Some of the new immigrants, as in the case of the Korean War, were war brides, who were soon joined by their families. Others, like the Southeast Asians, were either highly skilled and educated or part of subsequent waves of refugees seeking asylum. Some factors contributing to the growth of sub-groups such as South Asians and mainland Chinese are higher family sizes, higher use of family-reunification visas, and higher numbers of technically skilled workers entering on H-1 and H-1b visas.

Japanese Americans and South Asians are emblematic of the dramatic changes since the immigration reforms of the mid-20th century. Japanese Americans are widely recognized as an Asian American sub-group. In 1970, there were nearly 600,000 Japanese Americans, making it the largest sub-group. Today, Japanese Americans are the sixth-largest group, with relatively low rates of births and immigration. In 2000, there were between 800,000 and 1.2 million Japanese Americans (depending on whether multi-ethnic responses are included). In 1990, there were slightly fewer South Asian in the U.S. than Japanese Americans. By 2000, Indian Americans nearly doubled in population to become the third largest group. High rates of immigration from across Asia will make Asian Americans increasingly representative of the continent itself.

Asian Americans today

In Politics

On May 19, 2000, Simeon R. Acoba, Jr. became only the third Filipino American appointed to a state's highest judicial office. Acoba will serve as a Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court until May 18, 2010.

In recent decades, many Asian Americans have entered politics, and succeeded in getting elected into national political offices. In 1957, Dalip Singh Saund became the first Asian immigrant elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1959, he was followed by Daniel Inouye, who was subsequently elected to the Senate in 1962. As of 2006, he is the Senate's third-most senior member. In 1959, another Hawaii politician, Hiram Fong, was the first Asian American elected to the Senate.

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Congressman

George Ariyoshi became the first Asian American governor in 1974; twenty years later, in 1994, another Asian American, Benjamin Cayetano, was elected governor of the same state, (Hawaii). They were followed in Washington by Gary Locke, who became the first Asian American governor on the mainland United States in 1996.

Norman Mineta served as the United States Secretary of Transportation from 2001 to 2006, and Elaine Chao is serving as the United States Secretary of Labor. Daniel Akaka is currently the junior U.S. Senator for Hawaii. Mike Honda currently serves as U.S. Congressman for California's Fifteenth Congressional District and is the highest-ranking Asian American member of the Democratic National Committee. Van Tran is a Republican member of the California State Assembly. More recently, Bobby Jindal became the first Indian American congressman from Louisiana. In 2001, John Liu became the first Asian American elected to the New York City Council (representing Flushing, Queens). In Texas, Dr. Martha Wong was the first Asian American elected to the Houston City Council (representing District C) and also was the first Asian American woman elected to the Texas State Legislature, defeating 20 year incumbent Debra Danburg in 2002 (Danburg's district was redrawn where the district was 55% Republican). It is rumored that Wong took donations from Texans for a Republican Majority although she is facing first-time candidate Ellen Cohen because of her "present, not voting" record on House Joint Resolution 6 during the 79th Texas Legislature. Also in 2002, Upendra J. Chivukula became the first Asian American elected to the New Jersey General Assembly. In Texas during the 2004 election, Hubert Vo, a Vietnamese immigrant, became the first Vietnamese American elected to the Texas Legislature. Also in 2004, Jimmy Meng became the first Asian American elected to the New York State Assembly and is the only Asian American in either house of the legislature.

In Business

Asian Americans are major contributors to the American economy. An Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951. Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the Nvidia corporation in 1993. Jerry Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1994. Andrea Jung serves as Chairman and CEO of Avon Products. Vinod Khosla was a founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and is a successful general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail which was bought over by Microsoft. In general Asian Americans are well represented in the professional sector relative to their population base and tend to earn higher wages^{[citation needed]}, especially in technology and business.

In Sports

Michelle Wie, professional golfer

Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947-48 season, when he played for the New York Knicks. Misaka also played a key role in Utah's NCAA and NIT basketball championships in 1944 and 1947.

Asian Americans first made an impact in Olympic sports in the late 1940s and in the 1950s. Korean American Sammy Lee became the first Asian American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal, when he won in platform diving in both 1948 and 1952. Filipino American Victoria Draves won gold medals in the 1948 platform and springboard events. Harold Sakata won a weightlifting silver medal in the 1948 Olympics, while Japanese Americans Tommy Kono (weightlifting), Yoshinobu Oyakawa (100-meter backstroke), and Ford Konno (1500-meter freestyle) each won gold and set Olympic records in the 1952 Olympics. Konno won another gold and silver swimming medal at the same Olympics and added a silver medal in 1956, while Kono set another Olympic weightlifting record in 1956. Also at the 1952 Olympics, Evelyn Kawamoto won two bronze medals in swimming.

Eric Sato won gold (1988) and bronze (1992) medals in volleyball, while his sister Liane Sato won bronze in the same sport in 1992. Amy Chow won gold and silver medals in gymnastics during the 1996 Olympics. Apolo Anton Ohno won five Olympic medals in short-track speed skating (two gold) in 2002 and 2006, as well as a world cup championship. Korean born Toby Dawson won a 2006 Olympic bronze medal in Men’s Freestyle Skiing. Natalie Coughlin, a Filipino American swimmer, has brought glory to American sports by attaining a number of medals, including two golds, from the recent 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Bryan Clay, who is Japanese American, won the silver medal in the 2004 decathlon and was the sport's 2005 world champion.

In figure skating, Tiffany Chin won the US Championship in 1985. Kristi Yamaguchi won three national championships (one individual, two in pairs), two world titles, and the 1992 Olympic Gold medal, while Michelle Kwan has won nine national championships and five world titles.

Dat Nguyen was an All-American linebacker at Texas A&M University and later became the first Vietnamese American in the National Football League. Norm Chow is the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans after helping lead USC to several NCAA championships. And Korean American wide receiver Hines Ward was the MVP of Super Bowl XL while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Hikaru Nakamura became the youngest American ever to earn the titles of National Master (age 10) and International Grandmaster (age 15) in chess. In 2004, at the age of 16, he won the U.S. Chess Championship.

Michael Chang won tennis' French Open in 1987. Famed golfer, Tiger Woods, happens to be part Thai, Chinese, Black, Native American, and Dutch. Jeanette Lee is a former number one ranked pool player. Korean American Sonya Thomas is one of the world's top competitive eaters.

In Arts and Entertainment

Guitarist James Iha

Architect IM Pei shot to international prominence in 1964 following his selection by Jacqueline Kennedy to design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library [4]. Minoru Yamasaki designed the World Trade Center the following year (construction was completed in 1972). In architectural design, Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Yo-Yo Ma is considered by some as the best cellist in the world. Zubin Mehta also remains a prominent name among modern conductors. Most recently, ImaginAsian Entertainment has made a major contribution by starting the first national 24/7 Asian American television network. Asian American jazz is a musical movement in the United States begun in the 20th century by Asian American jazz musicians. In music, American R&B singer, Amerie, is considered one of the most talented R&B singers of today. She has won numerous awards, and is often referred to in America and elsewhere as “Korean American R&B singer, Amerie”. Rock musician James Iha, formerly the guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins, is Japanese American. Also, Jin Au-Yeung is credited as being a pioneer in the Asian American hip hop scene.

Asian American involvement in the entertainment industry extends all the way to the first half of the 19th century, with Chang and Eng Bunker (the source for the term "Siamese Twins"), who became naturalized citizens. Nevertheless, significant progress by Asian Americans in the fields of television, cinema, and comedy has only come about slowly. Early Asian American forays into cinema such as those made by Anna May Wong and Bruce Lee encountered a movie-making culture that wanted to typecast them as caricatures. As a result, the San Francisco born Lee achieved world-wide fame only after first abandoning the West and finding success in Hong Kong. George Takei (of Star Trek fame) and Pat Morita (Happy Days) fared somewhat better domestically playing secondary roles on the small screen during the 1960's and 1970's, and Cambodian American Haing Ngor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985.

Today, the situation is much improved for Asian American women, as there are a number of famous actresses such as Lucy Liu. Margaret Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994. Leading role opportunities for Asian American men in the movies and television continue to be rather limited.

Asians continue to be overlooked in casting, however. For example in the 2006 film Cars, a low rider is cast as a Hispanic, but Tommy Chong was not cast in his signature hippie role, and none of the Asian cars was cast with an Asian American voice. Disney's Mulan featured many non-Asian voices along with a prominent Asians.

In Science and Technology

Tsung-Dao Lee, Nobel laureate in physics

Chinese Americans Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics. Their work, which disproved the conservation of parity, was supported by the experimental results of Chien-Shiung Wu, who was known to many scientists as the "First Lady of Physics". Indian-American Har Gobind Khorana shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 for his work in genetics and protein synthesis. In 1976, Chinese American Samuel C.C. Ting shared the Nobel Prize with Burton Richter in physics for discovering the existence of a new particle called j/psi. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1984, Taiwanese American Dr. David D. Ho reported for the first time the "healthy carrier state" of HIV infection, which identified otherwise healthy individuals who tested positive for the virus but did not show any physical signs of the disease. In 1986, Taiwanese American Yuan T. Lee shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi for his work in the nature of chemical reactions. In 1994, the mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern won the prestigious Wolf Prize in Mathematics for his work in differential geometry. Stephen Chu shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his research on cooling and trapping atoms using laser light. Daniel Tsui shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998 for his contributions to the discovery of the fractional Quantum Hall effect. Most of the technology and computer companies are located in the west coast of the U.S. where there are a large concentration of Asian Americans compared to other sections of the U.S.

Referring to Asian Groups

It is considered offensive by some people to label an Asian person with a specific nationality without certainty. For example, when one sees someone who looks South Asian, they could make the mistake of referring to them as an "Indian". This may be offensive to Pakistani Americans and other South Asians who do not see themselves as being of Indian origin. Another example would be to call an East Asian "Chinese" without knowing their specific national origin. This can be offensive to Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, and other East Asians who may consider themselves ethinically and culturally separate. It is considered polite, if one is using racial or ethnic terms, to use "South Asian," "Southeast Asian," "East Asian," or simply "Asian."

Model Minority Myth

Main article: Model minority

The reference to Asian Americans as model minorities has to do with the work ethic, respect for elders, and high valuation of family and elders present in their culture. Despite the fact that this concept seems to valorize Asian Americans, it comes with an underlying notion of their apoliticality. Moreover, such a label one-dimensionalizes Asian Americans as having those traits and no other human qualities, such as vocal leadership, negative emotions, or intolerance towards oppression. Asian Americans are labeled as model minorities because they have not been as much of a "threat" to the U.S. political establishment due to a smaller population and less political advocacy. This label seeks to suppress potential political activism through euphemistic complements. (Reference: Asian Americans and Politics: Perspective, Experiences, Prospects by Gordon H. Chang.)

In the environment of public education, Asians are often stereotyped as over-achieving students. Surprisingly, many Asians tend not to be classified in the "nerd" category because much of their achievement in academics stem from parental support. The "smart" stereotype is attached with the concept that Asians play a musical instrument--such as violin or piano--or participate in more cerebral extra-curricular activities such as chess. As is the case with stereotypes, many Asians do not fall into the over-achieving category.

This stereotype of Asians as over-achievers also aversely affects Asian Americans in that sometimes they are judged at higher standards of achievement. The "bar" is set higher for them because they are "expected" to over-achieve.

See also

• List of Asian American-related topics
• List of Asian American Writers
• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
• British Asian
• Asian Canadian
• Asian Argentines
• Asian Australians
• Demographics of the United States
• Hapa - Hawaiian term commonly referring to Blasians and Eurasians
• Model Minority - Depiction of Asian Americans as a model success group
• Amerasian — a person fathered abroad by U.S. servicemen to women of Asian nationalities
• Asian American Women Artists Association
• Asian Pride
• Jade Ribbon Campaign