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Glossary

  • All American Girl: A television series airing in 1994 on ABC and starring Korean American comic Margaret Cho; the show was criticized for stereotypical characters and was cancelled after one season.
  • Amerasian: A person of mixed American and Asian heritage; the term is sometimes used in a more narrow sense to refer to children born of a Vietnamese mother and American father during the Vietnam War.
  • America Is in the Heart: An autobiographical novel written by Filipino author and activist Carlos Bulosan; published in 1946, the novel describes his experiences as a member of the Asian American working class in the United States and as a union organizer.
  • American Homecoming Act: A 1987 federal law allowing the Vietnamese children of American fathers to immigrate to the United States.
  • Angel Island: An immigration processing station located in San Francisco Bay; it opened in 1910 and was the port of entry for many Asian immigrants to the United States.
  • Anti-Coolie Act: A law passed in California in 1862 imposing a monthly tax of $2.50 on Chinese miners and other laborers; a few classes of workers, including those working in sugar and rice production, were excluded from the tax.
  • APALA, AFL-CIO: The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, founded in 1992, is an organization of Asian Pacific American union members that addresses workplace issues of its members and acts as a liaison between the labor movement and the Asian Pacific community.
  • Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: By congressional designation, May was declared Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in 1992 (the current name was adopted in 2009); from 1978 the celebration was called Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, observed the first week of May, marking the month during which the first Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States as well as the completion of the transcontinental railroad (on which many Chinese laborers worked).
  • Asian American Theatre Company: A company founded in 1973 under the auspices of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and originally called the Asian American Theatre Workshop; the particular focus of the Asian American Theatre Company is developing Asian American playwrights.
  • Bamboo Ceiling: The concept that racial or ethnic discrimination or stereotyping precludes Asian Americans from rising as high in the workplace as their talents and work record should predict; the term is analogous to the “glass ceiling” often said to limit women's rise to positions of authority in their work.
  • Barred Zone Act: This term refers to the Immigration Act of 1917, which prohibited immigration from much of Asia and the Pacific Islands. Previously, Chinese and Japanese immigration had been restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act and the so-called Gentleman's Agreement, respectively, but the Barred Zone Act was the first law to restrict immigration from Asia generally.
  • Boat People: A term used to refer to refugees from Vietnam who left their country in boats following the fall of Saigon in 1975; the plight of the boat people became an international humanitarian crisis, as many of the boats were not suited to ocean travel, those on the boats were often the victims of pirates, and many of the refugees passed through multiple refugee camps before being able to settle in the United States or other Western countries.
  • California Alien Land Law: A 1913 law restricting the ability of Asians to farm, it prohibits aliens not eligible for citizenship from owning agricultural land or leasing agricultural land for longer than three years; in the following years, many states pass similar laws.
  • California Gold Rush: A gold rush in California that began in 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill; many Chinese immigrated to the United States to work as miners, and, because they were perceived by some as a threat, various laws were passed restricting their freedom.
  • CCBA: The Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, an organization founded in 1869 in San Francisco to serve as a consulate and spokesperson for the Chinese community; before establishment of the Chinese Chamber of Conference in 1910, the CCBA also regulated business activities and performed functions such as clearing Chinese immigrants to return to China.
  • Chae Chan Ping v. United States: An 1889 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Chinese laborers who left the United States to visit China and were out of the country at the time of the passage of the Scott Act did not automatically have the right to return to the United States.
  • Cham: An ethnic minority people traditionally residing primarily in central Cambodia and southeastern Vietnam and in urban centers in both countries; many Cham became refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and immigrated to the United States.
  • Chan Is Missing: A 1982 film directed by Wayne Wang set in San Francisco's Chinatown and notable at the time for featuring a number of Asian characters who were realistic rather than stereotypical.
  • Charlie Chan: A fictional Chinese American detective created by novelist Earl Derr Biggers and also featured in a number of films from the 1920s through the 1950s. Chan was frequently played by a white actor (Warner Oland and Sidney Toler are two of the best known. Some find the character stereotypical (e.g., Chan speaks in broken English), while others feel that he is a positive character because he is shown to be intelligent and honorable.
  • The Chickencoop Chinaman: A play written by Frank Chin and produced off Broadway in 1972, The Chickencoop Chinaman satirizes stereotypes of Asian Americans.
  • Chinatown: A general term for urban areas outside China where large numbers of people of Chinese descent have settled; among the best-known Chinatowns are those in New York City and San Francisco.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act: An 1882 federal law that barred Chinese laborers and miners from entering the United States for a period of 10 years; it was the first U.S. immigration law to single out a particular nationality for exclusion. The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was extended several times, had the effect of almost ending Chinese immigration to the United States and also imposed hardships on Chinese already settled in the United States, such as restricting their ability to visit their families in China and then reenter the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943.
  • Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance: An organization founded in New York City in 1933 to protest the imposition of a $25 annual fee and $1,000 bond on Chinese laundries as well as the regulation that only U.S. citizens could own laundries.
  • Civil Liberties Act of 1988: A federal law that granted reparations to Japanese who were interned during World War II; the act acknowledged that the internments were illegitimate and granted about $20,000 to living survivors of the internment camps.
  • Coram nobis Cases: Three legal cases—those of Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru Yasui—that challenged legal restrictions placed on persons of Japanese descent in the United States during World War II and that were reconsidered in the 1980s under the legal principle of error coram nobis, meaning that their convictions rested on a fundamental error of fact.
  • Desi: A term used to describe people of Asian Indian descent living outside the Indian subcontinent, and the culture of those individuals; some regard it as a derogatory label.
  • Diaspora: A population originating in a specific geographic area but currently living outside that area, often with the implication of involuntary departure.
  • East West Players: The first Asian American theater company in the United States, founded in 1965 by Mako, James Hong, June Kim, Guy Lee, Pat Li, Yet Lock, and Beulah Quo, with the particular goal of allowing Asian American actors to perform in a broader variety of roles than were available in mainstream theater; their first production, in 1966, was Rashomon, based on a short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke.
  • Executive Order 9066: An executive order issued by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, describing parts of the western United States as military areas from which individuals could be excluded; this executive order paved the way for the internment of some 120,000 persons of Japanese descent, many of them U.S. citizens.
  • Executive Order 9102: An executive order issued on March 18, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that created the War Relocation Authority, the body in charge of relocating and interning Japanese in the western United States during World War II.
  • Farewell to Manzanar: The True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After World War II Internment: A memoir written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and her husband, James Houston, describing her experiences in the Manzanar internment camp during World War II; published in 1972, it has become a popular classic and was adapted into a television movie in 1976.
  • “Fifth Column on the Coast”: A newspaper column written by Walter Lippmann and published on February 12, 1942, suggesting that Japanese and other aliens on the West Coast posed a threat to U.S. security and should be removed; the column is considered influential in motivating the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans.
  • 1st Filipino Infantry Battalion: A battalion of the U.S. Army, activated on April 22, 1942, and consisting primarily of Filipinos; members served in the Pacific theater during World War II, including at Leyte Gulf and Samar.
  • Flower Drum Song: A 1958 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II based on C. Y. Lee's 1957 novel of the same name; it was set in San Francisco's Chinatown and the plot focused on questions of assimilation, heritage, and clashes between the generations. It was also adapted as a film in 1961.
  • 442nd Infantry Regiment: A combat regiment in the U.S. Army during World War II comprised primarily of Japanese Americans recruited from internment camps. The 442nd fought mostly in Europe, and its members won many distinctions for valor, including eight Presidential Unit Citations and 21 Medals of Honor.
  • Gam Saan: Cantonese for “Gold Mountain,” a term for the United States used by Chinese immigrants to California and eventually for the Western regions of the United States and Canada; the term originated in the Gold Rush of 1848, after which many Chinese immigrated to America.
  • Geary Act: An 1892 federal law extending the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 for another 10 years; it also required Chinese already living in the United States to obtain certificates of identity and certificates of residence.
  • Gentleman's Agreement: A 1907 agreement between the empire of Japan and the United States that informally restricted the immigration of Japanese to the United States; the United States agreed to allow immigration of wives and children of Japanese already in the United States, and Japan agreed to not issue passports to Japanese laborers wishing to immigrate to the United States.
  • Go for Broke!: A 1951 MGM film, directed by Robert Pirosh, starring several members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and celebrating the valor of the regiment during World War II.
  • The Good Earth: A 1931 novel by American author Pearl S. Buck that became a best seller and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. Buck, the child of missionaries, spent much of her early life in China, and the novel was praised for its depiction of peasant life in China. The Good Earth was adapted as a film in 1937 and was nominated for five Academy Awards; following the typical Hollywood practice of the time, Caucasians (Paul Muni and Luise Rainer) were cast in the lead roles, playing Chinese characters.
  • The Good Times Are Killing Me: The first novel by Lynda Barry, a Filipino author best known for her comics, including the widely distributed Ernie Pook's Comeek. The Good Times Are Killing Me, published in 1988, won the Washington State Governor Writer's Award.
  • Gosei: A fifth-generation Japanese, that is, someone born outside Japan but having at least one Yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese) parent.
  • Guangdong: A province in southeastern China, also known as Canton and Kwangtung, which was the homeland of many Chinese migrants to the United States, particularly before 1965, as well as the exit point for many other Chinese immigrants to the United States.
  • Hart-Celler Act: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, a federal law that abolished quotas based on national origins in favor of family reunification and preference for individuals with valuable skills.
  • Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee: An organization formed at the Heart Mountain Japanese internment camp in Wyoming in 1944 to advocate draft resistance until their civil rights were restored; about 400 Nisei took part, and 267 were convicted of draft resistance.
  • Holt International Children's Services: A Christian adoption agency founded in the mid-1950s by Harry and Bertha Holt, Americans who adopted eight Korean children, at the time an unprecedented choice and one that was not possible until Congress passed a law permitting such adoptions.
  • Issei: A term referring to first-generation Japanese, that is, those born in Japan who later immigrated to the United States or another country.
  • Japanese American Industrial Corporation: A labor contracting firm founded in California in 1902 to supply Japanese labor to the railroads, agriculture, and mining.
  • K2: A play by Patrick Meyers, premiering in Washington, D.C., in 1982 and on Broadway in 1983, about two men trapped on K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, located on the border between China and Pakistan. The Broadway production was notable for the sets designed by Chinese American Ming Cho Lee, who won the Tony Award in 1983 for Best Scenic Design.
  • Korematsu v. United States: A 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared that Executive Order 9066, which caused many persons of Japanese descent to be confined to internment camps, did not violate the Constitution.
  • Kuma Kahua Theatre: The second-oldest Asian American theater company in the United States, founded in 1971 by a group of students and professors from the University of Hawai‘i; the company specializes in plays about Hawai‘i and plays written by Hawai‘ians.
  • Kye: An informal banking and lending system common in Korean American communities; generally speaking, members of a kye contribute a set sum each month to a central fund, and each month one member receives the entire amount, which he or she often uses to fund a business venture. Similar informal banking systems also exist in the Chinese (hui) and Japanese (tanomoshi) American communities.
  • Little Saigon: A term applied to several communities outside Vietnam where a high proportion of Vietnamese have settled, analogous to “Chinatown” for areas with large numbers of people of Chinese descent. In the United States, Little Saigons exist in Houston, Texas; San Jose, California; and Orange County, California, among other places.
  • Luce-Celler Act: A 1946 federal law allowing Filipinos and Asian Indians to immigrate to the United States, with a quota of 100 per year from each country.
  • M. Butterfly: A 1988 play by Chinese American playwright David Henry Hwang, based on a true historical relationship between a male Peking opera singer and a male French diplomat, the latter believing the former to be female; it won numerous awards, including the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play, and was adapted into a film in 1993.
  • Magnuson Act: A 1943 federal law repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, thus allowing immigration from China to the United States to resume and allowing some Chinese residents of the United States to become naturalized citizens.
  • Manzanar National Historic Site: The location of a Japanese internment camp in southwestern California during World War II, Manzanar was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1972, a National Historic Landmark in 1985, and a National Historic Site in 1992.
  • Mississippi Masala: A 1991 film directed by Mira Nair and starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury; set in Mississippi, the film is notable for featuring an interracial romance between the characters portrayed by Washington (African American) and Choudhury (American immigrant of Ugandan Indian heritage).
  • Model Minority: A term referring to members of an ethnic or racial minority who are considered to be particularly successful or to embody desirable traits such as high school achievement or strong family connections; in the United States, members of some Asian groups, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, are sometimes pointed to as model minorities.
  • Mr. Moto: A fictional Japanese detective and secret agent created by novelist and short story writer John P. Marquand, in part to carry on the tradition of the Charlie Chan character invented by Earl Derr Biggers; Mr. Moto also appears in six films starring the Hungarian American actor Peter Lorre, as well as in radio shows and comic books.
  • Mr. T and Tina: A television program that ran on ABC for five episodes in 1976; although not successful, it was the first American sitcom with a lead actor of Asian descent (Pat Morita, best known for his role as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid movies).
  • National Japanese American Student Relocation Council: An organization founded in the spring of 1942, after internment of Japanese living on the West Coast began, to help Japanese American college students in the western states transfer to colleges and universities outside the restricted areas.
  • Naturalization Act of 1790: The first U.S. law to address the process of becoming a naturalized citizen; it required two years of residence in the United States and was limited to white persons of good moral character.
  • Naturalization Act of 1870: A U.S. law enacted after the conclusion of the Civil War that extended naturalization to persons born in Africa or of African descent but excluded Asians and other nonwhite individuals.
  • Nichibei Shimbun: The first Japanese-language newspaper published in the mainland United States, founded by Abiko Kyutaro in San Francisco in 1898.
  • Nisei: A term referring to a second-generation Japanese person, that is, someone of Japanese heritage born in the United States or some other country outside Japan and having at least one Issei or Japanese nonimmigrant parent.
  • Nisei Daughter: A memoir published in 1953 by Monica Sone, recalling her years growing up in Seattle, Washington, and her time in the Minidoka internment camp during World War II.
  • No-No Boy: A novel written by John Okada, describing the experiences of a Japanese American conscientious objector during World War II; published in 1957, it became popular in the 1970s.
  • Oyama v. California: A U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1948 that ruled that California's Alien Land Law deprived Fred Oyama, an American citizen, and his father Kajiro Oyama, a Japanese citizen, their rights to equal protection under the law.
  • PACE: The Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor, an organization founded at San Francisco State College in 1968 to encourage Filipino students to apply to college, and to provide support services to help them succeed once enrolled.
  • Page Act of 1875: The first U.S. immigration law, it restricted entry of undesirable immigrants, including convicts of any race or nationality, Asian laborers, and Asian prostitutes.
  • Pan Asian Repertory Theatre: The major Asian American theater company on the East Coast, founded by Tisa Chang in 1977.
  • Paper Son: A Chinese boy or man who entered the United States claiming to be the son of a Chinese with American citizenship, conceived while the Chinese American was visiting China; the creation of paper sons was facilitated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which destroyed many public records and allowed Chinese immigrants to claim they were born in San Francisco and were thus American citizens.
  • Pearl Harbor: A U.S. naval base in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, which was attacked by Japanese bombers on December 7, 1941, precipitating U.S. entry into World War II; one consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor was Executive Order 9066 and the internment of many Japanese Americans living in the western United States.
  • Picture Bride: In the early 20th century, a Japanese or Korean woman who entered the United States to marry a man whom she had not met in person but knew only from exchanging photographs and letters.
  • Pinoy: A term coined in the 1920s by Filipinos living abroad, for themselves and their culture, which was later expanded to include all Filipinos, including those living in the Philippines.
  • The Rape of Nanking: A 1997 book written by Taiwanese American author Iris Chang, describing the 1937–1938 Rape of Nanking during the Sino-Japanese War and charging that the Japanese government has not accepted sufficient responsibility for that event; it became a best seller and was translated into several languages.
  • Sansei: A term referring to third-generation Japanese people, that is, persons of Japanese heritage born in a country other than Japan and having at least one Nisei (second-generation Japanese) parent.
  • Sino-Vietnamese: Ethnically Chinese people living in Vietnam; many Sino-Vietnamese immigrated to the United States as refugees between 1978 and 1985.
  • Sriracha: A type of hot sauce invented by David Tran, the Chinese-Vietnamese founder of Huy Fong Foods, which has become popular in many different Asian and Asian American communities; it is easily recognized by the rooster on its label, which also includes text in five languages.
  • Takahashi v. Fish and Game Commission: A 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring that the policy of the California Fish and Game Commission to deny fishing licenses to aliens ineligible for citizenship was unconstitutional.
  • Takao Ozawa v. United States: A 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared that the Japanese were not “white” and therefore could not become naturalized U.S. citizens under the Naturalization Act of 1906.
  • Tule Lake Segregation Center: A Japanese internment camp in northern California, it was originally called the Tule Lake War Relocation Center but in 1943 was renamed the Tule Lake Segregation Center. It was used to house interned Japanese who were deemed disloyal to the United States, generally because they had not given the “correct” answers on a loyalty questionnaire administered to interned Japanese aged 17 and older.
  • TWLF: The Third World Liberation Front, a student organization including Asian American, Latino, and African American student groups at San Francisco State College. The TWLF called a strike in November 1968, demanding that more attention be paid to the concerns of students of color; when the strike was resolved, in March 1969, one result was the formation of a School of Ethnic Studies at the college.
  • United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind: A 1923 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared that Asian Indians were not “white” and therefore were not eligible to become naturalized citizens of the United States. The decision was surprising because most anthropologists consider Asian Indians to be Aryans and therefore white.
  • United States v. Mrs. Gun Lim: A federal court decision in 1900 ruling that Chinese merchants living in the United States can bring their wives and minor children to join them and live in the United States.
  • United States v. Wong Kim Ark: A U.S. Supreme Court case decided on March 28, 1898, which declared that Wong Kim Ark, the American-born child of Chinese parents, was a U.S. citizen by reason of birth and therefore had the right to travel overseas and return to the United States without restriction.
  • Walter-McCarran Act: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which overturned racial restrictions in previous immigration law while retaining broad quotas for regions and granting preference to relatives of U.S. citizens and to individuals with desirable skills.
  • War Brides Act: A 1945 federal law allowing the spouses and dependent children of members of the American military to immigrate to the United States, bypassing the quotas of the Immigration Act of 1924; originally, Asians were excluded from the benefits of this act, but it was extended in 1947 to include the Asian spouses of American military personnel.
  • Wards' Cove Packing Co.: An Alaskan cannery company that was the object of a lawsuit by Asian and Pacific Islander workers in 1974 on the grounds that Asians and Pacific Islanders were all placed in inferior jobs, compared to white workers, and were also segregated into separate living and dining facilities.
  • When I Was a Boy in China: An 1887 book written by Lee Yan Phou, who was educated in the United States under the auspices of the Chinese Education Mission and graduated from Yale University; it covers topics such as Chinese literature, philosophy, and customs.
  • Who Killed Vincent Chin?: A documentary film directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima about the murder of a Chinese American who was mistaken for Japanese by two auto workers and was blamed by them for the decline in America's auto industry; the film premiered on television (PBS) in 1989.
  • Yasui v. United States: A 1943 Supreme Court decision that upheld the conviction of Minoru Yasui, who challenged the curfew imposed on Japanese Americans and enemy aliens following Executive Order 9066.
  • Yellow Peril: A pejorative term referring to the ostensible threat posed by Chinese immigrants to the United States and, more generally, to all immigrants from east Asia.
  • Yonsei: A term referring to fourth-generation Japanese, that is, those not born in Japan and having at least one Sansei (third-generation Japanese) parent.
Sarah E.Boslaugh, Kennesaw State University
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