Adapted from the following sources: Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991), AskAsia.org, and LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics).
Asian American History Timeline
1600s
Chinese and Filipinos reach Mexico on ships of the Manila galleon.
1763
First recorded settlement of Filipinos in America. They escape imprisonment aboard Spanish galleons by jumping ship in New Orleans and fleeing into the bayous.
1790
First recorded arrival of an Asian Indian in the United States.
1830s
Chinese "sugar masters" working in Hawaii. Chinese sailors and peddlers in New York.
1842-52
China is defeated by the British Empire in the first Opium Warresulting in Treaty of Nanjing whereby China is forced to payindemnities of 21 million silver dollars, cede the island of Hong Kong and open five ports to foreign commerce. As a result peasant farmersare heavily taxed.
1847
Three Chinese students arrive in New York City for schooling. One of them, Yung Wing graduated from Yale in 1854 becoming the first Chinese to graduate in the United States.
1848-52
Strike of gold at Sutter's Mill, CA, draws Chinese immigrants to WestCoast to mine gold. Many arrive as indentured servants during theCalifornia Gold Rush. The bulk of Chinese immigrants come later as acheap source of labor to work the railroads, mines and in other industries.
1852
First group of 195 Chinese contract laborers land in Hawaii. Over 20,000 Chinese enter California. Chinese first appear in court in California. Missionary Willian Speer opens Presbyterian mission for Chinese in San Francisco. California imposes a Foreign Miner's License Tax, collecting $3 a month from every foreign miner who did not desire (or was prohibited by law) to become a citizen. The purpose of this tax was to reduce the number of Chinese immigrating to California as well as to discourage Chinese from mining for gold (although they did not pose a great threat to white miners since they usually worked deserted claims).
1854
Law forbids Chinese testifying in court against whites, depriving Chinese of legal protection and subjecting them to repeated acts of violence.
1858
California passes a law to bar entry of Chinese and "Mongolians."
1859
Exclusion of Chinese from public schools in San Francisco.
1860
First Japanese delegation visits Washington, D.C.
1868
The Burlingame Treaty recognizes the right of free migration and emigration on the part of citizens of the United States and China.
1892
"Geary Act" prohibits Chinese immigration for another 10 years and denies bail for writ of habeas corpus.
1894
Saito, a Japanese man, applies for U.S. citizenship. Courts refuse because he is neither white nor black.
1898
The Philippine Islands become a protectorate of the United States under the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War. Hawaii is also annexed to the United States.
1902
Congress indefinitely extends the prohibition against Chinese immigration.
1903-04
7,000 Koreans go to Hawaii to work in sugar cane and pineapple fields.They are welcomed as strike breakers against Japanese laborersdemanding better work conditions and wages.
1905
Japan controls Korea as part of the settlement of the Russo- Japanese War and halts Korean immigration to Hawaii.
1905
Chinese in the U.S. and Hawaii support boycott of American products in China. Koreans establish Korean Episcopal Church in Hawaii and Korean Methodist Church in California. San Francisco School Board attempts to segregate Japanese schoolchildren. Korean emigration ends. Koreans in San Francisco form Mutual Assistance Society. Asiatic Exclusion League formed in San Francisco. Section 60 of California's Civil Code amended to forbid marriage between whites and "Mongolians."
1906
Anti-Asian riot in Vancouver. Japanese nurserymen form California Flower Growers' Association. Koreans establish Korean Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Japanese scientists studying the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake are stoned.
A decree is issued by the San Francisco school board that all persons of Asian ancestry must attend segregated schools in Chinatown. Japan, having become a major world power, intercedes on behalf of its citizens and they would be an exception.
California anti-miscegenation laws is amended to bar marriage between white and "Mongolian".
Major earthquake in San Francisco destroys all municipal records and opens the way for a new wave of Chinese immigrants. Immigrants (men in particular) could now claim they are U.S. citizens and have the right to bring wives and children to America.
1907
President Theodore Roosevelt enters into "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Japan to limit Japanese immigration to the mainland and to Hawaii. (A provision allows family members induding wives of Japanese to immigrate, thus allowing the Japanese to begin families and build their community.) It also includes a ban on further Korean immigration to the United States as laborers, thus opening up farming jobs in Hawaii for Filipinos. Korean immigration virtually ends during the period of Japanese occupation (1910-45) and does not resume until the Immigration Act of 1965 is passed.
1941
December 7 - Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. United States enters World War II.
Japan invades the Philippines. A third of the Filipino men in the United States sign up to fight in the U.S. military.
1942
Executive Order 9066 puts 110,000 Japanese, many of whom were second and third generation American citizens, in 10 internment camps in the United States.
1943
"Magnuson Act" finally repeals the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This was a direct result of the alliance between the United States and China during World War II. A quota of 105 per year set for Chinese immigration (based on a formula set at one-sixth the total population of that ancestry in the 1920 census).
1945
August 6 - atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, ushering in nuclear age.
August 14 - Japan surrenders.
Congress passes War Brides Act, allowing 6,000 Chinese women to enter United States as brides of Chinese American soldiers. All American internment camps for Japanese Americans are closed.
1946
Philippines become independent. U.S. citizenship offered to all Filipinos living in the United States, not just servicemen.
1948:
Congress passes Displaced Persons Act. Gives permanent resident status to 3,500 Chinese visitors, seamen, and students caught here because of Chinese civil war. California repeals law banning interracial marriage.
1948
Evacuation Claims Act authorizes payment of settlements to people of Japanese ancestry who suffered economic losses from internment: 10 cents is returned for every $1 lost.
1949
U.S. breaks off diplomatic ties with newly formed People's Republic of China.
5000 highly educated Chinese in the U.S. granted refugee status after China institutes a Communist government.
1950-53 Korean War
1965
Immigration Law abolishes "national origins" as basis for allocating immigration quotas to various countries - Asian countries now on equal footing.
1968
Students on strike at San Francisco State University to demand establishment of ethnic studies programs.
1969
Students at the University of California, Berkeley, go on strike for establishment of ethnic studies programs.
1974
March Fong Eu elected California's secretary of state. Lau v. Nichols rules that school districts with children who speak little English must provide them with bilingual education.
1975
More than 130,000 refugees enter the U.S. from Vietnam, Kampuchea, and Laos as Communist governments are established there.
1976
President Gerald Ford rescinds Executive Order 9066.
1978
National convention of the Japanese American Citizens League adopts resolution calling for redress and reparations for the internment of Japanese Americans. Massive exodus of "boat people" from Vietnam.
1979
Resumption of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America reunites members of long-separated Chinese American families.
1982
Vincent Chin, a Chinese American is murdered in Detroit by two jobless automobile workers who reportedly mistake him for a Japanese and blame him for their plight. Murderers were acquitted, never serving a day in prison for their crime.
1984
Filipino World War II veterans are denied U.S. citizenship. Over 1000 veterans face deportation.
1986
The Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1985 is passed by the House of Representatives on October 17, 1987, and signed by the President on November 6, 1987. It raises the Hong Kong quota from 600 to 5,000 a year; and allows aliens who can prove that they were in the U.S. prior to January 1, 1982 to apply for temporary status and become U.S. citizens after seven years from the time of application. There are no changes in the preference system which allows for family reunification.
1987
First formal signing of the Proclamation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week in the White House.
1989
President George Bush signs into law an entitlement program to pay each surviving Japanese American internee $20,000. U.S. reaches agreement with Vietnam to allow political prisoners to emigrate to the U.S.
1992
Korean businesses looted and burned as a result of riots in Los Angeles due to outrage over Rodney King verdict.
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