Miscellaneous Asian American Facts and Trivia
The facts and trivia section is not meant to be a reference for your next term paper. MadAsian is a humor website with some tidbits of knowledge. Mainly, we site historical facts and trivia that are fun to spout at your next dinner party. We do not interpret anything here that is not completely obvious. Hmm... what is completely obvious? Bottom line, check your own facts.
Did You Know? Fun Asian Facts
- Fortune cookies didn’t reach Chinese shores until 1992. They were imported from Brooklyn and were advertised as "genuine American fortune cookies."
- The English word “loot” is borrowed from the Hindi word “lutnaa” which means “to loot”.
- The earliest recorded version of the story of Cinderella originated in China.
- In the 1898 case of United States V. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution applied to all people born in the United States "regardless of race or color."
- Boondock comes from the Tagalog “bundok,” meaning "mountain." During the U.S. occupation of the Philippines, the word was adopted by American soldiers, who used it to refer to any far-off or wild place.
- The popular preschooler game of Chutes & Ladders is actually a Hindu religious game known as Snakes & Ladders, dating back to the 2nd century BC.
- China played a "football" game similar to soccer over 2,300 years ago.
- “Ketchup” comes from the Malay word “koetsiap,” which describes a seafood sauce.
- Bing Cherries are named after Ah Sit Bing, who discovered them growing in Oregon in 1875.
- The word “tycoon,” from the Japanese “taikun,” (meaning "great prince") was brought to the U.S. after Matthew Perry's visit to Japan in 1853 and 1854. Members of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet used it as a nickname for the president and it was later used to refer to any business magnate.
- Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei.
- The word “bangle” comes from the Hindi “bangri” (referring to Indian bracelets).
- There are many Chinese inventions we take for granted in our modern lives, such as papermaking (105 AD), printing (1045 AD), gunpowder (c. 800 AD), the compass (c. 300 AD), and the umbrella (386-532 AD).
- The term “gung ho,” was taken from a motto used by the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society (“zhong guo gung yie hou tsou shi”). During World War II, a U.S. Marine took “gung” (“work”) and “hou” (“together”) to mean “work together”.
- Pajamas, the bandana, and tie-dying all originated in India.
- We can thank Japan for the invention of the Walkman (1979), the Compact Disc (1982), the CD-ROM (1985), and the DVD (1996).
- India discovered and cultivated cotton in 5000 BC.
- The Tahitian word “tattoo” was introduced to the English-speaking world by Capt. James Cook in his account of his voyage around the world from 1768 to1771. Later, sailors brought the actual custom to Europe.
Asian American Representation
Asian American men born in the United States are 7-11% less likely to be in managerial occupations than white men with the same education, work experience, marital status, and English ability.
(U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Civil Rights Issues Facing Asian Americans in the 1990's, 1992)
Asian American men make up 23% of the professional workforce but only 14% of the managerial workforce. However, white males make up only14% of the professional workforce but comprise a larger part of the managerial workforce at 17%.
Asian American women make up 17% of the professional workforce but only 12% of the managerial workforce.
(The State of Asian Pacific America: Policy Issues to the Year 2000, LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute & UCLA Asian American Studies Center)
Affirmative action has actually increased the representation of minorities in educational institutions: from 1987-1997, the number of Asian Americans who received bachelor's degrees more than doubled.
(Seventeenth Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education 1999-2000, American Council on Education, 2000)
In 1989 in San Francisco, Asian Americans represented more than 20% of construction contractors, but received only 1% of the construction contracts. In 1993, after the San Francisco implemented an affirmative action program, Asian American contractors received almost three times the contract dollars.
(Asian Pacific Americans for Affirmative Action, We Won't Go Back!: Why Asian Pacific Americans Should Support Affirmative Action, 1996)
Only 1.4% of the public school teachers in the country are Asian American.
Only 1.8% of all newspaper journalists nationwide are Asian American.
(The State of Asian Pacific America: Policy Issues to the Year 2000, LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute & UCLA Asian American Studies Center)
Asian American History: A Timeline (not comprehensive)
1763
First Asian Settlement at Saint Malo, Louisiana – during a stop-over on the Louisiana coast, some Filipino crew members jumped ship and ventured into the bayous.
1842
After a war with Great Britain, China opens five ports up to trade with Western nations.
1847
First Asian-American College Graduate, Yung Wing, a Chinese-American, earns a degree from Yale University. Yung later returns to China to organize the Chinese Educational Mission.
1848
Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill, California. Chinese in the Canton area are lured by pamphlets distributed by opportunistic ship owners who hoped to fill their passenger vessels. Eager to escape overpopulation, famine, and poverty, the Chinese come to California in the hope of making their fortunes.
1865
Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad – the Central Pacific Railroad Company hires over 3,000 Chinese workers to build the western portion of the transcontinental railroad, performing dangerous tasks such as chiseling and dynamiting tunnels through solid granite.
1867
2,000 Chinese workers go on strike. They are paid less than their Euro-American counterparts, subjected to whippings, and forbidden from quitting their jobs. They demand an 8-hour workday for those working inside the tunnels, a 10-hour workday for those working outdoors, an end to corporal punishment, and the right to quit their job whenever they want. The Central Pacific Railroad cuts off their rations and the workers are forced back to work when their food supply runs out.
1868
The Burlingame-Seward Treaty – motivated by the need for Chinese labor for the transcontinental railroad, the United States enters into a treaty with the Ta-Tsing Empire of China granting citizens of both countries the right of free immigration with reciprocal privileges of residence, school and travel.
1869
One of the first Japanese settlers arrives at Gold Hill in California, and founds the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony. The colony brings mulberry trees, silk cocoons, tea plants, bamboo roots, and other products to the region.
1877
Fukuin Kai, the Gospel Society of San Francisco, becomes the first Japanese American community organization on record, providing services for the immigrant community.
1882
Chinese Exclusion Act is passed, which excludes Chinese from entering the United States. The law is made permanent in 1904.
1885
School Segregation – under the “Separate but Equal” doctrine, San Francisco opens separate public schools for Chinese students in order to keep them out of white schools.
1886
The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Lee Yick in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, ruling, for the first time, that a city ordinance was applied in a discriminatory fashion. This precedent is later used in the 1960s in cases seeking to strike down statutes which discriminated against African Americans.
1897
Born in the United States to parents of Chinese descent, Wong Kim Ark travels to China to visit his parents. Ark is then barred from re-entering the U.S. because he is not considered an American citizen. Ark petitions the Supreme Court, and the Court agrees, stating that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution applies to all people born in the United States "regardless of race or color."
1898
Armed U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, and Queen Liliuokalani is imprisoned in her own palace and pressured to renounce all claims to the throne. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution of Congress annexing Hawaii.
1899
Two Buddhist missionaries arrive in San Francisco and incorporate under California law as the North American Buddhist Mission. They hold services in both Japanese and English, and grow to become the Buddhist Churches of America.
1903
The Fuji Athletic Club, the first Japanese American baseball club, is organized in San Francisco.
1907
Leaving Hawaii's sugar plantations, hundreds of Koreans arrive on the mainland of the United States.
1909
7,000 Japanese plantation workers strike at major plantations on Oahu for 4 months.
1910
Angel Island, dubbed the "Ellis Island of the West," serves to detain and process thousands of Chinese and Japanese immigrants according to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Thousands are crowded into barracks which separate families for weeks and even years at a time.
1912
Duke Kahanomoku of Hawaii becomes the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal.
1913
California passes the Alien Land Act, barring immigrants, primarily Japanese and other Asian farmers, from owning or leasing land. Many other states pass similar laws throughout the nation.
1917
Because of India's geography, some Indians were classified by anthropologists as "Aryan." This caused confusion in that Caucasians were also considered to be of "Aryan" descent. The Immigration Act of 1917 was passed. It created a "Barred Zone" which essentially excluded immigrants east of the Caucasus mountains from entering the U.S.
1922
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Takao Ozawa v. United States that racial origins were sufficient grounds to deny citizenship because he was neither a free white or of African descent.
1923
Bhagat Singh Thind was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1920. U.S. immigration officials sued Thind to strip him of his of citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that although racial origins of India were "Aryan," his skin color was not white therefore he could not be a U.S. citizen.
1924
Intended to end Japanese immigration, the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which excluded "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from entering the U.S.
1925
Hilario Moncado founds the Filipino Federation of America.
1934
Filipinos were nationals of the U.S., which meant they were neither citizens nor aliens. The Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed to decrease Filipino immigration next to nothing, while granting conditional independence to the Philippines.
1942
Following the declaration of war against Japan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced relocation and detention of Japanese-Americans, as well as over 2000 Japanese-Latin Americans.
1943
12,000 Japanese Americans, many from internment camps, join all-Japanese combat units.
1947
An amendment to the 1945 War Brides Act allows Chinese-American veterans to bring brides into the U.S.
1948
Victoria Manalo Draves is the first Asian American female to win an Olympic gold medal. Sammy Lee, a Korean-American, also wins a gold medal for diving.
1948
President Harry Truman signs the Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act. Although according to the law's provisions $38 million was paid out to Japanese Americans for economic losses suffered due to forced internment, it is largely ineffective due to the limited scope in which it operated.
1952
The McCarran-Walter Act grants the right of naturalization and a small immigration quota to Japanese.
1956
Dalip Sing Saund of Westmoreland, California, an Indian-American businessman, becomes the first Asian-American elected to Congress.
1959
Hiram L. Fong becomes the first Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate and Daniel K. Inouye becomes the first Japanese-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
1964
The first Asian-American Congresswoman, Patsy Takemoto Mink, is elected to Congress.
1965
The Hart-Celler Immigration Act ends over 80 years of race-based exclusion of immigrants from Asia.
1965
Filipino farm workers, under the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) led by Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, organized a strike against local growers demanding fair wages. The AWOC enlisted the help of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by Cesar Chavez, who joined the strike. This marked the historic Delano grape strike of 1965. Eventually, the AWOC and NFWA merged to form the United Farm Workers (UFW).
1968
Students of color at San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley organize a strike which leads to the creation of The Ethnic Studies Department at both campuses, and is eventually followed across the country.
1974
Japanese-American lawyer George Ariyoshi becomes the First Asian-American Governor.
1975
All remaining U.S. military personnel evacuated from Saigon. 125,000 Vietnamese flee and eventually settle in the United States.
1981
Chinese-American architecture student Maya Lin’s design is chosen to enshrine the memory of fallen soldiers in Vietnam.
1982
Vincent Chin, a Chinese American draftsman living in Detroit, is brutally murderd by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz because he looked Japanese and was to blame for them losing their jobs. Ebens and Nitz were both sentenced 3 years of probation and fined $3,000. The judge defended this light sentence because neither Ebens nor Nitz had a prior criminal record, so it was inconceivable they would harm anyone again.
1983
Fred Korematsu, Min Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi file petitions to overturn their World War II convictions for violating the curfew and evacuation orders. The Federal District Court of San Francisco reverses Korematsu's 1942 conviction and rules that the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II was legally unsupportable.
1985
Ellison Onizuka becomes the first Asian American man in space. Onizuka later dies in the space shuttle Challenger disaster.
1987
House Bill 442 is signed by President Reagan, issuing an official apology to 120,000 Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II.
1989
Congress passes legislation formally apologizing for the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II and authorizes a reparations fund for the few internment survivors.
1992
Congress designates May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
1994
Benjamin J. Cayetano becomes the first Filipino American Governor.
1996
Gary Locke becomes the first Asian-American Governor on the Mainland.
1997
Kalpana Chawla becomes the first Indian-American woman in space. She later dies in the space shuttle Columbia disaster.
1998
Fred Korematsu receives the Medal of Freedom for challenging the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
2000
Norman Mineta becomes the first Asian American man in the Cabinet.
2001
Elaine Chao becomes the first Asian American woman in the Cabinet.
President Bush signs the USA Patriot Act, giving significant surveillance powers to law enforcement agencies which many fear will jeopardize the civil rights of the people.