Asian American Histories of the United States

An inclusive and landmark history, emphasizing how essential Asian American experiences are to any understanding of US history

Original and expansive, Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US. Reckoning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in anti-Asian hate and violence, award-winning historian Catherine Ceniza Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare.

Despite significant Asian American breakthroughs in American politics, arts, and popular culture in the twenty-first century, a profound lack of understanding of Asian American history permeates American culture. Choy traces how anti-Asian violence and its intersection with misogyny and other forms of hatred, the erasure of Asian American experiences and contributions, and Asian American resistance to what has been omitted are prominent themes in Asian American history. This ambitious book is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of the early twenty-first century.

Catherine Ceniza Choy is professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Before that, she was an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is the author of the books Empire of Care and Global Families and the co-editor of the anthology Gendering the Trans-Pacific World. An engaged public scholar, she has been interviewed in many media outlets, including ABC 2020, The Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, the New York Times, ProPublica, the San Francisco Chronicle, Time, and Vox. Connect with her on Twitter @CCenizaChoy.

PREFACE
Writing in the Years of Great Hatred

INTRODUCTION
The Multiple Origins of Asian American Histories

ONE
2020: The Health of the Nation

TWO
1975: Trauma and Transformation

THREE
1968: What’s in the Name “Asian American”?

FOUR
1965: The Many Faces of Post-1965 Asian America

INTERLUDE
1965 Reprise: The Faces Behind the Food

FIVE
1953: Mixed Race Lives

SIX
1941 and 1942: The Days That You Remember

SEVEN
1919: Declaration of Independence

EIGHT
1875: Homage

CONCLUSION
1869: These Wounds

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index