YEAR |
EVENT |
| 1600 | Spanish bring Chinese and Filipinos to Mexico. |
| 1763 | First Settlement |
| To escape imprisonment aboard Spanish galleons, Filipinos Jump ship in New Orleans and flee into the bayous of Louisiana. They establish St. Malo, the first Asian Pacific American settlement in the United States | |
| 1930 | Chinese laborers where brought to work in Hawaiian sugar cane fields. Chinese vendors registered in New York City. |
| 1847 | First College Graduate. Chinese American Yung Wing earns a degree from Yale University and becomes the fist Asian Pacific American to graduate from U.S. college. |
| 1948 | California gold rush draw Chinese prospectors. |
| 1952 | Presbyterian mission begins working with Chinese in San Francisco. |
| 1854 | Yung Wing graduates from Yale University and becomes first Chinese to graduate from a U.S. college. |
| 1860 | first diplomatic mission to U.S. sent from Japan |
| 1897 | California reports 50,000 Chinese living in the state. |
| 1882 | Chinese Exclusion. With adoption of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Immigrant from China – and eventually other Asian Countries – are prohibited from Entering the United States |
| 1885 | School Segregation. Under the “separated but equal” doctrine separate public school of Chinese students in order to keep them out of white schools |
| 1912 | First Olympic Gold Medalist. At the Stockholm Olympics, swimmer Duke Kahanomoku of Hawaii becomes the first Asian Pacific American to win a gold medal. He is later credited with introducing the sport of surfing to the United States. |
| 1913 | Alien and Land Act. California passes the Alien Land Act, barring alien immigrants, primarily Japanese and other Asian Pacific American farmets, from owning or leasing land. Similar laws are passed in other states throughout the nation |
| 1942 | Japanese American Internment. Following the United States Declaration of war against Japan, president Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced relocation and authorizing the forced relocation and detention of 120,000 Japanese Latin Americans. |
| 1943 | The Fighting 442nd. Some 12,000 Japanese Americans of many of them from internment camps, respond to the war Department’s call for volunteers for all Japanese combat unit. It becomes legendary for its success, and is the most decorated military unit in U.S. history. |
| 1946 | First Elected State Official. Chinese American Wong F. On god Arizona becomes the first Asian Pacific American to be elected to a state office. |
| 1948 | More Olympic First. Asian Pacific American athletes strike gold at the London Olympics as driver Sammy Lee wins the first gold medal by Korean American athlete, and Filipino American driver Victoria Manalo Draves wins the first gold medal by Asian Pacific American woman. |
| 1956 | First Congressman. Indian American businessman Dalip Singh Saud of Westmoreland, California becomes the first Asian Pacific American elected to Congress |
| 1964 | First Congresswoman. Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian Pacific American congresswoman, is elected to represent Hawaii |
| 1965 | Immigration Reform. The Hart-Celler Immigration Act ends over 80 years of race-based exclusion of immigrants from Asia. |
| 1965 | Leading the Labor Movement. Labor activists Philip Vera Cruz organizes a successful strike of fellow Filipino grape picker in Coachella, California. It begins a movement that leads to the formation of the United Farm workers of America |
| 1968 | Ethic Studies Strike. Students of color and San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkley organize the third world strike. Their efforts lead to the creation of ethic studies departments at both campuses and eventually across the county. |
| 1969 | Most Valuable Player. The los Angeles Rams’ Roman Gabriel the first Filipino American quarterbacj in the NFL, is recognized as the league’s Most Valuable Player. |
| 1974 | First Governor. Japanese American lawyer George Ariyoshi is elected governor of Hawaii, the first Asian Pacific American Governor in the United States. |
| 1979 | Asian Week Founded. John T. Fang publishes the first issue of AsianWeek. In 2000, his family purchases the San Francisco Examiner, the first major metropolitan daily owned by Asian Pacific American. |
| 1981 | Making of A Monument. Chinese American architecture student Maya Lin’s design I chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in a national competition. She becomes one of the most widely recognized architects in the United States. |
| 1982 | Vincent Chin is murdered in Detroit, Michigan. Two white auto workers who think he is Japanese and blame him for the American auto industry’s woes bludgeon him with a baseball bat. The courts are lenient on the two men, who don’t spend a day in jail, and the accident becomes a rallying point for the national Asian Pacific American Community. |
| 1985 | First Man in Space. Japanese American astronaut Ellison Onizuka dies in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger |
| 1985 | Academy Award. Cambodian American actr ans fromenr refugee Haing S. Ngor wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in his role in The Killing Fields. It is the first Oscar for acting won by Asian Pacific American. |
| 1987 | Japanese American Internment Redress. President Ronald Reagan signs bill HR 442, which issues and official apology to 120,000 Japanese Americans for their internment during World War II. It also provides individual monetary reparations for surviving internees. However, Japanese Latin Americans are not included in the redress |
| 1990 | Head of Higher Education. Chang-Lin Tien becomes the First Asian Pacific American to head a major U.S. university when he is appointed Chancellor of the University of California at Berkley. |
| 1992 | Los Angeles Riots. Riots erupt in los Angeles following the verdict of the Rodney King trial. Property loss is valued at $1 billion, with Korean American-owned businesses bearing half the damage. Relations between Korean Americans and African Americans become a focal point of community activism. |
| 1992 | APA Heritage Month. May of each year is officially designate as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. |
| 1992 | Firtst Vietnamese American Elected. Tony Lam is elected to the city council of Westminster, California, becoming the first Vietnamese American to win public office in the United States. |
| 1996 | Victory for Asian Immigrant Women Workers. After a 31/2 year national campaign, Asian Pacific American immigrant women and the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates reach historic agreement with clothing manufacturer Jessica Mc Clintock, Inc. to protect garment laborers. |
| 1996 | Groundbreaking Aids Reach. David Ho is named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for his work in AIDS research. He develops the protease inhibitor “cocktail” treatment, which adds years to lives of many AIDS patients. |
| 1996 | Governor on the Mainland. Gary Locke is elected governor on Washington state governor outside of Hawaii. |
| 1997 | First Woman in Space. Astronaut Kalpana Chawala becomes the first Indian American and Asian Pacific American woman in space. |
| 1999 | Wen Ho Lee. Chinese American scientist Wen Ho Lee is Jailed for nine months on 59 counts of breaching national security. The Asian Pacific American community unites in protest and accuses the government of racial profiling. The government fails to build a viable case and Lee is freed on September 14, 200, after agreeing to plead guilty to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets. |
| 2000 | First Man in the Cabinet. Former congressman Norman Mineta is appointed secretary of commerce by President Bill Clinton. He is the first member of a Presidential cabinet.Earlier in his career Mineta was also the First Asian Pacific American mayor of a metropolitan city (San Jose, California) |
| 2000 | Pulitzer Prize. Indian American Jhumpa Lahiri’s interpreter of Maladies wins the Pulitzer prize. Her book, a collection of stories about South Asians in America, is the First by an Asian Pacific American to be so organized. |
| 2001 | First Woman in the Cabinet. President George W. Bush appoints Elaine Chao to be Secretary of labor. She is the First Asian Pacific Woman to hold a presidential cabinet post. |
| 2009 | President Barack Obama names Gary Locke as the Secretary of Commerce, Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, and Stephen Chu as the Secretary of Energy. |
| 2009 | General Eric Ken Shinseki become 34th Army Chief Staff |