As Chinese-Cuban historian Diego Javier Luis has pointed out, “There were Asians in the Americas before the founding of Jamestown.” Indeed, the Asian American timeline runs deep, stretching centuries before the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. This course challenges students to reroute and reperiodize the standard Asian immigration story by exploring the staggering diversity of communities encapsulated within the social formation “Asian American.” Students will begin by examining the little-known history of the transpacific slave trade that carried free and enslaved South Asians to the port of Acapulco in the 16th century. We will compare this early Asian presence in America to subsequent waves of immigration, driven by push-pull factors of war, natural disaster, economic opportunity, education, and many other forces. Particular attention will be paid to U.S. colonial and military occupations in Asia, which created new categories of Asian Americans: military brides, Amerasians, colonial subjects, and refugees. Students also will engage with contemporary issues and debates involving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, including Covid-19 racism, human trafficking, healthcare disparities, language barriers, and the bamboo ceiling.

Asian American History is open to all juniors and seniors.