AAPI Contributions to America

Ever since 1765, when Filipino sailors established fishing communities in what would be Louisiana, Asians have immigrated to the United States in pursuit of a better life. However, the Asian-American experience has always been denied in the larger narrative of our country. The mass perception remains that the AAPI community are fresh off the boat immigrant families, a stereotype enforced by history books and media. It took an entire global pandemic nicknamed the “kung flu” and “China virus” for the public to open its eyes to our experience. However, this hatred is nothing new: the Chinese and Indian coolie trade, the Los Angeles 1871 massacre, Bellingham riots, Japanese internment during WWII, segregation, and lynching speak to a long history of racial oppression ingrained within American society.

And while it is easy to constantly associate discrimination and marginalization with minority groups, it is only a singular part of the story. This one-sided story also ignores the triumph, success, and home the 18.9 million Asian-Americans have made in our country. The AAPI community has contributed to American culture, society, and the world at large, and it is time to acknowledge our trailblazers.

Mainstream media

Americans have always been obsessed with film and television, giving rise to the beginnings of Hollywood. It was also in the popular culture which Americans consumed that Asian-Americans were arbitrarily held back, whether that was through the act of yellow-face or constant perpetuation of negative stereotypes. Despite this, there was nothing to stop the rise of AAPI stars who made their own name.

Silent film & Old Hollywood Era

Sessue Hayakawa (1886-1973). An actor born in Japan, Hayakawa is Hollywood’s first Asian male star and known as “Hollywood’s first heartthrob.” He starred in multiple films, created his own film company, and was one of the highest paid actors in his time, earning around $28 million in today’s currency.

Tsuru Aoki (1892-1961). Aoki, married to Hayakawa, was also of Japanese descent and played roles in major silent era companies, such the Jesse Lasky Company (later Paramount Pictures) and the Universal Motion Picture Manufacturing Company.

Anna May Wong (1905-1961). Recently, Anna May Wong is a name that has been growing in popularity and recognition as the first Chinese-American film star, gracing the silver screen with her talent as an actress. Born in Los Angeles’ Chinatown as Wong Liu Tsong, Wong always wanted to become an actress, skipping school to watch movies and film sets. Although incredibly skilled, she was often relegated to demeaning, stereotypical roles such as that of the sexually aggressive, untrustworthy Dragon Lady or the exotic and submissive Madame Butterfly. Starring in over 60 films in her career, Anna May Wong was also a producer of her own films and a style icon for her beauty, flapper fashions, and trademark bangs. In an era filled with segregation and anti-Asian laws, she managed to transcend the film industry and make her way.

Miyoshi Umeki (1929-2007): a talented actress of Japanese descent, she became the first ever Asian to win an Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress), be nominated for a Tony, and win the Academy Award. Despite the stereotypical roles she played, she saw everything through with talent, bearing the brunt of this racism to continue her passion.

Nancy Kwan (1939-present). Born to a Cantonese father and English mother, Nancy Kwan became the first widely successful actress of Asian descent in the West. Credited to 63 films, she starred in comedies and musicals, given her extensive dance background, and was shot in major magazines like Time, Cosmopolitan, and Life.

In the 21st century, we have shows and movies like Fresh Off the Boat, Crazy Rich Asians, Never Have I Ever, and Marvel’s first ever Asian superhero played by Simu Liu. The AAPI community has many well-known actors like Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, Steven Yeun, Mindy Kaling, Constance Wu, Ken Jeong, Jason Momoa, and more. In the spheres of fashion and music, brands like Vera Wang and Anna Sui are the epitome of high-fashion excellence and creativity while artists like Mitski, Olivia Rodrigo, Audrey Nuna, and Japanese Breakfast have taken the world by storm.

Science and Technology

In the science and technology which has modernized and advanced the world, we see Asian-Americans make breakthroughs.

Min-Chueh Chang (1908-1991). Min-Chueh Chang, a scientist of Chinese descent, co-developed the oral birth control pill widely used today and also laid the groundwork for IVF fertilization. Chang asserted that the birth control pill had two direct effects: “the liberation of women and the separation of sex from childbearing.”

Chien Shiung Wu (1912-1997). An unsung innovator, Chien Shiung Wu, who arrived in America from Shanghai at the age of 24 with a physics degree, becoming a crucial part of the Manhattan Project. Prior to involvement in developing atomic bombs, she was a physics professor at both Princeton and Columbia University. In the Manhattan Project, she improved Geiger counters’ ability to detect radiation and figured out how to separate uranium metals. She also ran tests on beta decay, confirming the theory, became the first woman to be president of the American Physical Society, and the first ever to receive the Wolf Prize in Physics.

Other incredible AAPI contributors include Dr. Anandi Gopal Joshi, the first Hindu and Indian female to become a doctor in 1886, Dr. David Ho who did critical research for modern “cocktail” antiretroviral therapy, and Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, who helped create a functional cure for an HIV-positive infant. There are others like Ajay Bhatt who invented the USB cables used in more than 10 billion devices, Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-American woman to go to space, Fazlur Rahman Khan, who designed the Willis Tower in Chicago, David T. Wong, who helped to discover Prozac, and so many more unrecognized heroes who forever changed the way of American science, innovation, healthcare, and technology.

Politics

Politically, members of the AAPI community have also been trailblazers within the United States, making changes legislatively in the fields of activism and social justice.

Dalip Singh Saund (1899-1973). The first ever Asian-American elected to the House of Representatives was Dalip Singh Saud in 1965, an Indian-born Democrat who became a naturalized citizen. Despite the unwelcoming environment towards those of Asian descent, he accomplished a lot during his terms: fighting for small farmers, serving on the House of Foreign Affairs during the Cold War and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He also secured funding for irrigation on indigenous land, protected the bracero program, and fiercely supported the 1957 Civil Rights bill.

Patsy Takemoto Mink (1927-2022). A Japanese-American representative from Hawaii, Mink was the first Asian-American and woman of color to serve in Congress. Prior to her terms, she graduated from the University of Chicago law school, was the first Japanese-American woman to practice law in Hawaii and served for 24 total years. In office, she fought for gender equality, affordable childcare, and bilingual education. Mink co-authored and supported the groundbreaking Title IX, which banned gender discrimination in any school or federal program. She passed the Women’s Educational Equity Act which promoted gender equality in schools, served on the Committee on Education and Labor, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and the Budget Committee.

Philip Vera Cruz (1904-1994). Cruz immigrated to the United States at the age of 20 from the Philippines and worked as a laborer in many jobs, kick-starting his life work in labor unions. Along with Filipino-American labor leader Larry Itilong, Vera Cruz would lead the asparagus strike. Later, he would go on to become leader of the National Farm Labor Union, which organized Filipino, black, and Mexican-American workers. He would then lead the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, mostly representing Filipino workers, and join forces with the National Farm Workers Association to lead the Delano grape strike for better working conditions.

There are other unrecognized AAPI figures like Tye Leung Schulze, who worked to free Chinese women from sex slavery, was the first Asian-American woman to vote, and the first to occupy a federal job. Currently, Asian-Americans fight for a better future, which includes LGBTQ advocate Cecilia Chung, Amanda Ngyuen, author of the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act that gives state-protected rights to rape victims, Cynthia Choi, Russell Jeung, and Manjusha Kulkarni, who founded the Stop AAPI Hate movement, and so many more. Joe Biden’s cabinet contains those of AAPI descent like Katherine Tai, Trade Representative, Arati Prabhakar, Officer of Science and Technology Policy, and vice president Kamala Harris.

In an era where racial injustices and inequality are slowly being brought to light, Asian-American stories have still gone largely unnoticed in the context of a wider American story. All throughout elementary and middle school, even I remained ignorant to my own community’s story. This kind of perception doesn’t change unless light is shed on the contributions the AAPI community has given both domestically and to the world at large. There are still so many Asian-Americans who have done so much: this is only a sliver of our unnoticed stories. Whether it’s birth control, sexual assault survivor rights, silver screen films, the Olympic games, and everything in between, accomplished Asian-Americans have changed our society for the better. It is crucial that our stories are fully recognized in the success of the American dream and pride in our country.

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