Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wbk2r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-06T20:41:04.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Asian Americans: Rights Denied and Attained

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2013

Manfred Berg
Affiliation:
Freie Universität Berlin
Martin H. Geyer
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
Get access

Summary

Asian Americans, a category created by the American government rather than a unified ethnic group, have experienced a wider variety of discrimination than any other group. This is not to say that they are the most discriminated against or the most disadvantaged. Native Americans and African Americans have endured and continue to endure a greater and deeper denial of rights. Moreover, large numbers of Asian Americans - and absolute majorities of some discrete ethnic groups - have achieved middle-class status. The separate history of Asian Americans is worth noting both for its own sake and to emphasize an important but often ignored fact: Racism in the United States has not been bichromatic, a matter of black and white, but multichromatic, a matter of red, black, yellow, brown, and white. In this chapter I examine the major rights that Asian Americans have achieved after first being denied them by American governments, and then I indicate the successful strategies employed by various groups and their leaders to achieve specific rights. The major rights considered during specific eras are: (1) The right of naturalization (1870-1952); (2) the right of immigration (1882-1952); (3) the right of family reunification (1882-1965); (4) the right to earn a living (1850s-1965); (5) the right of residence (1850s-1948); (6) the right of integrated schooling (1860s-1954); (7) the right to marry (1850s-1967); (8) the right to equal accommodation (1850s-1964); and (9) the right to redress for past governmental wrongs (1988).

Type
Chapter
Information
Two Cultures of Rights
The Quest for Inclusion and Participation in Modern America and Germany
, pp. 19 - 32
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×