Quiz: Asian Pacific American History
When did Chinese workers begin to build the Transcontinental Railroad?
- The Central Pacific Railroad recruited Chinese to work on the transcontinental railroad in 1865. See the timeline of Asian American history.
Why did many Laotians immigrate to the U.S. after 1975?
- Many Laotians feared the Pathet Lao and fled to the U.S. in the 1970s. During this same period as the Pathet Lao, a large wave of Cambodians fled from the Khmer Rouge regime and their horrific "killing fields." The Cultural Revolution, which took place from 1966 to 1976, occurred in China under General Mao Zedong.
In 1976, whose work incorporated Asian American history, myth, and memories of the author's family?
- The publication of Kingston's family memoir was notable for its mainstream success and was awarded the National Book Award in 1976.
What's a "picture bride"?
- Picture brides, still common today, often did not see their new husbands until their arrival in the United States. More than 20,000 picture brides came to Hawaii between 1907 and 1924, primarily from Japan and Korea. The phenomenon was dramatized in a 1995 film starring Tamlyn Tomita.
What island was nicknamed "Ellis Island of the West" because it was a major immigrant processing station in the early part of the twentieth century?
- Angel Island processed mainly Asian immigrants from 1910 to 1940. Goat Island is now called Yerba Buena Island, and houses a lighthouse and a naval training station. Alcatraz Island, also in the San Francisco Bay, was a notorious prison from 1933 to 1963, when it was closed.
What was the major reason for boycotts of Miss Saigon on Broadway in 1991?
- The casting of Jonathan Pryce in the role of the musical's Eurasian narrator generated great controversy when the London show opened on Broadway.
What is the name of the Asian American cultural movement in the 1960s that advocated self-acceptance and fought racism and ethnic prejudice?
- The Yellow Power Movement was inspired, in part, by the Black Power Movement of the 1960s. The driving force of the movement were second-generation students who refuted the idea of the "passive Oriental" and established a new Asian American identity.
What group helped to spur passage of the 1991 Civil Rights Act?
- In the Supreme Court case Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, Filipino workers claimed discriminatory workplace practices because office workers were recruited through a home office, while cannery workers were hired from a Filipino hiring hall. Through a technicality, the workers lost the case. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 sought to overturn the verdict and protect "the right of employees to challenge practices that disproportionately exclude women or minorities from America's workplaces."
What was the purpose of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882?
- Before 1882, anti-Chinese sentiment had increased and riots occurred in San Francisco due to the quantity of cheap Chinese labor. The Chinese Exclusion Act banned immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. Subsequent laws expanded this power, and were finally repealed with new immigration laws in 1943.
Who were the Pensionados?
- The Pensionados came to the U.S. under the aegis of the U.S. government. Most of these Filipino students returned to the Philippines and made significant contributions to agriculture, business, education, medicine, and government.
