Teaching Guide, Video, Lesson Plan, Activity Exclusion: The Shared Asian American Experience

Many immigrants from Asia came to find a better life for their family, escaping from poverty, prosecution, colonialism, and other political atrocities. But America did not receive them with open arms. Throughout history, people from Asia have been excluded, discriminated against, subjected to violence, and prevented from becoming American citizens. Laws were passed that kept them from voting, owning land, marrying the person they loved, and seeing their relatives again. Though coming from different countries and cultures, the pioneering Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos, and more Asians who arrived here each faced similar conditions of exclusion, which forged the beginnings of a common, shared Asian experience in America. This educational video takes you through exclusion experiences that Asians endured then and what they continue to face as Americans now. Understand the past to shape the future.