1850-1900 | 1901-1950 | 1951-2000 | 2001-Present
1951-2000
1952: The Walter-McCarran Immigration and Naturalization Act repeals the Asian Exclusion Act of 1924 and allows a small token of Asians to immigrate to the United States with the right of citizenship
1956: California repeals its alien land laws
1959: Hiram Fong is sworn in as Hawaii’s first United States Senator
1959: Judge Delbert Wong of Los Angeles is the first Chinese American appointed as judge in the continental United States
1965: “National origins” is no longer a criterion that is considered for allocating immigration quotas to various countries. Immigration Act of 1965 allows the admission of 20,000 immigrants per year from China
1968: Student strikes at San Francisco demanding the establishment of ethic studies programs
1974: Lau vs. Nichols, a civil rights case, rules that school districts serving students with limited English proficiency must provide bilingual education. The case was brought up by Chinese American students living in San Francisco. The students claimed they were not receiving the adequate education in the school system that they were entitled to under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states a ban on educational discrimination on the basis of national origin. The students were limited English students which hindered their progress in the school and claimed that the linguistically appropriate accommodations violated their right to access equal educational opportunities. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1974 ruled in favor of the students, thus expanding the rights of limited English proficient students around the nation. Lau’s case effectively defined the now widely accepted view that language can be closely intertwined with one’s national origin and language based discrimination translates into national origin discrimination.
1974: March Fong Eu is elected Secretary of State of California
1976: Samuel C.C. Ting wins Nobel Prize for Physics
1977: Eliberg restricts immigration on professionals
1979: Re-established diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the U.S. reunites the long separated family members of Chinese American families
1982: Maya Ying Lin designs the Vietnam War Memorial
1982: Vincent Chin, a Chinese American is clubbed to death with a baseball bat by two Euro-American men.
On June 1982, Chinese American, Vincent Chin, was clubbed to death by two Euro American men, Chrysler Plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his stepson Michael Nitz. This case was particularly controversial and generated public outrage due to the issue of race surrounding the case.
On the night of June 19, 1982, 27 year old Vincent Chin went to the Fancy Pants Strip club on Woodward Avenue in Highland Park in Detroit Michigan for his bachelor party to celebrate his upcoming wedding. The group was thrown out after a fight ensued between his party and two neighboring Euro American club goers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz. Ebens instigated the incident by declaring “It’s because of you motherf*ckers that we’re out of work”. Ebens was referring to the U.S. auto manufacturing jobs being lost to Japan and assuming Chin was Japanese or of Japanese descent. Due to this comment preceding the attack, the case was racially charged calling for a violation of Chin’s Civil Rights.
After the heated exchange of words, both groups parted ways but Ebens and Nitz began to search for Chin again around the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes and even paid another man 20 dollars to help look for Chin. Ebens and Nitz finally found Chin at a McDonald’s restaurant. Chin attempted to escape the two men but failed as he was held down by Nitz while Ebens repeatedly bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat which included severe blows to the head. As Chin slipped into a como, he whispered to his friend “It’s not fair” and the was rushed to Henry Ford Hospital where he was declared brain dead and died four days later on June 23, 1982.
Two off-duty officers who had witnessed the beating arrested the men. After a plea bargain where charges were brought down from second degree murder, the men were convicted in a county court for manslaughter by Wayne County Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman. They were given three years probation and a fine of $3,000 and $750 in court fees. They served no jail time. The outcome of the case outraged much of the Asian Pacific American community. Judge Kaufman responded to protests with the statement “These weren’t the kind of men you send to jail…You don’t make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal.”
1983: Lily Lee Chen of Monterey Park becomes the first Chinese American to serve as mayor of an American city
1985: Yo Yo Ma wins first Grammy
1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers who knowingly hire undocumented aliens
1987: Asian Pacific American Heritage Week is proclaimed through a formal signing by the White House
1989: Michael Chang becomes the youngest ever male player to win a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open at the age of 17
1994: Jerry Yang Co-Founds Yahoo
1996: AIDS Researcher David Ho is awarded Man of the Year by Time Magazine
1996: Michelle Kwan wins both the U.S. and World Championships in figure skating
1997: Steven Chu wins the Nobel Prize for Physics
1997: Tiger Woods wins the Masters and the first of his major golf championships
1998: Daniel C. Tsui wins Nobel Prize for Physics
