I’ll admit, I’m coming into this post cynically assuming that you haven’t read the books bought last summer when you realized that Black Lives Matter and we live with systemic oppressions. But, if you are looking to educate yourself (and since I am the bookish Asian American woman on your feed), here are some places to start. Asian American history is American history, so time to catch up.
Worth noting that this is by no means comprehensive, limited to what I’ve consumed and can vouch for (and have recommended in the past), and as an American Born Chinese, it *does* skew east Asian-centric. I also didn’t linger TOO long on this list- there’s a fair amount of recency bias for books/shows I’ve consumed in the last year or so, but when I dug back in my notes from 2004 many of those sources seem to be out of print and might not be readily accessible.
Books
Nonfiction
The Making of Asian America by Dr. Erika Lee- a solid place to begin for a broad view of Asian American history as she covers a wide time span from the colonial era onwards, a wide part of the diaspora including east, middle, and west Asians, and Americas beyond the US including Canada, Mexico, and South American countries.
The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang- for me personally, this is where I started my education in my own history, reading it in 8th grade. This covers the 150+ year history of Chinese Americans- the laws against us (and fights against them with court cases and organizations), the rise of the model minority myth, etc. blended with Iris’s personal family experiences.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong- a collection of autobiographical essays that resonated HARD last February when it debuted, on growing up and navigating predominantly white spaces, on determining our relationship to other marginalized communities.
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob- a graphic novel by a Desi woman, spawned by conversations with her young biracial son and reflecting back on her life. Colorism, sexism, tough conversations with in-laws all show up.
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki- Takaki compares histories of various groups in the United States: Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Irish Americans, Jews, and Latinos among other communities. By organizing the book chronologically, parallels in labor exploitation seem obvious, but solidarity is often hindered by using xenophobia to assimilate. The more specific Takaki book to recommend here would be Strangers from a Distant Shore (which he references in A Different Mirror) but 1) I haven’t read it yet and 2) I think it’s useful to be able to draw parallels between different groups in the United States to see how similar our fights for the pursuit of happiness are.
Fiction
The Traitor by Laurence Yep- part of Yep’s Golden Mountain Chronicles written for a middle grade audience, The Traitor takes us to the 1885 Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming (one of many in the western United States) through the eyes of an adolescent. Unflinching, even though it’s written for a younger audience.
Audiovisual
Nonfiction
PBS Asian Americans (Currently available for free on the PBS Video app and website)- aired in time for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month in 2020, this five hour miniseries is another good, broad overview of Asian American history. Five hours is not enough to cover everything but that was all the filmmakers were allocated, so consider this an introductory point for a number of further reading.
The Chinese Exclusion Act- a two hour documentary in the American Experience series on PBS, a thorough look at the titular law that set the foundation for American immigration restrictions, and the conditions that led up to it (everything circles back to labor: in the wake of the Civil War, capitalists wanted a cheap source of labor without having to consider laborers people/citizens).
Fiction
Warrior, on HBOMax- originally debuting on Cinemax, Warrior is the almost-Exclusion era historical action show I’ve wanted since I was 14 years old. Bruce Lee wrote an 8 page treatment of a television series following Ah Sahm, a newcomer from China to the Wild West. Lee family lore says that after turning him down, the networks stole the idea for Kung Fu with David Carradine as a palatable white lead. The fights are incredible, and if you want to get some learning in with your entertainment, it’s not a bad way to go (though content warnings for violence, sex, and drug use which is unsurprising for the setting and period, and for Cinemax).