Filipino-US Relationship Began With Colonialism

October 18, 1587 marks the first recorded arrival of Filipinos in the continental U.S., in Morro Bay, California – a state that continues to be home to a large subpopulation of Filipino Americans. In fact, Southern California has historically had the largest concentration of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the U.S. – with a storied and …

Why The U.S. Became Less Racist Toward Asian Americans

"Between 1940 and 1970, something remarkable happened to Asian Americans. Not only did they surpass African Americans in average household earnings, but they also closed the wage gap with whites," wrote journalist Jeff Guo in The Washington Post in 2016. The reason, one Brown University economist's study suggested, was that their fellow Americans became less …

The Asian American Experience on PBS: An Introduction

Asian Americans is a "five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history …

Are Filipinos Hispanic?

Reading the twisted history of race in America, I wonder what my grandson, who is Filipino-American but at eight just likes to call himself American, will identify on his census and other forms as his racial identity when he is of age: Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian, of Northern European ancestry, or mixed race? He is of …

Italian-American School Segregation Ends in Violence

NYTN, a Youtube channel by Danielle Romero who moved from New York to Tennessee, explores Italian heritage. "My great-grandmother Lola left her heritage behind in Louisiana when she moved to NY in the 1930s. Last year, I decided to uncover our family story and begin finding our roots. I'm still on the journey of hidden …

Galifianakis, Greek Immigrant Family to NC, Have Made Mark on Acting, Politics

My old UNC History Professor, John Semonche, born in 1933, has been teaching since the 1960s. In 2016, he produced the book "Pick Nick: The Political Odyssey of Nick Galifianakis From Immigrant Son to Congressman." You probably know the actor Zach Galifianakis. His father Harry was an actor. But Harry's brother Nick, Zach's uncle, a …

How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning

Retro Report: "The U.S. government ordered 120,000 people of Japanese descent imprisoned during World War II. An admission of wrongdoing and reparations payments came later, but the SCOTUS ruling had lasting impact." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4foV5qAnFzs Educators, check out Retro Report's Supreme Court collection: https://bit.ly/RR-SCOTUS

During WWI, US Government Propaganda Stigmatized German Language and Culture

Many American high school students prior to 1917 chose to learn the German language, history and culture. It was the most studied foreign language in America. About one out of four high school students was enrolled in German language classes before WWI. My grandmother, born in 1892, was among the Americans studying the German language. …

Italian Immigrants Sacco & Vanzetti: Murderers or Scapegoats?

On April 15, 2021, two security guards in Braintree, MA were murdered. Two Italian immigrants and anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were accused of the crime, convicted of first degree murder, and executed in 1927, though another man confessed. The judge in the case expressed prejudice toward Italian immigrants and refused to reconsider the …

New York Draft Riots of 1863 Were Inspiration for ‘Gangs of New York’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHVUPri5tjA The well-reviewed Martin Scorsese movie, "Gangs of New York" was not historically accurate, in a precise sense, but was inspired by events in the Five Points neighborhood of New York in 1863, called the "draft riots," an insurrection. Another clip from the movie, with age restrictions, is available on youtube.com, but cannot be embedded. …