Understanding Asian-American Assimilation Outcomes, 1940-2000

Introduction

Having recently overtaken Hispanics as the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, Asian-Americans are notable as a group not only for their socioeconomic success but also for their “foreignness” despite their nearly two-century-long history in America dating back to the late 1840s. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center analysis, fully 74% of Asian-American adults were born abroad, only half of which claimed to speak English “very well” (“The Rise of Asian Americans”). I will be investigating assimilation outcomes of Asian-Americans by studying their demographics from 1940 to 2000, a period encompassing the conflict with Japan during the Second World War, extensive military involvement in Korea and Vietnam, and the modern surge of immigration following the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act which lifted national origin restrictions barring immigration from nearly all Asian countries.

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