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A Brief History of Asians in America
(Hallway Displays)
Taken from the displays posted in the hallway leading to the exhibit hall, this timeline provides a brief history of Asians in America. It is not a traditonal linear timeline, but rather a series of snapshots that highlight the Asian experience in America.
The story of Asians and Pacific Islanders in America is one of perseverance, resilience, and hope. In and around Charlotte, those of us in the diverse and fast-growing AAPI community often live between two worlds. In so doing, we remain proud Carolinians and loyal Americans, while continuing to honor our traditional cultures and values. The artifacts in this exhibit are a collection of personal items from your neighbors who belong to one of the more than 25 distinct Asian American communities that live, work, and play in greater Charlotte.
The Galleon Trade
Spain’s Pacific “Manila Galleon Trade” was a global trade network between 1565 and 1815 that connected the economies of Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Beginning in the 1580s, some 40,000 to 100,000 Asians (mostly sailors and slaves) from the Philippines, China, Japan, and South and Southeast Asia, crossed the Pacific from Manila to Acapulco. Upon arrival, they were categorized as a single group, thus establishing the inaccurate and harmful perception of Asians as a homogeneous and unassimilable race. Some jumped ship and made their way into the New World, primarily in Mexico and along the West Coast, where they worked as fishermen, farmers, and laborers.
This 1570 map, from what is considered to be the first world atlas, by Abraham Ortelius, features Spanish galleons sailing from the Philippines to Hispania Nova, or “New Spain.”
Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries
“Exotic Curiosities”
In 1834, U.S.-China traders, brothers Nathaniel and Frederick Carne, brought Afong Moy, a 19-year-old woman from Guangzhou, China, to New York City. There, she was exhibited to the general public among “various Chinese curiosities” for 8 hours a day—for the price of 50 cents. She later toured the country and met President Andrew Jackson. Her treatment as an exotic curiosity helped reaffirm the false notions of the West’s superiority and of Asians as being fundamentally different.
Afong Moy
Courtesy The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library
Early Filipinos in America
Morro Bay, California
On October 18, 1587, the first Filipinos landed in what is now the continental United States at Morro Bay, California. They arrived as slaves, prisoners, and crew aboard the Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza, but they did not stay. After an encounter with the native Chumash and the death of a crew member, the ship returned to sea and headed to its intended destination of Acapulco, New Spain.
Saint Malo, Louisiana
The earliest documented Asian settlement in the U.S. was the Filipino fishing village of Saint Malo on Lake Borgne in Louisiana. Oral tradition suggests that Filipinos arrived as early as 1763. The Manilamen, as they became known, revolutionized the shrimping industry in the South by introducing such preservation methods as the Shrimp Dance, a process of separating shrimp shells from the meat by dancing (and stomping) in a circular motion on the piles of shrimp.
A wood engraving from the March 31, 1883 edition of Harper’s Weekly depicts the fishing village of Saint Malo.
Library of Congress