APA History

GAACC participated in the Mayor's Taskforce Against Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities in 2016, serving on the Banking, Finance and Industry committee. We are currently members of the Central Texas Collective for Racial Equity.

In our member communication, we have been sharing resources on anti-racism and we now list these mostly short videos but also some great documentaries, on this webpage to engage the wider APA community on this critical issue. We also share resources for non-APAs to learn about this complex demographic. We hope you find these resources useful.

Asian Immigration & Bans

By 1830s, East Asians migrants worked on plantations in Hawaii
1850s Chinese migrants were attracted to the Gold Rush then worked on the transcontinental railroad
1871 Eighteen Chinese lynched in Los Angeles
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act barred immigration of Chinese
1917 Asiatic Barred Zone Act barred immigration from most of Asia
1942 Internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps
1965 Immigration Act overturned exclusionary bans
1970s Immigrants from conflicts in Korea, Vietnam
1990s - present High skilled immigrants (H1-B visas) mostly from India and China

WATCH: PBS documentary series
Asians Americans

Asians in Austin

Local history
- 1885 Knights of Labor Chinese boycott: Labor union called for boycott of businesses owned by Chinese immigrants, Dec. 4, 1885 The Austin Daily Statesman report
- 1921 Anti-Japanese conference: 1921 Texas lawmakers met with representatives of the American Legion of the Rio Grande Valley at the Driskill Hotel in Austin to push for laws banning Japanese immigrants from buying property
- 1937 Chinese community protests in Texas Senate: State lawmakers proposed a bill to prevent Asian immigrants from owning property. Chinese community members protested the bill, which did not pass

WATCH: KLRU Pioneers of the East short video series
Lung Family / Wong Family / Sing Family