1925
5/25: In Hidemitsu vs U.S. the Supreme Court upholds distinctions of race and color in naturalization laws, and holds that a Japanese person cannot be naturalized.
1927
2/21: Hawaiian state restrictions on immigrants’ language schools are ruled unconstitutional.
3/30: Filipino Federation of America organizes for the purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for its members.
1929
1/8: Corean Women’s Relief Society incorporated in Hawaii.
1930
8/29: Founding convention of Japanese American Citizens League
1931
2/10: Karl Yoneda arrested in a Los Angeles hunger march for holding a sign reading “Our Children Need Food”.
4/3: Cable Act is amended: An American-born woman who loses her citizenship because of marriage to an ineligible alien can no longer be denied the right of naturalization at a later date.
1933
4/20: California Governor James Rolph signs laws classifying the Malay race as non-white.
4/26: Chinese laundrymen in NYC organize the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in response to discrimatory regulations.
11/20: Filipino Labor Union founded.
12/20: Filipinos are ruled ineligible for citizenship and therefore are barred from immigrating to the U.S.
1934
3/24: The Tydings-McDuffie Act reduces the Filipino annual immigration quota to 50. The 75,000 Filipinos in the U.S. are considered “nationals” without citizenship.
1937
7/11: Jack Shirai, a New York restaurant worker, is killed fighting fascists in Spain. He was the only Japanese American in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
1938
2/28: Fifty garment workers in San Francisco vote to strike against Chinese-owned National Dollar Stores. Chinese women are the primary picketers in a strike that lasts 3 months.
3/25: The first Filipino National Conference is held in Sacramento, CA.
1940
11/4 Angel Island closes.
1942
2/19: FDR signs Executive Order 9066 calling for the internment of Japanese Americans.
12/6 A US MP fires on 1,000 Japanese American protsters at Manzanar. 2 die, 8 are wounded.
1943
2/1: 442nd Combat Unit is formed. 6/21: In Hirabayashi vs U.S. the Supreme Court rules that the curfew law imposed on Japanese Americans during WWII is constitutional.
12/17: Congress repeals the Chinese Exclusion Acts and sets an immigration quota of 105 Chinese per year.
1944
3/27: Okamoto Kiyoshi is relocated to Tule Lake, the camp for “disloyal” internees, for his leadership of the Fair Play Committee of One. The 275 members of his organization protest that the evacuation was illegal.
1945
4/29: Japanese American soldiers help liberate Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp.
12/28 War Brides Act allows about 200,000 Asian war brides to enter the US.
1946
3/20: The last Japanese Americans leave internment camps.
5/4: Tule Lake internment camp is closed, ending a history of beatings, raids, hunger strikes, and martial law.
7/2: Luce-Cellar Bill is signed, allowing Asian Indians to become U.S. citizens and sets a yearly quota of 100 immigrants.
7/2: Filipino Naturalization Act extends U.S. citizenship to residents who had arrived before March 24, 1943.
1948
6/8: In Torao vs Fish and Game Commission the Supreme Court rules that the state of California can’t prohibit aliens from fishing.
1950
3/6: In Haruye vs the People, the California Supreme Court holds that the state’s Alien Land Act violates the 14th Amendment.
1952
4/17: In Fujii Sei vs State of Calif. the Alien Land Law is declared unconstitutional.
1952
8/1: Major Sammy Lee — a 31-year-old Corean American army doctor who had served in two wars — became the first Asian American to win an Olympic medal when he took the gold medal for the 10-meter high dive. “The Oriental from Occidental” later became the coach for Greg Louganis who went on to win record numbers of diving gold in the Seoul Olympics.
1956
11/6 JACL wins repeal of the Alien Land Act. Next
