THE 70 MOST INSPIRING ASIAN AMERICANS OF ALL TIME
Pioneers who paved the way for other Asian Americans.
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THE 70 MOST INSPIRING ASIAN AMERICANS OF ALL TIME
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ow do you cull hundreds of uniquely inspired and inspiring achievements and compile a list like this?
Painstakingly -- and with the humbling recognition that lists like this mean nothing to those they include and little more to those they omit. Every omission is mostly a function of limited time and energy. Every ranking is the product of judgments reflective more of our own limited knowledge than of the actual achievements we were considering. So much for the caveats. Now our method. We considered several hundred Asian American achievers in every field for which information is publicly available. We then valued and ranked candidates based on our appraisal of their positive impact, firstly, in inspiring other Asian Americans, and secondly, in inspiring Americans at large. |
An example: Filipino American quarterback Roman Gabriel is ranked behind French-Open winner Michael Chang because Gabriel's ethnicity wasn't publicized until two decades after he retired. That limited his cumulative impact on young Asian Americans and on the perception others have of Asians. Some will question why we left out people more famous than many we included. Fame doesn't equal positve impact. Serial killers are famous but have less positive impacts than shoeshine boys.
We also weighed the social climate in which these men and women made their mark. Consider a one-armed World War II veteran who rose to prominence as a Senator in an age when some barbers refused to cut his hair. Consider an actor who made himself the world's top star in an age when Hollywood relegated Asians to playing servants. This is a living list, to be adjusted as time reveals more inspiring Asian Americans or amplifies the impact of those listed. |
THE 70 MOST INSPIRING ASIAN AMERICANS OF ALL TIME
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Nos. 31-40
Nos. 41-50
Nos. 51-60
Nos. 61-70
On a machinegun-raked ridge in Italy, Inouye showed that Japanese Americans were willing to go for broke even in the service of their as-yet-unworthy nation. His right arm was lost on that ridge but the rest of him was obliged to return home to face slurs and racist barbers while completing his patriotic mission as one of America's most powerful senators.
Too Asian to be anything more than a masked sidekick, Hollywood told Lee, and gave the Kung Fu series lead to David Carradine. Lee returned to Hong Kong and cranked out three flicks that offered nothing but his physical virtuosity and emotional power. The world was not only ready, but hungry, for an Asian hero, Hollywood decided. Bruce Lee's mysterious death at age 32 couldn't keep him from rescuing Asian manhood from Hop Sing hell.
By being elected Governor of Washington in 1996, Locke proved that Asian Americans can win the trust of fellow citizens even in states where Asians are a small minority. His response to President Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address convinced many that a politician with an Asian face could take the national stage as an American leader.
Mineta's pioneering political career began in 1970 when he became the first Asian American to be elected mayor of a major city. In the years since he has achieved national stature with an illustrious record as a congressional powerhouse and the first AA cabinet secretary. He is the only Asian American to have a national airport named after himself.
The diminutive Pei created an outsized place for Asian Americans in the formerly white-shoe world of big-time architecture with structures that combine daring lines with mathematical elegance. His work has renewed the Louvre, adds excitement to the National Gallery and lends majesty to the skylines of the world's greatest cities.
As if his face and physique weren't enough, the power of Lee's acting made him a memorable leading man in several major films. The physical and the spiritual gelled to perfection in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, so compelling a biopic that it has displaced Bruce Lee's own movies in the minds of an entire generation of Asian Americans.
At a time when Japanese Americans were being interned as enemy aliens, this Corean American forsook a safe assignment to fight with the all-Nisei 442nd/100th Regimental Combat Team. Kim earned the respect and love of his men with bold battlefield leadership and unflinching devotion. He is a shining symbol of Asian American unity when the chips were down.
By developing the "cocktail" strategy for fighting AIDS, Ho became a hero to a scared world badly in need of hope. Time honored him with its 1996 Man of the Year title and Ho remains a leader in the continuing global war against the deadly effects of the HIV virus.
Her surgical vivisections of bloated authors have made the New York Times lead literary critic the bitch-goddess of American letters and won her a Pulitzer in 1998 to boot. Browbeating America's cultured class with its own code is Kakutani's contribution to the spiderwebbing crack in the stereotype of English-fracturing Asians. She did it all while keeping her inner -- or outer -- life from being limned by either the fawning or the fuming.
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| 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70 |