Overview

Asian American History: Primary Documents of the Asian American Experience cultivates historical perspective through experiential and reflective learning. Designed to fill a content gap in general introductory books on the subject, this text shares documentary case studies of Asian immigrants struggling for the right to be fully American. These readings illustrate the dynamic, powerful, and divisive socially constructed nature of racial categories, as well as the legacy of colonialism that served as a foundation for the development of racial hierarchies. Jonathan H.X. Lee holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an associate professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. Christen T. Sasaki earned her Ph.D. in history at the University of California, Los Angeles and is an assistant professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University.