Wu - The color of success: Asian Americans and the origins of the model minority

The Color of Success

Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America

Series Editors
William Chafe, Gary Gerstle, Linda Gordon, and Julian Zelizer

A list of titles in this series appears at the back of the book

The Color of Success

Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority

Ellen D. Wu

Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford

Copyright 2014 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

press.princeton.edu

Cover photograph: Team USA, also known as the San Francisco Chinese Basketball Team, 1956. Courtesy of the San Francisco Chinese Basketball Team.

All Rights Reserved

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-691-16802-9

The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows

Wu, Ellen D.
Politics and society in twentieth century America : Asian Americans and the origins of the model minority / Ellen D. Wu.
pages cm
Includes index.

Summary: The Color of Success tells of the astonishing transformation of Asians in the United States from the yellow peril to model minoritiespeoples distinct from the white majority but lauded as well-assimilated, upwardly mobile, and exemplars of traditional family valuesin the middle decades of the twentieth century. As Ellen Wu shows, liberals argued for the acceptance of these immigrant communities into the national fold, charging that the failure of America to live in accordance with its democratic ideals endangered the countrys aspirations to world leadership. Weaving together myriad perspectives, Wu provides an unprecedented view of racial reform and the contradictions of national belonging in the civil rights era. She highlights the contests for power and authority within Japanese and Chinese America alongside the designs of those external to these populations, including government officials, social scientists, journalists, and others. And she demonstrates that the invention of the model minority took place in multiple arenas, such as battles over zoot suiters leaving wartime internment camps, the juvenile delinquency panic of the 1950s, Hawaii statehood, and the African American freedom movement. Together, these illuminate the impact of foreign relations on the domestic racial order and how the nation accepted Asians as legitimate citizens while continuing to perceive them as indelible outsiders. By charting the emergence of the model minority stereotype, The Color of Success reveals that this far-reaching, politically charged process continues to have profound implications for how Americans understand race, opportunity, and nationhoodProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-691-15782-5 (hardback)
1. Asian AmericansHistory20th century. 2. Asian AmericansCultural assimilation. 3. Asian AmericansEthnic identity. 4. Asian AmericansPublic opinion. 5. United StatesEthnic relationsHistory20th century. 6. United StatesRace relationsHistory20th century. 7. United StatesPolitics and government19451989. I. Title.

E184.A75W8 2013

305.895073dc23

2013019921

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Sabon LT Std and Italia Std

Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

For my mother and father,
Anita Mui Wu
and
Paul Pao-lo Wu

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.

W.E.B. DuBois,

The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Cataloguing the overwhelming generosity of all who have facilitated this project from start to finish has been humbling and heartwarming. It is impossible to repay all these kindnesses, but perhaps the following sentences can suffice.

I often marvel at how extraordinarily lucky I was to have studied with the best teachers and colleagues at the University of Chicago. My adviser, Mae Ngai, is the consummate mentor, always leading by example. I am continually inspired by her intellectual rigor, commitment to social justice, and dedication to her students. I hope she recognizes her stamp on any convincing parts of this book. George Chaunceys Postwar American Society seminar sparked my curiosity about this period and gave me the confidence to move forward. Kathleen Conzen, James Grossman, Thomas Holt, and Amy Dru Stanley profoundly influenced my understanding of history. Joanne Berens, Diane Brady, and David Goodwine cheerfully walked me through the bureaucratic maze of graduate school from beginning to end. Terry Schulte Scotts companionship enabled me to survive the first year. The camaraderie of Lisa Andersen, Melissa Borja, Michael Carriere, Kornel Chang, Beth Cooper, Mike Czaplicki, Orlando Garcia, Allyson Hobbs, Moira Hinderer, Amanda Howland, Miranda Johnson, Jennifer Lee, Quincy Mills, Meredith Oda, Arissa Oh, Albert Park, Steve Porter, Eli Salazar, Aaron Shapiro, Michael Stamm, Tracy Steffes, and Kyle Volk illuminated the delights of membership in a scholarly community.

I am also indebted to my professors at Indiana University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles for introducing me to the richness of history and Asian American studies: Nick Cullather, Eugene Eoyang, Yuko Kurahashi, Michael McGerr, Yuan Shu, Steve Stowe, Gin Yong Pang, Steve Louie, Valerie Matsumoto, Don Nakanishi, Glenn Omatsu, Kyeyoung Park, Sandhya Shukla, and Henry Yu. Regrettably, Yuji Ichioka passed away before I could share this work with him, but I hope it honors his efforts as a pioneer of Asian American history.

An army of specialists guided my navigation through the empirical building blocks of this project. For their assistance, I thank the staff members at Chicagos Japanese American Service Committees Legacy Center, the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society, the Chicago History Museum, the University of Chicagos Regenstein Library, the Brethren Church Archives, the California Historical Societys North Baker Research Library, the University of California, Berkeleys Ethnic Studies Library and Bancroft Library, the University of California, Los Angeles Young Research Library Special Collections, the University of California, Los Angeles Asian American Studies Reading Room, the Hoover Institution, the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, and Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, the Hawaii State Archives, the University of Hawaii at Manoas Hamilton Library, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, the Japanese American National Museums Hirasaki Resource Center, Columbia Universitys Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the University of Utahs J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library Special Collections, Yale Universitys Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the University of Michigans Bentley Historical Library, the Hagley Library, the New York Public Librarys Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, the University of Texas at Austins Perry-Castaeda Library, and densho.org. The staff members at the Document Delivery Services and Government Information Services at Indiana Universitys Wells Library clocked countless hours wading through the stacks for me.

I especially thank those who went out of their way to help me put all the pieces of this puzzle together, including Brandon Barton, Matthew Briones, Deborah Mieko Burns, Percy Chu, Miroslava Chvez-Garca, Winifred Eng Lee, Jim Gatewood, Jennifer Gee, Robert Gin, Reme Grefalda, Merie-Ellen Gushi, Mary Kao, Sojin Kim, Dong Kingman Jr., Cynthia Lee, Marji Lee, Lou Malcomb, Robert Meyer, Brian Niiya, Molly and Yoji Ozaki, Martha Nakagawa, Lisa Nishi, Wei Chi Poon, Jeff Rankin, Judy Soohoo, Randy Sowell, Jim Sparrow, Eileen Tamura, and Judy Yung. Chris Clements, Jason Luna Gavilan, Kristine Krueger, Meredith Oda, Erin Poirier, Katherine Wilson, and Grace Wong provided crucial research assistance. Setsuko Matsunaga Nishi, Jade Snow Wong, Betty Lee Sung, and William Yukon Chang took the time to tell me about their experiences as part of a remarkable earlier generation of Asian Americans. Anne Boylan, Jim Gatewood, Art Hansen, Mary Lui, Greg Robinson, and Henry Yu cordially sent primary materials my way. Charlotte Brooks became a kindred spirit. All the translations of Gilbert Woos