Opening the Gates to Asia: A Transpacific History of How America Repealed Asian Exclusion
Mon, November 16, 2020 5:00 PM - Mon, November 16, 2020 6:00 PM at https://msu.zoom.us/j/6966956963
Much is known about how the United States began excluding Asians, but how did these exclusion policies end? Jane Hong argues that the mid-twentieth century repeal of Asian exclusion was part of the price of America’s postwar empire in Asia. Drawing on sources in the United States, India, and the Philippines, Hong considers how the imperatives of U.S. empire-building during an era of decolonization created new opportunities for Asians, Asian Americans, and others from both the US and Asia to lobby U.S. Congress for repeal. The demands of building and sustaining America's imperial reach compelled U.S. officials to respond to the antiracist and anticolonial demands of nonwhite peoples—if only in the most symbolic and performative ways.
