You may have heard the term “Asian American” tossed around during conversation, but what does this truly encapsulate? While some people think of Asian Americans as Americans with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean ancestry, this idea is simply untrue. The Asian continent spans from the Middle East all the way to some of the Pacific islands. Here is an image to help you understand:
Although the majority of Asian Americans descend from six origin groups (Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese) according to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, the vast landmass of Asia ultimately contributes to a diverse makeup of Asian ethnicities living in the United States. Not only is there diversity in the ethnicities of Asians that have arrived in the United States but there are also differences in when they have immigrated. The earliest wave of Asian immigrants arrived during the Gold Rush in the 1850s. Since then, Asian Americans have become one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States, with there being approximately 24.7 million Asian Americans in 2022 according to data from the United States Census Bureau.