President Jimmy Carter signed a joint resolution in 1978 that declared May 4–10, 1979, as the first Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. This was later extended by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to a month-long celebration. The month commemorates the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant, a fisherman named Nakanohama Manjiro, or “John Mung,” to the United States on May 7, 1843, and marks the transcontinental railroad’s completion on May 10, 1869.

Click the images below to download a PDF, or click these links to expand: Asian-American Heritage Timeline and Asian-American Fact & Figures.

 1700s–1800s:

1763 First recorded settlement of Filipinos in America in Louisiana

1843 First Japanese immigrants arrive in the United States

1847 Yale’s Yung Wing is the first Chinese person to graduate from a U.S. college

1848 Chinese people migrate to California during the Gold Rush

1854 California bars the entrance of Chinese people to the state

1858 People v. Hall rules that Chinese people cannot give testimony against whites

1865 Chinese workers are hired by the Central Pacific Railroad Company

1869 First transcontinental railroad is completed 1878 Ninth Circuit Court in California declares that Chinese people cannot receive natural citizenship

1879 Laws are passed in California against Chinese employment

1882 Chinese Exclusion Law is passed, which suspends immigration for 10 years

1898 The Philippines declares its independence. The U.S. annexes the Philippines and Hawaii

1898 Wong Kim Ark v. U.S. rules that Chinese people born in the United States are citizens

1900s:

1903 First group of Korean people arrives to work in Hawaii

1905 California Civil Code forbids marriage between Asians and whites

1906 San Francisco excludes Japanese, Korean and Chinese children from public schools

1907 Immigration from India begins

1907 President Theodore Roosevelt’s executive order prevents Japanese/Korean immigration

1922 Takao Ozawa v. U.S. rules that a Japanese person cannot be naturalized

1924 National Origins Act prohibits immigration of most Asians

1941 After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese on the Pacific Coast are interned in camps

1943 Congress repeals all Chinese exclusion laws and grants naturalization

1946 The Philippines becomes independent; citizenship is offered to those living in the United States

1946 Wing Ong becomes first Asian person elected to state office in Arizona House of Representatives

1947 President Harry Truman pardons Japanese Americans who resisted draft in internment camps

1949 U.S. severs ties with People’s Republic of China; 5,000 educated Chinese people are granted refugee status

1950 Korean War and second wave of Korean immigration begins

1956 Dalip Singh Saund becomes the first Asian-Indian person elected to Congress

1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th state

1959 Hiram Fong and Daniel K. Inouye become the first Asian-Pacific Americans elected to Congress

1962 Hawaii’s Inouye becomes a senator; Spark Matsunaga becomes a congressman

1964 Patsy Takemoto becomes the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress

1975 Vietnam War ends; leads to large migration of Southeast Asians to the United States

1979 The first Asian Pacific American Heritage Week is celebrated

1979 Diplomatic relations resume between the People’s Republic of China and the United States

1989 President George H.W. Bush signs into law an entitlement program to pay each surviving Japanese-American internee $20,000

1997 Kalpana Chawla becomes the first Asian Indian astronaut in space

1997 Gary Locke becomes the first Asian-American governor of a mainland state (Washington)

2000 to Present Day:

2000 Norman Mineta becomes the first Asian-American person to hold a Cabinet post

2001 Elaine Chao is appointed secretary of labor

2006 First monument dedicated to Filipino soldiers who fought for the United States in World War II is unveiled

2007 Bobby Jindal becomes the first Indian-American person elected governor (Louisiana)

2009 President Barack Obama appoints the most Asian Americans to Cabinet-level positions (three)

2010 Apolo Anton Ohno becomes the most decorated American Winter Olympian, with eight medals

The post Asian/Pacific Islander American Facts & Figures appeared first on DiversityInc.

The report, “Asians in America: Unleashing the Potential of the ‘Model Minority,” found that what keeps most Asian Americans from making it to the top are subtle workplace biases fueled by the stereotype that Asians are passive and lack the necessary social skills and assertiveness to move up the corporate ladder.

Companies are at high risk of losing Asian talent because too many Asian Americans feel stuck in their positions. Barbara Adachi, national managing principal of the Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women at Deloitte, No. 8 in The 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, and an Asian American, says, “The Asian community is a very large economic force both inside and outside of the U.S. The more you understand what’s going on globally, and the impact that China and India are having on the world, the more you will recognize the importance of having Asians be part of your organization and leadership team.”

Asians’ Frustration

The report was compiled from a national survey of nearly 3,000 Asians residing in the United States (51 percent born in Asia and 49 percent born in the United States, Canada, Europe or other countries), as well as focus groups and interviews. Findings show:

• Twenty-five percent of Asians feel that they face workplace discrimination because of their ethnicity, while only 8 percent of Blacks, 9 percent of Latinos and 4 percent of whites believe that Asians are treated unfairly in the workplace.
• Nearly half of Asian employees (48 percent) report that conformity to prevailing leadership models—having to act, look and sound like the established leaders in their workplace—is a problem.

• Only 28 percent of Asian employees say they feel very comfortable “being themselves” at work, versus 40 percent of Blacks, 41 percent of Latinos and 42 percent of whites.

• Forty-six percent of Asian employees have a mentor in their professional life, making them 15 percent less likely to have a mentor than their white colleagues.

• Asians are more than three times as likely as whites, and significantly more likely than Blacks and Latinos, to reduce their ambitions, work fewer hours and consider quitting because of issues of bias.

DiversityInc Top 50 Comparatives

Representation of Asian Americans in senior levels of U.S. organizations is higher in the DiversityInc Top 50 than in the U.S. industry in general. Asian Americans account for just 1.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 4 percent of the CEOs in the DiversityInc Top 50. (See also: Where’s the Diversity in Fortune 500 CEOs?)

As a subset of the DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, DiversityInc ranks The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans. They are:

No. 1: Deloitte
No. 2: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
No. 3: Johnson & Johnson
No. 4: IBM
No. 5: PricewaterhouseCoopers
No. 6: Kaiser Permanente
No. 7: Abbott
No. 8: American Express
No. 9: Procter & Gamble
No. 10: Wells Fargo

DiversityInc chose these companies for this list based on empirical data, including rates of participation in Asian employee-resource groups, demographics for the workforce, new hires, management levels, promotions into and in management and the composition of the board of directors. Consider these facts:

• The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans’ boards of directors average 6.3 percent Asians, compared with 2 percent nationally. (Source: Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics [LEAP])

• Their top level of management (CEO and direct reports) is almost 5 percent Asian, compared with less than 2 percent in the Fortune 500.

• Asians represent an average of 13.6 percent of their companies’ workforces, compared with 4.8 percent nationally. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• Asians represent an average of 14.3 percent of managers in their companies, compared with 6.1 percent nationally. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• The percentage of Asian new hires is more than double their percentage in the U.S. workforce.

Using ERGs to Advance Asian Americans

The Center for Work-Life Policy report highlights three focus areas: gaining visibility and sponsorship; combating isolation; and enhancing and showcasing leadership skills. Employee-resource groups are an excellent vehicle for this. (See also: Best Practices: Talent Development.)

Case studies from Deloitte, Merck & Co., Time Warner and KPMG (Nos. 8, 15, 28 and 29, respectively, in the DiversityInc Top 50; Deloitte is No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Asian Americans) in the report show how ERGs and other programs aimed at helping Asian Americans improve their employee satisfaction, retention and promotions. 

Deloitte

Deloitte started a program called Communications for Technologists (C4T), for professionals in the technology-service line, many of whom are Asian. The goal of C4T is to improve participants’ writing and speaking skills to communicate more effectively with clients.

Most participants are nominated for the program based on recommendations from their managers, but a growing number request permission to participate, particularly in advanced courses such as executive communication. By developing the skills to communicate effectively and clearly, Asians and others at Deloitte are overcoming communication-related barriers to their career advancement.

Merck & Co.

In 2007, Merck launched a program to promote the professional development of its Asian talent in the United States with a series of interactive sessions focusing on cultural fluency for Asian employees as well as managers of Asians. Participant surveys showed consistent improvement in their comfort level in speaking up in both one-on-one meetings and large-group settings, understanding management expectations and making presentations, among others. Managers of Asians said the program was an important employee-development tool. After three years at Merck Research Laboratories with more than 90 graduating participants, the program is expanding to Asian employees globally.

Time Warner

Time Warner’s Asian-Pacific Exchange (APEX) resource group provides a common meeting ground for all of the Asian employee-resource groups within the corporation but also reaches out to connect with similar groups at other corporations to provide networking opportunities. APEX is now affiliated with 33 Asian employee groups in New York City. This year, the group will partner with Ascend, a national Asian leadership organization, to do a panel about the outlook of digital media. Ascend will invite members to participate in its workshops on negotiation skills, personal presentation skills and other key leadership capabilities.

KPMG

The Key Account Rotation Program, created in 2009, rotates associates from across all business lines through high-profile accounts to gain client exposure, develop credentials and broaden their networks. The results have been gratifying, says Kapila Anand, co-leader of KPMG’s Asia Pacific Island Network (APIN) resource group. “Over 95 percent of the associates in the program have successfully completed 300 to 400 hours on a priority account.” Anand says.

APIN leaders identify accounts or client events and the individuals that might have interest in the account or event. In some cases, individuals are directly assigned to specific accounts; in others, they are invited to client events where they have a chance to share their expertise in an informal setting. “We say, ‘Here’s a particular account that can be matched with a manager with specific competencies.’ It’s connecting dots that people didn’t perceive to be connectable,” says Anand.

The post How to Stop the Asian ‘Brain Drain’ in Your Company appeared first on DiversityInc.