The designation of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month by Congress in 1990 symbolizes the extent to which both the experience of Asian-Pacific Americans and the nature of U.S. immigration law have changed over time. Early Asian immigrants often fled homeland tragedies only to encounter harsh repression and legalized discrimination upon their arrival in the United States. The experience of these first generations of Asian immigrants is aptly summed up by a Chinese saying that describes the constant enduring of suffering as “eating bitterness.” In the late 1800s and early 1900s, popular backlash against Asian immigrants culminated in a series of laws which excluded all Asians from becoming naturalized citizens and barred further migration from Asian countries. However, the challenge of fighting World War II in the Pacific theater, together with the influence of the U.S. civil rights movement and declining immigration from Europe, eventually eroded these overtly discriminatory laws. In the 1970s, when facing the tragedy of millions of Southeast Asian refugees fleeing wars and communist regimes, the United States responded more humanely by enacting new refugee and asylum legislation to permit entrance into the country. Thus from a legacy of “eating bitterness,” Asian-Pacific Americans have done much to overcome hostility and legal barriers in their adopted homeland. In the process, they have played an important role in helping the United States become not only a more diverse but also a more accepting society.

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