The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by Ellen D. Wu (Publisher Record)
Title
The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by Ellen D. Wu (Publisher Record)
Identifier
Description
Publisher's Summary:
The Color of Success tells of the astonishing transformation of Asians in the United States from the "yellow peril" to "model minorities"--peoples distinct from the white majority but lauded as well-assimilated, upwardly mobile, and exemplars of traditional family values--in 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 country's 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 nationhood.
Awards:
Winner of the 2016 AAAS Award for Best Book in History, Association for Asian American Studies
Winner of the 2014 Best First Book, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Finalist for the 2015 Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Award, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
The Color of Success tells of the astonishing transformation of Asians in the United States from the "yellow peril" to "model minorities"--peoples distinct from the white majority but lauded as well-assimilated, upwardly mobile, and exemplars of traditional family values--in 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 country's 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 nationhood.
Awards:
Winner of the 2016 AAAS Award for Best Book in History, Association for Asian American Studies
Winner of the 2014 Best First Book, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Finalist for the 2015 Theodore Saloutos Memorial Book Award, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Subject
Asian Americans
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Date
20th Century
Rights
Princeton University Press
Relation
[Excerpt] Introduction - Imperatives of Asian American Citizenship, http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i10134.pdf
[Blog/Book Review] Book Review: Ellen Wu, The Color of Success by Justin K.H. Tse. https://jkhtse.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/book-review-ellen-wu-the-color-of-success-asian-americans-and-the-origin-of-the-model-minority/
[Newspaper Article] Asian Americans and the "Model Minority" Myth. LA Times article by Ellen D. Wu - http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0123-wu-chua-model-minority-chinese-20140123-story.html
[Blog/Book Review] Book Review: Ellen Wu, The Color of Success by Justin K.H. Tse. https://jkhtse.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/book-review-ellen-wu-the-color-of-success-asian-americans-and-the-origin-of-the-model-minority/
[Newspaper Article] Asian Americans and the "Model Minority" Myth. LA Times article by Ellen D. Wu - http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0123-wu-chua-model-minority-chinese-20140123-story.html
Format
Text
Language
English
Type
Text
Coverage
United States
Collection
Citation
“The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by Ellen D. Wu (Publisher Record),” Antiracism Digital Library, accessed April 26, 2024, https://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/190.
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