List of Asian-American firsts

Asian-Americans are an ethnic group in the United States, denoting Americans of Asian descent. The phrase Asian-American was coined by Yuji Ichioka in 1968 during the founding of the Asian American Political Alliance,[1][2] and started to be used by the U.S. Census in 1980.[3]

Firsts by Asian-Americans in various fields have historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for them is "breaking the color barrier".[4] One commonly cited example is that of Wataru Misaka, who became the first person of color,[5] and the first Asian-American, to be a National Basketball Association player (in 1947.)[6][7]

Arts and entertainment
Main article: Asian Americans in arts and entertainment

Academy Awards

Fashion

Film (aside from the Academy Awards)

Literature (aside from the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes)

See also: List of Asian American writers

Music

Pulitzer Prizes

Television

Theater

Other

Business and commerce

Dentistry

Diplomacy

Education

Journalism

Judiciary and politics
Main article: Asian Americans in government and politics

See also: List of Asian American jurists

Military

Religion

Science and technology
Main article: Asian Americans in science and technology

Aerospace and aviation

See also: List of Asian astronauts

  • 1985: Ellison Onizuka becomes the first Asian-American in space, as an astronaut on the space shuttle Discovery.[67][68]

Mathematics

Nobel Prizes
  • 1957: Chen-Ning Yang and Tsung-dao Lee become the first Asian-Americans to win any Nobel prize when they share the Nobel Prize in Physics.[70]

Sports
Main article: Asian Americans in sports

Baseball

Basketball
Asian American point guard Wataru Misaka broke basketball's color barrier as the first non-white player to play in the NBA in 1947.

Figure skating

Football (Gridiron football)

Golf
  • 1994: Tiger Woods becomes the first Asian-American to win the United States Amateur Championship. (Woods' mixed ancestry – ¼ Chinese, ¼ Thai, ¼ African-American, ⅛ white, and ⅛ Native American – also made him the first African-American to achieve this feat. He was also the first of only five golfers of primarily non-European descent to win a men's major, with the others being Vijay Singh (an Indian Fijian), Michael Campbell (a Māori from New Zealand), Y.E. Yang (South Korean), and Collin Morikawa (Japanese American).)

Olympics
  • 1948: Victoria Manalo Draves wins gold in platform and springboard diving in the 1948 Olympics, becoming the first Asian-American to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics.[82]

Tennis
  • 1989: Michael Chang becomes the first Asian-American winner of a Grand Slam tennis tournament in men's singles, winning the French Open. To this day, he remains the only male player of Asian origin, regardless of nationality, to win a men's singles Grand Slam event.

See also

    References
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