Asian American Empowerment - Asian Americans Written Out of America's Technological History

Press Release
Asian Media Watch
November 12, 2004

There are no Asian/Pacific Islander Americans among the 64 key American innovators in the book, "They Made America," by Harold Evans, the basis of the PBS documentary of the same name. 92% of the individuals featured in the book and documentary are white Americans. The 4-part documentary film, produced by WGBH Boston and promoted as a teaching aid, premiered on PBS November 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Asian Media Watch is concerned that PBS and WGBH are encouraging educators to use the book, website, and documentary film "They Made America" as resources for teaching students about American History. "They Made America" does not adequately acknowledge the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and Native Americans, and presents a Euro-centric presentation of American History. Asian Media Watch wants you to express your opinion to PBS and WGBH Boston.

High Tech Coolies

In 1869, photographers captured the historic "Golden Spike" ceremony marking the completion of the American transcontinental railroad. Despite the major contributions of Asian American workers to this effort, they were left out of every official photograph of the event.

Over a century later, with governmental and media institutions celebrating the emergence of the Internet, the disproportionate contributions of Asian Americans to information technology are similarly being cut out of the picture.

Not very long ago, mainstream America was content with dismissing Asian Americans as the archetypal computer nerds. In the mid-1990s, when computer literacy became socially desirable, this association was conveniently forgotten. Since then, leading Asian American computer scientists and engineers have been conspicuously absent from policymaking, management, and public relations roles in Internet governance, while instant experts with "corporate credibility" (i.e., white skin) but minimal technical background have been invited to the table.

The "High-Tech Coolies" section, the first to be added to ModelMinority.com since our launch two years ago, will document the vast disparities between Asian American contributions to our nation's high tech development and our continuing invisibility in related arenas of political and cultural power.

-- Andrew Chin

The demographics by ethnicity of the 64 innovators profiled in the book and website are:

59 White
3 Black
2 Middle Eastern
0 South Asian
0 East Asian/Pacific Islander
0 Native American

The book also contains an appendix of 101 other innovators "who also made a difference." None of the people on this list are identifiable by name as being of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, or Native American descent.

The author of the book credits the building of the Transcontinental Railroad to the "engineering and managerial feats" of Theodore Dehone Judah, and to Charles Crocker, foreman of the Central Pacific Railroad. Crocker is hailed for his "managerial skill" and innovation as a "motivator" by making "railway builders [out] of thousands of Chinese laundrymen, chefs, errand boys, gardeners ..." Omitted are important accounts of the treatment of Chinese railroad workers including a labor strike in which the Chinese demanded more wages and shorter hours in return for their life-threatening, dawn-til-dusk work hand-chiseling, blasting, and clearing tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crocker responded by stopping the supply of food and provisions to Chinese laborers. Threatened with starvation and violence at the hands of a well-armed posse of white men led by Crocker, the Chinese were forced back to work. Yet, the author describes Crocker as the "choreographer" of a "ballet." If the author credits Judah and Crocker for their innovativeness as engineers and managers, should he not similarly hold them accountable for the exploitation of Chinese labor, and mention the bias and discrimination that Chinese immigrants experienced after the railroad's completion (e.g. The Chinese Exclusion Act)?

What You Can Do

Contact the producers of "They Made America" to express your opinion.

Tell PBS, WGBH, and the producers of "They Made America" to:

Include the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Americans in their educational materials for "They Made America."
Add Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American innovators to the "They Made America" PBS/WGBH website.
Supplement the PBS/WGBH documentary with discussions and segments about Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American contributions to American History.
Ensure that future educational programming include a diversity of materials and perspectives.

We recognize that the book and documentary film "They Made America" have already been written and produced. However, PBS and WGBH still have the opportunity and responsibility to include more diverse materials and perspectives into the documentary, website, and educational materials for "They Made America."

About They Made America

The documentary film and website "They Made America" are produced by WGBH Boston. They are based on the book of the same name authored by Sir Harold Evans, a distinguished historian and journalist, and published by Little, Brown and Company, a unit of Time Warner Books Group. Evans has been successively the founding editor of Conde Nast Traveler; president and publisher of Random House, editorial director and vice chairman of U.S. News and World Report, and the New York Daily News. He credits the idea for the book to conversations he had in 1998 with Pat Mitchell, head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (sponsor of the documentary); and Laurence Kirshbaum, then Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Books Group.

Asian Media Watch is an independent non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to promoting a diverse, fair, and balanced portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the media and entertainment industry.