A minority group often not thanked for their contributions are Asian Americans. Asian Americans are Americans whose ethnic backgrounds trace to one of the fifty-one Asian countries. Many people commonly associate Asians with East Asians. However, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and China are only four of the fifty-one countries that make up Asia. It is vital to celebrate American changemakers, however, society falls behind in congratulating and celebrating Asian success. Therefore, I will inform you about five incredible Asian Americans. All Americans should know these individuals’ noble actions and fascinating stories.
Dalip Singh Saund: Indian American Congressman
Saund (1899-1973) is the first Sikh, Indian-American, and Asian American to serve in Congress. He was born in British-occupied India in Punjab. Despite their own lack of schooling, his family supported his education. He earned his bachelors’s in mathematics from the University of Punjab in Amritsar. His family sponsored his trip to California, where he continued his education the University of California at Berkeley.
Although he earned a master’s and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Berkeley, he could not find a suitable job. He faced this challenge because he was an immigrant, and the high-demand jobs were reserved for whites. So he farmed until he gained citizenship in 1949. As soon as he earned his citizenship status, he quickly gained interest in American politics, and in 1950, he was elected as local justice. Six years later, Saund proudly became a member of Congress. His hard work is a tribute to all Sikhs, Indians, and immigrants who had to work against all odds to be treated as equals to white citizens.
Indra Nooyi: Indian American CEO
The Indian American CEO of PepsiCo, Inc was born on October 28, 1955 in Chennai, India. She studied chemistry at Madras Christian College in Chennai. Later, she earned a degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. When she moved to America, she attended Yale University to earn a second master’s in public and private management. Upon graduating from Yale, she worked as a consultant for a few years. In 1994, she joined PepsiCo as the senior vice president. In 2001, she was crowned the fifth CEO of PepsiCo, Inc, becoming the first woman of color and the first immigrant to head a Fortune 50 company.
Jerry Yang: Taiwanese American Co-Founder of Yahoo! And Tech Investor
Jerry Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan on November 6, 1968 . Unfortunately, when he was just two years old, his father died. In hopes of getting support from her parents and extended family in the United States, his mother, an English professor, relocated her family to San Jose, California. Yang attended Stanford University, where he pursued a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering.
During his graduate studies at Stanford, he met David Filo, his future business partner. The two enjoyed internet surfing in their spare time. However, they disliked the lack of organization on the web, as it was hard to find the site they were looking for. So the two men co-created a map for the internet called “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.” As it gained popularity, its founder named it YAHOO, a backronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.” According to Famous Entrepreneurs, the boys created a “search engine by which people could find their desired website simply by typing in the right keyword.” Yahoo became highly successful and made Yang a very wealthy man. In 2012, Yang resigned from all his duties at Yahoo so that he could focus on his new project: AME Cloud Ventures.
Tammy Duckworth: Thai American Army Veteran and U.S. Senator
Duckworth was born on March 12, 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand, and later relocated to Honolulu Hawaii. After attending the University of Hawaii for her bachelor’s and George Washington University for her masters, she served as a helicopter pilot during the Iraq War. She was one of the few female pilots for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brave US army veteran unfortunately lost two legs and some mobility in her right arm. She sustained these injuries when Iraqi insurgents fired a rocket propelled grenade into her lap while she was in the helicopter. This incident made her the first female double amputee from war and earned her a purple heart.
The disability did not stop Duckworth from serving the United States again in the Illinois Army National Guard for ten years. According to her campaign website, she is a champion for “working families, civil rights, environmental justice as well as all of our Veterans and military families” (tammyduckworth.com). Tammy felt displeased by America’s systemic faults that negatively impacted Veterans and military families. When she won her seat in the Senate, she focused on supporting programs and laws that help those serving in the military and their loved ones.
Haing S. Ngor: Cambodian American Surgeon, Actor and Author
Ngor (1940-1996) was born in French Indochina and began training to be a surgeon and gynecologist at an early age. Unfortunately, he was captured by the Khmer Rouge. Upon capture, he denied being an educated doctor to avoid extreme assault or execution. His hands remained tied even when his wife and unborn child, in desperate need of medical assistance, died in labor. Despite hiding his intelligence, he endured four years of inhumane treatment. Fortunately, he was able to escape to a refugee camp in Thailand and later immigrate to the United States.
He could not continue practicing medicine in the United States, so he started writing about his experiences in the Cambodian genocide. He published a book titled Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey. His book caught Hollywood’s attention and a few years later, he was cast as Dith Pran, an Asian-American photojournalist capturing the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, in the Killing Fields. Despite having no acting experience, he performed well and won many awards for his role in the movie. He positively impacted the Asian-American community by being one of the few Asian-American actors, and for receiving amazing feedback for his works in movies.
