This Day in History: 2017-04-01
April 12, 1847 – “First Asians Arrive in the United States” – A group of three Chinese students arrived in New York City and became the first Asians to officially enter the United States.
However, Chinese records show that Chinese Buddhist priests
traveled along the West Coast and present-day British Columbia
down to Baja California in 450 A.D. Also, Spanish records show the
existence of Chinese shipbuilders in present-day Southern California
between 1541 and 1746 and Chinese shopkeepers were already in
present-day Los Angeles when the first Anglo Americans arrived.
Though conventionally thought to have played a pivotal role in
American history only from the 19th century forward, Asians have
been in what’s now considered the U.S. longer than Europeans.”
1773 - “Phillis Wheatley's 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral' Published” "Phillis Wheatley, the first professional African-American woman poet, became the first African-American woman whose writings were published with the printing of this volume. The book was published by Archibald Bell, the leading bookseller and printer London at the time, who required proof that Wheatley had written the poems herself. The volume of poems, 39 in all, broke barriers for African-American writers, as it was illegal in several of the states in the U.S. for a slave to learn how to read or write."