This Day in History: 0000-08-05

August 1, 1952- “Major Sammy Lee Wins Olympic Gold” “Major Sammy Lee, a 31-year-old Korean American doctory in the U.S. Army, became the first Asian American to win an Olympic medal for the 10-meter high dive. Prior to that, he served in two wars. He was nicknamed the The Oriental from Occidental, a nod to his time as a student-athlete at Occidental College. Later in life, he coached Greg Louganis, who went on to win several diving gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.”

History Spotlight

2017 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."

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