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Stephanie Blair
EDU 280
College of Southern Nevada
Fall 2015
Joni Flowers

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Diversity Presentation

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While there are many famous people in Las Vegas over the years. Many have had made major
contributions to the city and the state of Nevada that have made great changes to the ways of life. In
this day and age we now have Chinese language classes available to students who would like to take
them. For this we have Lilly Hing Ong (1925- 2002) to thank for this as she was the first Asian
American teacher to teach in Clark County. Thanks to the contributions of many different people Las
Vegas is the great city it is today.
Lilly Hing was born in Arizona and who married Wing Fong in Los Angeles. She taught at Fifth
Street School in Las Vegas for five years and created the first lessons for Chinese in schools in 1963.
Lilly preceded to server for ten years on the Board of regents in Nevada and was the first Asian
American woman to hold such a prestigious position. She would go on to support many important
aspects of education and other events in the community. With great contributions like this to Las Vegas
and Nevada, it goes to show that no matter a persons race or culture, they can make a huge impact on
the way of life for people if they put their mind to it. (Mich, 107-108)

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Trying to classify Asian Americans as one group would be like saying that all breeds of dogs are
the same, not to say that people and dogs are the same. It is simply to point out that yes, all these
people come from different parts of Asia but are often still classified under one umbrella. There are
Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans that have all made their
way to America. Each of these groups has their own story and reasoning for coming to the United
States and below you will learn about each one. Asian Americans are individual groups all categorized
under one stereotype even though each has unique characteristics.
Chinese Americans came here under labor contracts to do work in America. Their intentions
were not to stay here but to do their jobs and then head back home to their families. Most people who

came to the United States did so for railroad work and were then discriminated against once the work
was completed. Japanese Americans were mostly located in Hawaii when they first migrated to
America but later moved to California in large waves. The Japanese worked in the sugar fields until
WWII and Pearl Harbor. After the bombing at Pearl Harbor most Japanese were gathered up and forced
into what was just a little better than concentration camps. Filipinos were migrating to American for
agricultural reasons. The men went and had intentions of going home but not to bring their families to
the United States with them. Many families still live this way, part of the family lives in America
working and sends money back to the other part of the family back in the Philippines.
Asian Indians were a much smaller group of migrants than from China or other parts of Asia.
They did a lot of labor work that involved railroads, sawmills and on farms. They were very successful
in growing crops and continued to immigrate as they found more jobs. They were unable to find other
jobs beyond farming and the wives were not able to find jobs as they were uneducated and foreign.
Koreans were a small group that moved to the Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations. The women
would often move to America as picture brides but would often not get to move to the United States
otherwise. Vietnamese were the most recent group to immigrate over from Asia. These people were
brought to America due to an issue where babies were being taken from their families, most of these
immigrants were children and would late become orphans. When the second wave of immigrants were
not much luckier as when they began their journey over 40 percent of people would pass away during
the trip. These people were trying to escape turmoil in their country and find splice somewhere else.
All of these groups have made an impact on shaping America and each had their own
contributions to make the United States great. Many people did not go without suffering and their
losses would never be recovered. Asian Americans were a large portion of immigrants that came to
America and each have their own stories.

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Works Cited

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Bennett, Christine I. Comprehensive Multicultural Education: Theory and Practice. Eighth ed. Print.

Mich, Jerry L. The Peoples of Las Vegas One City, Many Faces. Reno: U of Nevada, 2005. Print.