Long before immigrants sought fortune during the Gold Rush, Asians have been on the land we now call the United States. It was 1587 when sailors from Manila landed on Chumash land on the California Coast. By the 1700s, migrants from India had arrived and Filipinos established permanent settlements in present-day Louisiana.

It wasn’t until 1849 that the “cowboy,” which is based on Mexican vaquero traditions, came to be associated with the American West.

To create a new billboard for @forfreedoms, SDA collaborated with member Kenneth Tam to adapt an image from his recent work “Silent Spikes,” which focuses in part on Chinese railroad workers — who famously connected the rest of the country to the “Wild West.”

Asians are more American than apple pie, which is derived from an English recipe featuring a fruit that originated in Central Asia. And the iconic cinnamon and nutmeg flavors? Courtesy of Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

‍