California's Asian American heritage trail

In the early 1900s, Jukichi Harada emigrated to the U.S. from Japan and settled in Riverside together with his wife Ken and their son Masa Atsu. In 1915, he purchased the house on Lemon Street, which became the focus of a landmark court case. At this time, California's Webb-Haney Act prohibited certain immigrants, primarily from Asia, from owning property in the state. Harada bought the house in his American-born children's names, and after a 2-year court battle, a Riverside Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Harada children. The house, a National Historic Landmark, is managed by the Riverside Metropolitan Museum.

After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese workers from the U.S., Japanese immigration increased rapidly, especially to the West Coast. In Los Angeles, Little Tokyo was settled in 1885 and became the largest Japanese community in the country until World War II and the forced removal of Japanese Americans and people of Japanese descent. The Little Tokyo Historic District is part of a bigger Japanese cultural district in the city, with two pre-war city blocks preserved between Union Church and the Japanese American National Museum.

The Forty Acres in Delano tells the story of the farmworkers movement of the 1960s and '70s. Here, Filipino laborers played a significant role in gaining and protecting the rights of farm workers in California and the rest of the country. The Forty Acres became the first headquarters of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) labor union in 1966, and has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark.

Located in Sacramento County and built by Chinese immigrants in 1915, the Locke Historic District is "the largest, most complete example of a rural, agricultural Chinese American community in the United States." In the 1920s, Locke was popular for its speakeasies, and 70 years later the town was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Located between Sacramento and San Francisco, Walnut Grove was home to Japanese seasonal agricultural workers from the late 1890s until World War II. The town flourished in the 1920s, but became a ghost town after FDR signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, forcing Japanese Americans into internment camps. Today, the historic district—built for and by the Japanese community—appears nearly frozen in time.

Isleton was founded in 1874, and was home to more than 800 Chinese residents who worked in agriculture. After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the number of Japanese immigrants to the West Coast increased, but World War II ended the town's heyday. Today the area consists of Art Deco and simpler buildings and gardens from the area's boom period (built after a 1926 fire).

Niles Canyon Transcontinental Railroad Historic District is located north of San Jose, between the towns of Sunol and Fremont (Niles). Considered “one of the most significant engineering achievements of the 19th century,” this rail line was built mainly by Chinese laborers. It was the final segment of the Transcontinental Railroad, which connected the Bay Area to the rest of the U.S. The well-preserved section still maintains original 19th and early 20th century features like a narrow railroad bed and sharp turns. You can ride a diesel or steam train through the canyon—open on Sundays from February to October—to learn more about this historic achievement and the people who built it.

Known as the "Ellis Island of the West," U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island is part of Angel Island State Park located in the San Francisco Bay. First used for military purposes, the island processed up to one million immigrants, mainly of Asian descent, between 1910 and 1940. Detainees endured prison-like conditions and many carved Chinese poems into the walls of the barracks, still visible today, during the Chinese Exclusion Act. Visitors to the island will find the U.S. Immigration Station Barracks Museum, which offers guided tours of the barracks, as well as a visitor center located in the former U.S. Quarantine Station.