The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority

A specialist in twentieth century United States history, Dr. Ellen Wu is a nationally-recognized authority on Asian-Pacific America, migration, race, and the myth of the model minority. She is the Director of the Asian American Studies program at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she is also an Associate Professor of History. 

Her first book, The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, recounts the astonishing makeover of Asians in the United States from the “yellow peril” to “model minorities” in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Charting this transformation within the dual contexts of the United States’ global rise and the Black freedom movement, The Color of Success reveals that this far-reaching, politically charged process continues to have profound implications for how Americans understand race, opportunity, and nationhood. The Color of Success received the First Book Award, an Honorable Mention for the Theodore Saloutos Book Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society along with the History Book Award from the Association for Asian American Studies, and was recognized by the Obama Foundation as as part of its AANHPI Heritage Month reading list.