This Day in History: 2017-11-16

November 8, 2016 – “Minnesota Elects Country’s First Muslim American Woman Legislator”
Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim American woman elected to any legislative body in the country’s history. Omar, a Somali-American, is a former refugee and was elected to serve in Minnesota’s state legislature. In order to win her party’s nomination in Minneapolis, where she serves, she had to defeat a 44-year incumbent. She is an advocate for affordable college, criminal justice reform, economic equality and clean energy.

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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