An Afro-Asian is a person of African and Asian ancestry.As Afro-Asian is a broad term, it can be broken down into various sub-groups that are distinguished by their demographic location. Due to the widespread African and Asian diasporas, Afro-Asians reside throughout the world. In North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, the influx of Chinese and Indian workers in the 19th century forming unions with enslaved or free Africans gave rise to significant populations of Afro-Asians. In the United States, the neologism and portmanteau "Blasian" has gained informal usage to describe someone of Afro-Asian heritage.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and Chinese workers who chose to stay in the U.S. could no longer be with their wives who stayed behind in China. Because European Americans looked at Chinese labor workers as stealing employment, they were harassed and attacked, forcing many of the workers to seek protection in the black communities. While in these communities many Chinese men settled down with African-American women.[6]
Tiger Woods, a famous golf player, too, is of white, Chinese, Native American, Thai and black descent; his father being half African American heritage and his mother being half Thai heritage.
In 2000, there was estimated to be over 100,000 individuals identifying themselves with an afro-Asian Heritage living in the United States.
