The Construction of Asian American Identity in A Grain of Sand’s Music for the Struggle by Asians in America (1973)

This article argues that the album Music for the Struggle by Asians in America (1973) by the band A Grain of Sand constructed Asian American identity as an inclusive term. Selected songs will be shown to draw from the genres of blues and folk that are associated with liberation in the United States to protest racism and imperialism through their lyrics as well as performances. As the first musical record to employ the designation “Asian American,” the singers envision coalitions with other minorities in global struggles against inequality when they criticize international warfare and American popular culture. Thus, A Grain of Sand lastingly produced an image of Asian Americans as committed to revolution that stands in opposition to the stereotypical white Christian face of America that had marginalized first-generation Asian immigrants.