According to the AP Stylebook's Punctuation Guide, a hyphen is required when describing someone of dual heritage. For example, a person who considers himself Asian and American would be described as "Asian-American". The same goes for anyone who is Italian-American, Mexican-American, African-American and so on.
Once, I made the mistake of not including the hyphen in one of my JOUR 400 articles and after getting my paper back – red-ink-mark-ups and all – I never made that mistake again. It was a small lesson learned; if the AP Stylebook said there was a hyphen in between a proper noun and its adjective, then there would be a hyphen. No questions asked; it wasn't a big deal.
However, after taking several Asian American Studies classes, I learned that that particular hyphen placement is a very big deal to many in the Asian [hyphen] American community. In fact, that hyphen has been the cause of much controversy. Many believe that the hyphen between "Asian" and "American" indicates that Asian-Americans are different than other Americans; as if the hyphen is necessary to make people of Asian descent more "American".
It's amazing to me that the decision about where to place a small punctuation mark could have such big implications. I wonder if the Associated Press realized the debate that has stirred up due to this simple grammar rule.
For anyone interested, here are some links to read more about this issue:
Hyphen Magazine & Hyphenated American
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I have a problem with the hyphen positioned between Asian American, African American, etc. I believe a double standard exists that targets some groups as the "other", distant, foreign, or not quite as American. I admit that I want to consider myself as an included American. That hyphen, among hegemonic social stigmas, gets in the way.
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