Month: February 2015

Please join us for a talk on, Chinese Immigration and Poetry at Angel Island and Ellis Island, by Judy Yung, on Friday, March 6, 2015, from 6pm to 8pm, at 25 West 43rd Street, 10th Floor, Room 1000, between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan. This talk is free and open to the general public.  

In the early twentieth century, most Chinese immigrants coming to the United States were detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay.  There, they were subject to physical exams, interrogations, and long detentions aimed at upholding the exclusion laws that kept Chinese out of the country. Many detainees recorded their anger and frustrations, hopes and despair in poetry written and carved on the barrack walls.

Island, co-authored by Dr. Judy Yung, tells these immigrants’ stories while underscoring their relevance to contemporary immigration issues. First published in 1980, this book has been updated and expanded to include a new historical introduction, 150 poems in Chinese and English translation (including poems from Ellis Island and Victoria Island), extensive profiles of immigrants gleaned through oral histories, and dozens of new photographs from public archives and family albums.

An important historical document as well as a significant work of literature, Island is a testament to the hardships Chinese immigrants endured on Angel Island, and to their perseverance and determination to make a new life in America.

Judy Yung, Professor Emerita, is a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco Chinatown. Dr. Yung worked as a public librarian and journalist before becoming Professor of American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught courses in Asian American studies, women’s history, oral history, and mixed race.

Her publications include: Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island; Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco; Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present; The Adventures of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War; and Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. Yung has also directed exhibits and written pictorial history books on Chinese American women and San Francisco Chinatown.

To RSVP for this talk, please visit www.aaari.info/15-03-06Yung.htm. Please be prepared to present ID to the security desk upon entering the building.

Can’t make it to the talk? Watch the live webcast on our homepage, beginning at 6:15PM EST, or visit us the following week for the streaming video and audio podcast.

For details on all of AAARI’s upcoming events, please visit www.aaari.info. See you on March 6th!

Sincerely,

Antony Wong
Program Coordinator
Asian American / Asian Research Institute
City University of New York

The Ascend Educational Fund (AEF) is a New York City non-profit focused on providing college scholarships and mentorship to students of immigrant background, regardless of national origin, ethnicity, and immigration status. In our first two years, we have awarded nearly $100,000 to 16 outstanding students, representing countries including Bangladesh, Mexico, China, India, Guyana, Dominican Republic, South Korea, and Tibet.

We are holding our Second Annual Gala on Saturday, March 14 at the Prince George Ballroom in New York City. 100% of the profits from the Annual Gala will be awarded as college scholarships. The evening will feature a four-hour open bar, food stations, a keynote by Pulitzer-award winning journalist and filmmaker, Jose Antonio Vargas, multi-cultural performances, DJ, and a silent auction!

Please visit AEF’s Annual Gala website for more information: http://gala.ascendfundny.org.