A Message From AIISF's Executive Director
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Hello AIISF Family and Friends!
At AIISF, we have been busy adjusting our programs and efforts to online formats and continuing the exhibit development for the opening of the
Angel Island Immigration Museum
.
May is typically a festive time as the San Francisco Bay Area celebrates
Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month
and the nation honors
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
While everyone’s Heritage Month efforts look a bit different in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing anti-Asian racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia make AIISF’s efforts to up the complex histories, personal stories, and ongoing contributions of diverse immigrant communities just as urgent and relevant as ever.
- One of our newest exciting projects is the launch of our Virtual Gallery Space which will feature rotating online exhibitions. We hope you have had a chance to check out our inaugural exhibit Voices of Resilience which opened earlier this month. May marks the 50th Anniversary of CA State Park Ranger Alexander Weiss re-discovered the Chinese poems carved into the Detention Barrack walls which triggered a flow of events that led to the preservation of the building. Thank you to everyone who submitted your own poems for inclusion in the exhibit!
- Did you watch the first episode of Asian Americans, the new PBS 5-episode series that our partner organization CAAM was integrally involved in? Connie Young Yu, one of the co-founders of the Angel Island Immigration Station Historical Advisory Committee (now AIISF) told the story of her grandmother Lee Yoke Suey’s 15 month detention at the station. Former AIISF board member Dr. Erika Lee of the University of Minnesota is also featured prominently in the series. If you missed it, you can stream night one at here.
- For several years, AIISF has been a proud member of the International Sites of Conscience. I’m honored to have the opportunity to be interviewed and for AIISF to be included in their latest quarterly newsletter.
- In addition to the events listed in the APA Heritage Month calendar, be sure to check out the “Featured Partner Events” section which highlights some of the different events that our brother and sister organizations have planned for this month.
And finally, a huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has continued to support AIISF with your donations, including during last week’s
#GivingTuesdayNow
. We recognize that these are increasingly difficult times, and thus your ongoing support at any level is deeply appreciated. If you would like to help support AIISF, then please visit
our website
to make a contribution. You can also help us out by forwarding this E-Newsletter to your family and friends who might not be on our email list (and encouraging them to sign up
here
).
Wishing you all a happy, reflective, safe, and healthy APA/AAPI Heritage Month!
Edward Tepporn
AIISF Executive Director
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Voices of Resilience Exhibit Launches Online
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Voices of Resilience celebrates the 50th anniversary of the re-discovery of over 200 Chinese poems carved into the walls of the detention barracks at the U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island. This triggered a set of efforts to preserve the building, ultimately resulting in the designation of the site as a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1997.
The exhibition features a total of 55 poems including 22 historical poems and 33 contemporary poems selected from online submissions from the general public. The contemporary poems include contributions from former Angel Island detainees, their descendants, fourth grade students at Dianne Feinstein Elementary School, and an anthology by the Sato/Bukowski/ Haechler Family.
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Watch PBS's Asian American Series Tonight!
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ASIAN AMERICANS
is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse—and more divided—while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate and personal lives, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played in shaping the nation’s story.
ASIAN AMERICANS examines what the 2010 U.S. Census identifies as the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in the United States. The series explores the impact of this group on the country’s past, present, and future. Watch the last three episodes tonight, May 12 at 8pm on KQED (for those in the Bay Area).
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AIISF Featured in International Coalition of Sites of Conscience Newsletter
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Founded in 1999, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (“the Coalition”) is the only worldwide network of Sites of Conscience. A Site of Conscience is a place of memory – such as a historic site, place-based museum or memorial – that prevents this erasure from happening in order to ensure a more just and humane future. Not only do Sites of Conscience provide safe spaces to remember and preserve even the most traumatic memories, but they enable their visitors to make connections between the past and related contemporary human rights issues.
The International Sites of Conscience has over 275 members (including AIISF) in 65 countries. These members and partners remember a variety of histories and come from a wide range of settings – including long-standing democracies, countries struggling with legacies of violence, as well as post-conflict regions just beginning to address their transitional justice needs – but they are all united by their common commitment to connect past to present, memory to action.
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Chinatown Community Development Center
is featuring a multimedia installation called Shirley’s Hope(s) Chest by AIISF co-founder and former board member Felicia Lowe.
The inspiration for the project is the honeymoon trousseau (chest) of a Chinese American immigrant bride-to-be who died before her wedding in 1943. While the opening of the physical exhibit is on hold due to COVID-19, you can
watch the video here
.
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This Saturday, May 16,
Committee of 100
is holding a free memorial event remembering Angel Island immigrant I.M. Pei. The 20-minute webinar remembers I.M. Pei on the one year anniversary of his passing.
You can also visit our
Immigrant Voices page
to learn more about I.M. Pei's time at the Immigration Station.
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CAAMFest Online: Heritage at Home features over 20 digital events, ranging from online film screenings to interactive panels, watch parties and house parties featuring live performances, all free of charge.
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AIISF is proud to
be a San Francisco’s Virtual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration partner.
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