 |
| Image: PBS SoCal |
Happy May! Today is the
first day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We will be sharing articles
and events celebrating the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific
Islander Americans throughout the month. The month of May was chosen to
commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May
7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental
railroad on May 10, 1869, since a majority of the workers who laid the tracks
were Chinese immigrants.
Of special
interest to California Bay Area residents is the upcoming Chinese Ancestry Day, held Saturday, May 26 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland’s Chinatown. The daylong workshop covers the fundamentals of genealogy for
Chinese American families, offering basic steps to build your Chinese
family tree.
different areas of expertise. Keynote speaker is filmmaker Felicia Lowe,
an award-winning independent television producer and director who is a Bay Area
native and descendant of Angel Island detainees. Lowe will screen excerpts from
her latest documentary, “Chinese Couplets,” which she describes as part
memoir, part history, and part investigation. It explores the impact of the
Chinese Exclusion Acts on four generations of women in her family. “What motivated me first of all was I
really didn’t know my mother. I didn’t know her past,” she says. “Although I’m
American born, I felt robbed of a history.” Her parents, both immigrants, were
very reluctant to talk about their lives in China or the experience of coming
to America. “The other compelling reason was that as long as there was the
silence, the secrets, Exclusion still had a hold on my family,” Lowe says. “And by telling
it, I broke that hold.”
Genealogist Marisa Louie Lee will speak about “Chinese Exclusion Act Records at the National
Archives.” A former archivist at the National Archives at San Francisco (in San
Bruno), she is experienced in finding and interpreting records of Chinese and
other Asian peoples who came to America during the Exclusion era, when they
could not legally become citizens. Their stories, she says, are a part of
American history that has long been overlooked. Lee was a research consultant
on the documentary “The Chinese Exclusion Act,” which premieres May 26
on PBS as part of The American Experience series. “Does every fifth grader learn about the
Exclusion Act in school?” she asks. “I’m hoping the film will help move that
story into the mainstream.”
Grant Din, an experienced researcher and
genealogist, will speak on “The Importance of Family Stories.” And John Wong of RootsPlus will discuss “A Pilgrimage to Your Ancestral Village.”
The event
concludes with time for questions and discussion, followed by lunch at the
Peony Restaurant. For more details or to register, click HERE.
Chinese Ancestry Day is sponsored by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, California Genealogical Society, the California Historical Society, and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation.
Copyright © 2018 by California Genealogical Society
MAY
2018