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Discover the curated images, videos, and primary sources featured throughout Foundations and Futures
History is more than just text on a page; it is the photographs, voices, and artifacts of the people who lived it. The images and recordings featured across Foundations and Futures are part of a meticulously curated media repository. Whether you are building a lesson plan or investigating an artifact, you can use this database to trace the provenance of our media: discover who created an asset, the historical context behind it, and how it can be used to bring Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences into your classroom.
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James Wong Howe
James Wong Howe, the premier cinematographer of the 1930s and 1940s, was known for his innovative camera techniques. He shot over 120 films, was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and Hud (1963).
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 2
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Anna May Wong
Actress Anna May Wong is regarded as the first Chinese American Hollywood film star. Her frustration with being pigeonholed into “dragon lady” roles that cast a negative light on Asians led her to move to Europe in the late 1920s.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 2
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Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa, the Japanese-born actor who became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand screen icons during the silent film era, despite spending much of his career playing villainous or disreputable characters.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 2
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Video
Who Killed Vincent Chin? Clip
A clip from the documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987), directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña. The case of Vincent Chin became a national rallying cry for Asian Americans.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Asian American Underrepresentation in Film
Asian Americans remain significantly underrepresented in film and other mass visual media, and when they do appear, they are frequently depicted in stereotypical fashion. (Source: Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; CAPE; Gold House)
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Propaganda Family Tree p2
A spread from the book RISE, the “Propaganda Family Tree,” depicting the ways that propaganda images have persisted over the decades, and been repurposed for subsequent conflicts.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Propaganda Family Tree
A spread from the book RISE, the “Propaganda Family Tree,” depicting the ways that propaganda images have persisted over the decades, and been repurposed for subsequent conflicts.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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“The Cost Of Being an ‘Interchangeable Asian’”
Brian X. Chen’s New York Times article exploring the phenomenon often referred to, humorously, as “all look same.”
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Racial Homogeneity of Friendship Networks
While racial homogeneity in friendship networks has decreased from 2013 – 2022, the average non-Asian American does not have a single AAPI friend within their core social networks. (Source: PRRI 2022 Social Networks Survey (Public Religion Research Institute))
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Asian American Population Distribution in the US
Nearly half (45 percent) of Asian Americans live in the western United States, with 30 percent in California alone. (Source: Pew Research Center Analysis of 2017-2019 American Community Survey (IPUMS))
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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Percent of US Population With Passports
The percentage of Americans with passports has increased from thirty percent in 2008 to fifty-one percent in 2024 totalling over 171 million valid passports in circulation. (Source: US Department of State)
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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The Crimson Kimono Poster
The theatrical poster for Samuel Fuller’s The Crimson Kimono (1959). As the civil rights movement was budding, pop culture reflected the reality of interracial relationships in a way that was broadly accessible and, for a growing number of people, acceptable.
Featured in:
Asian American Popular Culture, Module 1
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LA Race Parxis Network
The LA Race Praxis Network poses at the Mother of Humanity statue at the Watts Labor and Community Center in Los Angeles, 2024. The network is a group that has been doing healing and service together since the killing of George Floyd and anti-Asian hate incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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Koreatown Solidarity
A man comforts a distraught store owner after her store is destroyed, one of the many displays of compassion and comfort among residents during the civil unrest.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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L.A. Times Apology of Biased Reporting
During 2020’s Black Lives Matter and Stop AAPI Hate protests, the Los Angeles Times editorial board published an apology for its history of biased reporting, including the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, vowing to improve coverage and hire more diverse staffers.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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Edward Jae Song Lee’s Funeral
Edward Jae Song Lee’s coffin follows a young pallbearer carrying his portrait as family and friends head to his final resting place at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in the Hollywood Hills.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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“Out of Chaos, A New Voice”
On May 6, 1992, 36-year-old criminal defense attorney Angela Oh gained national prominence as the voice of the Korean American community after her ground-breaking Nightline interview with ABC news anchor Ted Koppel about the Los Angeles uprising.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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“We Want Peace!”
Crowds of community members march through the streets during the Koreatown peace rally chanting, “WE WANT PEACE!”
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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Koreatown Peace Rally
Thirty thousand Korean Americans attended a May 2, 1992 Koreatown peace rally holding signs supporting Rodney King and condemning racism. This was the largest gathering of Korean Americans ever in the country, inspiring a future generation of activists and politicians.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
