Search the Media Repository
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.
Multimedia
Chapters
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Image
Rodney King Portrait 1992 Press Conference
During a press conference on May 1, 1992, Rodney King chose to speak from his heart instead of reading an official statement prepared by his attorneys. “Can we all get along?” he asked.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 5
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Image
Burning Koreatown Shopping Mall
An out-of-control fire destroys a Koreatown shopping mall on the corner of 6th Street and Western Avenue, leaving nothing but a skeletal frame.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Gun Purchase in Koreatown
After the police were unable to contain the violence in Koreatown, Korean American store owners armed themselves to protect their stores. Above, a man purchases a gun at a shop on Western Ave.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Armed Security Guard in Koreatown
An armed security guard keeps watch outside of a mini-mall in Koreatown.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Video
Interview with Radio Korea Announcer
Richard Choi, Radio Korea announcer, describes the broadcasting power of the station during the 1992 uprisings: “Radio Korea was their only lifeline […] I’d venture to say that if 100,000 Koreans were living in LA, 100,000 people were listening to Radio Korea.”
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Radio Korea Staffers Meet
Korean restaurant owners delivered bowls of seolleongtang bone broth to feed Radio Korea reporters working nonstop. Radio Korea set up emergency supplies in the parking lot to help storeowners in need.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Radio Korea Staffers
Radio Korea staffers slept overnight in the office as they worked 24 hours a day to field calls.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Radio Korea Recording Studio
Over seventy-two hours, Radio Korea became an alternate 911 call center and is credited with helping save many stores in Koreatown from burning down completely.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Audio
Radio Korea Call Shotgun Blast
On this recorded call to Radio Korea 1540 AM, a store owner reports her windows shattered by shotgun blasts, and laments that this is only the beginning of the violence.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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LA City Council Honors Rescuers
On May 5, 1992, the Los Angeles City Council honored the actions of trucker Reginald Denny’s rescuers, Lee Yuille, Terri Barnett, and Titus Murphy (front to back) and Gregory Alan Williams, who saved the life of motorist Takao Hirata.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Burning Car at Florence and Normandie
April 29, 1992. Demonstrators throw rocks and bottles at cars at the Florence and Normandie intersection in reaction to the not-guilty verdicts in the LAPD beating case of Rodney King. Drivers are forced to abandon their cars to escape.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Video
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters Explains Outrage
Following the announcement of the not-guilty verdict, Rep. Maxine Waters describes the uprisings as the boiling point for a community frustrated with ongoing police brutality and blatant injustice.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 4
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Text
Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray
Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray of the First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church of Los Angeles, along with community leaders and volunteers, set up “Operation Cool Response” to keep the peace during the LAPD beating trial of Rodney King.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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LAPD Officer After Verdict
“Not guilty.” LAPD officer Laurence Powell hugs Timothy Wind, with Sergeant Stacey Koon smiling in the background, after hearing the April 29, 1992, jury acquittal of all four officers (including Theodore Briseno) in the beating case of Rodney King.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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LAPD Officer Theodore Briseno Testifies
On April 3, 1992, LAPD officer Theodore Briseno testified in court that he was trying to de-escalate the situation and stop the other officers’ baton blows.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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Text
Key Players in Trial
Judge Stanley Weisberg presided over the LAPD beating trial of Rodney King with prosecutors Terry White and Alan Yochelson and LAPD defense attorneys Michael Stone, John Barnett, Paul DePasquale, and Darryl Mounger.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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LAPD Mug Shots
March 14, 1991 mug shots of (left to right) LAPD sergeant Stacey Koon and officers Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind, and Laurence Powell, after they were indicted on charges of excessive force, assault, and more in the 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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George Holliday At Press Conference
George Holliday, at a press conference on March 28, 1991, holds the camcorder he used to film the LAPD beating of Rodney Glen King.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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Watts Uprising
Demonstrators swarm a police car in Watts on August 12, 1965, during six days of civil unrest after a routine traffic stop of a young Black motorist turned violent.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
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1962 Los Angeles Police Academy Graduation Ceremony
LAPD chief William H. Parker (left) and Mayor Sam Yorty (center) at the 1962 Los Angeles Police Academy graduation ceremony.
Featured in:
Sa I Gu: Los Angeles, 1992, Module 3
