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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The Nakahara Family
The Nakahara family, with children Yuri (left) and brothers Peter and Art in San Pedro, c. 1924. Despite their middle-class lifestyle, racial segregation laws limited where they could live.
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Wen Ho Lee Outside Courthouse
Wen Ho Lee outside a federal courthouse on September, 13, 2000, after his release from prison upon reaching a plea agreement. Lee was a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory accused of spying for the Chinese.
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National Review Cover
The cover of National Review from March 24, 1997 depicting (left to right) then Vice-President Al Gore, President Bill Clinton, and First Lady Hillary Clinton as Chinese stereotypes.
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Vincent Chin Memorial Plaque
Vincent Chin’s murder is a reminder of the tragic consequences of racial scapegoating, but it also demonstrates the possibilities for solidarity and social justice.
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“Vincent Chin case: Justice or mockery?”
The injustice of the Vincent Chin case ultimately galvanized an Asian American solidarity movement led by activists Helen Zia and Liza Chan.
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Toyota Bashing in Detroit
A fundraiser in Southfield, Michigan allowed people to line up and bludgeon a Japanese-made Toyota with a sledgehammer. Anti-Japanese sentiment in Detroit ran high due to the floundering of the US auto industry in the face of Japanese automotive success.
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“A bat, a gavel, a question of justice”
Vincent Chin was engaged to marry Vikki Wong nine days before he was beaten to death. His killers were charged with second degree murder, but were ultimately sentenced to three years of probation and a fine. They received no jail time.
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Lily Chin With Photo of Vincent Chin
Lily Chin holds up a portrait of her son Vincent, who was killed on the night of his bachelor party in 1982 in Highland Park, Michigan, the victim of a hate crime.
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California’s San Gabriel Valley a Mecca for Asian Americans
Since the 1980s, Taiwanese immigration has transformed the San Gabriel Valley and made Chinese-speaking residents the majority in some of its cities.
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Asian American Communities Across the San Gabriel Valley
This map, based on US Census Data from 2010, shows the distribution of Asian American communities across the San Gabriel Valley. (Source: Asian Americans Advancing Justice)
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Chinese Immigrants Being Questioned
US immigration officers interrogating Chinese immigrants suspected of being Communists or deserted seamen, Ellis Island, New York, January 31, 1951.
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Chinese-Born Physicists
Chinese-born physicists Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee studied and researched at American universities. They were awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act
A Chinese Press advertisement from September 10, 1943 asking readers to lobby Congressional representatives to support the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
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Madame Chiang Kai-shek in the U.S.
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of China’s Nationalist leader, addresses the House of Representatives on Feb. 18, 1943 to encourage military cooperation between the US and China against Japan.
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Pardee Lowe’s Ceritficate of Identity
Pardee Lowe in a 1931 US immigration form designating him a “returning native” from overseas travel. Despite graduating from Stanford University and Harvard Business School, Lowe struggled to find work in the early 1930’s due to racial discrimination.
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Harriett Ng Phone Operator
Harriett Ng, an operator at the Chinese Telephone Exchange, date unknown. Chinese American women who were fluent in English and multiple Chinese dialects became operators for the San Francisco Chinatown Telephone Exchange.
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Flora Belle Jan
Chinese American journalist and poet Flora Belle Jan in the 1930s. “My parents have wanted me to grow up a good Chinese girl,” she said, “but I am an American and I can’t accept all the old Chinese ways and ideas.
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Anna May Wong Quarter
Anna May Wong’s inspiring legacy includes becoming the first Asian American to be featured on US currency when the US Mint issued a quarter bearing her name and likeness in October 2022.
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Dangerous to Know
Anna May Wong starring opposite Akim Tamiroff in Paramount Pictures’ Dangerous to Know (1938). Wong relentlessly pushed for greater representation and fewer stereotypical roles for Asian Americans in film.
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King of Chinatown
Acknowledged as Hollywood’s first Asian American film star, Anna May Wong had top billing in 1939’s King of Chinatown. Disillusioned by Hollywood’s practice of “yellowface,” or casting white actors for Asian roles, she left the US for a time to work in Europe.
