A/P/A Collections at NYU

Karl Akiya (1909-2001) was born in San Francisco and educated in Japan. A vocal opponent of Japanese militarism, he returned to the US in 1931. Upon his return, he joined ...

Andolan (Organizing South Asian Workers) is a non-governmental, membership-based group in New York City that organizes and advocates on behalf of South Asian immigrant workers, with particular focus on Bangladeshi, ...

In the Spring of 2020, just weeks after New York City became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, in collaboration with community members Tomie Arai, ...

Artist and community activist Tomie Arai (b.1949- ) has been working as an artist in the New York City area since the 1960s, and together with Legan Wong (b.1951- ) ...

Asia Pacific Forum (APF) is a progressive pan-Asian radio show based in New York City focusing on culture and politics. APF’s broadcasts cover underreported stories from Asia and Asian America ...

The Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC), founded in 1974 as the Asian American Dance Theatre, is one of the oldest community arts organizations in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Partners Robert (Bob) Lee, ...

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) was founded in 1974 to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing. AALDEF ...

Founded in 1975, Asian CineVision (ACV) is a non-profit media arts organization dedicated to the development, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American film and video. ACV established several ...

The collection consists of ten interviews of garment workers who came to New York City from Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and California. A majority of the interviews were conducted with ...

In response to student interest combined with the University’s commitment to global excellence, the Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute at NYU was established in 1996 by Founding Director Jack Tchen (who led ...

The foundations for the creation of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) were laid in 1990 when a number of Asian/Pacific American (A/P/A) labor activists presented the AFL-CIO with ...

Asian Women United (AWU) was a New York City-based organization, formed in 1978 when the Asian American Women’s Caucus split into two groups. As stated in their Statement of Purpose, ...

From 1997-2004, Asian Working Artists (AWA) was a student-run organization at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. AWA was created to unite Tisch students of Asian and Asian American descent ...

Born in Taiwan, installation artist, filmmaker, and media activist Shu Lea Cheang (b.1954-) received a BA in history from National Taiwan University in 1976 and an MA in Cinema Studies ...

May Chen (b. 1948-) is a labor organizer who has advocated for immigrant workers for more than two decades. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, she received her BA from ...

Fay Chiang (1952-2017) was an Asian American poet, visual artist, and community leader from New York City. Raised in Queens and educated at Hunter College and the School of Visual ...

Rocky Chin (b. 1947-) is a civil rights attorney and community leader long engaged in labor and human rights advocacy. Born in Washington, DC, Chin earned his BA at Lehigh ...

Tung Pok Chin (1915-1988) was born in China and immigrated to the US in 1934 as a “paper son.” He worked in laundries in Boston, Massachusetts before establishing his own ...

Dr. Gloria Wong Chung (1925-2007) was one of the first A/P/A women psychiatrists in the US and was a major advocate for increased healthcare access in New York City’s Chinatown. ...

EPOXY was a New York City artist collective founded in 1982 by six Hong Kong immigrant artists: Jerry Kwan, Kwok Mang Ho, Bing Lee, Ming Fay, Kang Lok Chung, and ...

Born in Shanghai, New York City-based sculptor Ming Fay (b.1943-) grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the United States in 1961 to attend the Columbus College of Art ...

Founded in 1990, GAPIMNY (formerly known as Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York) is an all-volunteer, membership-based community organization with the mission to empower queer and trans Asian/Pacific ...

Canton-born modernist painter Yun Gee (1906-1963) immigrated to San Francisco, California in 1921. Deciding to pursue a career as an artist, Gee enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute and ...

Founded in 1990, Godzilla Asian American Art Network was an artist collective that promoted discourse about Asian American visual art. Godzilla sponsored public programs and exhibitions to foster community building ...

Larry Hama (b. 1949-) is an influential comic book writer and artist behind such titles as G.I. Joe, The ‘Nam, and Bucky O’Hare. Born in Manhattan and raised in Queens, ...

The Japanese American Newspapers Collection contains 18.6 linear feet of publications from fifteen different Japanese American newspaper titles dating from 1946 to 2014. The collection includes extended runs of Hokubei ...

Midori Shimanouchi Lederer founded Japanese American Social Services, Inc. (JASSI) in 1981 to address the lack of social services for aging Japanese Americans with limited English language skills. JASSI quickly ...

Isaku Kida (1905-1996) immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1930 as a student of theology. Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, he fell under the suspicion of the ...

The Yoshio Kishi and Irene Yah-Ling Sun Collection, the acquisition of which was made possible in large part by a donation in memory of Dr. Wei-Yu Chen, contains over 10,000 ...

Michi Kobi (1924-2016), born Machiko Okamoto, was a Japanese American actress and activist. During World War II, she was forcibly removed from her home and incarcerated at the Central Utah ...

Midori Shimanouchi Lederer (1923-2005) was born and raised in Fresno, California, and was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, when she and her family were incarcerated at the ...

Founded in 1998, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) is a union that supports taxi drivers in New York. The NYTWA was founded by members of the Lease Drivers ...

Pauline Park (b. 1960-) is a New York City-based transgender activist. She is the president of the board of directors and former executive director of Queens Pride House (QPH) and ...

Peeling (1995-2005) was a New York City-based collective of writers, performers, directors, and producers. Using autobiography as a departure point, their collaborations explored contemporary Asian American identities through the development ...

Q-Wave was founded in 2004 and is a community organization based in New York City. Q-Wave is a grassroots organization of lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer women, trans men, and ...

Radio Bandung was a weekly radio news magazine that delivered news and cultural information about Asian/Pacific/American communities and the Asian/Pacific geographic region to the general public from 1991 through the ...

Krishna Reddy (1925-2018) was a highly accomplished artist, art educator, and author who has made major contributions to revolutionizing the technology and artistic possibilities of intaglio simultaneous color printmaking. Born ...

  Dr. Jack G. Shaheen (1935-2017) dedicated his career to identifying and contesting damaging stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in US popular media. Shaheen authored several books including The TV ...

From 1870-1970, Newark, New Jersey was home to a Chinatown and small Chinese American community. Numbering about 3,000 residents at its peak, it was one of the few East Coast ...

Formed in 1979, Soh Daiko was the first taiko group on the East Coast. Soh Daiko and taiko drumming offer a striking and powerful rebuff to stereotypical notions of Japanese ...

This collection consists of materials accumulated by member and organizer Atif Toor (b. 1971-), documenting the history and organizational activities of SALGA NYC (formerly South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association), ...

The Vietnamese Boat People podcast and nonprofit was founded in 2018 by Tracey Nguyen Mang, whose family of nine fled Vietnam by boat. Nguyen Mang arrived in America in 1981 ...

Takako “Taxie” Wada (1921-2016), was born Takako Kusunoki in Colusa, California. While attending public school, Wada adopted the nickname “Taxie” because her non-Japanese teachers had difficulty pronouncing her name. Upon ...

From approximately the middle 1970s through the late 1980s, Darlene Wone was an activist in the Asian/Pacific/American women’s movement, as well as the Asian American movement more generally. These movements, ...

Martin Wong (1946-1999) was a Chinese American artist best known for legitimizing graffiti as an art form. Born in Portland, Oregon, he grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown and, in ...

William F. Wu (b. 1951- ) is a Chinese American science fiction writer who has published thirteen novels and more than fifty short stories. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wu ...

Hon. Sue Pai Yang (b.1942-) is a retired New Jersey lawyer and judge. Born in Chongqing, China, Yang and her family traveled to the United States in 1950 in order ...

Danny Yung (b.1943-) is an artist, experimental filmmaker, producer, choreographer, and urban planner. Yung was a founder of the Basement Workshop, an Asian American political and arts organization for writers, ...

George Yuzawa (1915-2011) was a beloved and central figure in New York’s Japanese American community. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Yuzawa was an active member of its Japanese American community. ...