South Asian American Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Asian/Pacific/American Archives Survey Project | A/P/A

DJ Rekha Papers

January 23, 2015November 18, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1998 – 2010

Survey Conducted: Tue, 2010-02-16

Creator: DJ Rekha

History: Often credited for introducing bhangra and British Asian music to North American audiences, DJ Rekha is a producer, activist, and musician. Named one of the most influential South Asians in the United States by Newsweek, DJ Rekha was proclaimed by “one of the ten women of downtown music” by the New York Times Magazine. From the 1997 launch of Basement Bhangra, a monthly party held at New York City’s SOBs, to Mutiny, which she co-founded with filmmaker, DJ, and MIT professor Vivek Bald, DJ Rekha has been instrumental in establishing a South Asian music scene in the United States. Read more →

Asian/Pacific/American Institute Records

January 23, 2015March 5, 2015APA Staff

Date Range: 1994 – 2003
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2008-10-24
Creator: Asian/Pacific/American Institute

History: The Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute was founded in 1996 in response to student interest combined with New York University’s commitment to global excellence. The Institute is focused on community and intercultural studies within a broad, rigorous international and comparative framework.The A/P/A Institute incorporates the ideas of the NYU Asian/Pacific/American studies program and local, national, and international affairs into public events and symposia for the larger New York University and New York City communities. The Institute brings together accomplished scholars, community-builders, and artists from New York City and beyond for events throughout the year including conferences, seminars, book readings, film screenings, musical performances, and brown bag lunches. The Institute also co-sponsors events with student and community organizations, which serve as educational programs to complement the academic Program and address the needs of the community at large.

Asian/American Center (A/AC) at Queens College Records

January 22, 2015December 16, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1949 – 2010

Survey Conducted: Mon, 2010-07-19

Creator: Asian/American Center (A/AC) at Queens College

History: The Asian/American Center (A/AC) at Queens College, City University of New York, is committed to producing and supporting community-based research on the diverse populations that make up the Asian diaspora in the Americas. Founded in 1987, the A/AC organizes research projects, conferences, and seminars, in addition to publishing a series of working papers by academics and community leaders, all of which examine the history and other aspects of Asian American experiences. The A/AC also works to support Asian American Studies. In 2010, for the first time at Queens College, the A/AC began offering courses in the field, allowing students to minor in Asian American Studies. The A/AC is also building a new resource lounge, which will house multimedia materials on Asian Americans.

Asian Women in Business Records

January 22, 2015December 15, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1995 – 2010

Survey Conducted: Mon, 2009-02-23

Creator: Asian Women in Business

*Note: As of 2021, Asian Women in Business is no longer an active organization.

History: The non-profit organization, Asian Women in Business (AWIB), was founded in 1995 to provide resources and support for Asian women entrepreneurs. AWIB hosts workshops, seminars, conferences, and networking events to support the development of Asian women in business and since its founding has served over 27,000 women and people of color through its programming. Driven by a desire to increase the number of women and minority owned businesses, AWIB sponsors an annual Procurement Conference, at which minority women business entrepreneurs have the opportunity to establish relationships with corporate and government buyers, as well as an annual Asian Women’s Corporate Leadership Conference and Leadership Awards Ceremony and Dinner. To encourage young Asian women to attend college and assume leadership positions, AWIB awards an annual academic scholarship.

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Records

January 22, 2015November 23, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1992 – 2011

Survey Conducted: Wed, 2011-05-11

Creator: Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)

History: Dedicated to the needs and concerns of Asian Pacific American (APA) workers the foundations for the creation of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) were laid in 1990 when a number of APA labor activists presented the AFL-CIO with a proposal to better address a continued under-representation among APA workers in the labor movement by forming a national APA labor organization. Following the lessons learned from the examples of APA labor leaders in history, they understood the necessity of forming labor alliances, and sought to get more APA workers into unions, especially, those working in historically important industries such as garment factories and restaurants.The founders recognized that, in addition to traditional issues like fair wages, health care, and dignity, APA workers faced other challenges and workplace discrimination. Despite the popularity of a ‘model minority myth’ about Asian Pacific Americans, there are many misunderstandings about the ability of many Asian Pacific Americans to achieve economic security and prosperity. While the median income of APA workers is higher than the national average, there is tremendous difference between specific ethnic groups – some experience high rates of poverty and others have incomes that are substantially loser than the national average. Other disadvantages related to immigration status, discrimination, language ability and education force many Asian Pacific Americans into low-paying and insecure jobs, often accompanied by exploitation, discrimination and harsh conditions.

Asian CineVision Records

January 22, 2015November 17, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1976 – 2000
Survey Conducted: Thu, 2008-01-31 and Tue, 2008-04-01
Creator: Asian CineVision

History: Asian CineVision (ACV) is a non-profit media arts organization that develops, promotes and preserves films made by or about peoples of Asian descent. Founders Tsui Hark, Christine Choy, Danny Yung, and Peter Chow began ACV in 1976 as a media activism organization seeking to raise awareness through media training in the local Chinese communities. The organization initiated the weekly-turned-daily weekday cable-access Chinatown Community Television (CCTV) in 1977, which covered community-interest issues such as housing, gentrification, and healthcare. Significantly, it was the first Chinese-language news programming in the U.S. Production of CCTV ended in 1983.

Asian American Writers’ Workshop Records

January 22, 2015November 23, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1992 – 2009

Survey Conducted: Wed, 2009-03-25

Creator: Asian American Writers’ Workshop Records

History: Asian American Writer’s Workshop (AAWW) was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit literary arts organization dedicated to the creation, publishing, development, and dissemination of Asian American creative writing. AAWW supports writers of the Asian American community by making grants, offering workshops, helping to publish and publicize their works, establishing an in-house reading room to facilitate access to Asian American literature, and instituting the Annual Asian American Literary Arts Ceremony, held since 1998 to recognize outstanding writing in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, memoirs, stage plays and screenplays. In addition to sponsoring readings, book parties, and panel discussions for writers, AAWW runs various youth arts programs that engage NYC students in discussions of race and identity, offers writing classes, and instructions on making videos. Semi-annually, AAWW publishes literary anthologies and the Asian Pacific American Journal . It also publishes Ten magazine, which features articles about writers and writing. Through its programming and service as an educational resource center for Asian American literature and awareness, AAWW seeks to encourage the telling of diverse stories and diverse ways of telling stories for the important contributions they make towards increasing community visibility and the building of a collective history.

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) Records

January 22, 2015December 15, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1974 – 2005

Creator: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

History: Founded in 1974, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.

Currently, the organization focuses on economic justice for workers, immigrants’ rights and post 9/11 civil liberties, voting rights, language access to services, affirmative action, youth rights and educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and the elimination of hate violence, police misconduct and human trafficking.

Summary: The collection consists largely of litigation files from AALDEF’s cases, dating from 1970 to 2005. These include immigration, affirmative action, and workers’ compensation cases; suits against restaurants such as Jing Fong, New Silver Palace, East River Chinese Restaurant; suits against the City of New York; and suits against other employers. General subject files contain clippings, correspondence and other information about immigration, labor, and housing, including the first Chinatown Labor Fair. These range in date from 1978 to 1992.

Total Size: 27.0 linear feet
APA-related Size: 27.0 linear feet
Arrangement: other
Location: Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
Bibliographic Control: finding aid
Finding Aid Link: http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_321/
Conditions Governing Access: Contact repository for detailed information on conditions governing access.

Asian American Journalists Association – New York Chapter Records

January 22, 2015December 14, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1987 – 2007

Survey Conducted: Tue, 2010-02-23

Creator: Asian American Journalists Association – New York Chapter

History: The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), a non-profit educational and professional organization, provides networking opportunities and support for Asian/Pacific American (A/PA) journalists and students of journalism. AAJA additionally raises awareness within the A/PA community of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access to it, and monitors the media for accuracy and fairness in its coverage of Asian/Pacific Americans. Founded in 1981 by a small group of Los Angeles-based journalists that included Tritia Toyota and Frank Kwan of KNBC-TV News, Bill Sing, Nancy Yoshihara and David Kishiyama of the Los Angeles Times, and Dwight Chuman of Rafu Shimpo, a local Japanese American Newspaper, AAJA expanded in 1985 with the formation of additional chapters, growing to a current membership of more than 1,600 members in 20 chapters across the US and in Asia. Its New York chapter is the largest with more than 450 members concentrated in the New York metropolitan area. Its members have included Helen Zia, Sreenath Sreenivasan, Mohamad Bazzi, Pradnya Joshi, Qin Li, Corky Lee and Jeannie Park, its founding president. To fulfill its fundraising, networking, professional, and leadership development functions, AAJA New York hosts various events that include resume critiques, workshops and panels, board and leadership meetings, chapter elections, Scrabble tournaments, dinner fundraisers, new member mixers, annual holiday parties, and annual softball games in Central Park. AAJA New York has on occasion hosted the organization’s annual National Conference (1990, 2000) and East Coast Mini-Conference for its East Coast chapters. AAJA also funds scholarships and fellowships that help support members’ career advancement and education.

Asian American Federation Records

January 22, 2015December 15, 2021APA Staff

Date Range: 1990 – 2009

Survey Conducted: Thu, 2009-03-26

Creator: Asian American Federation

History: The Asian American Federation, founded in 1990, is a nonprofit organization that works to advance the civic voice and well-being of Asian Americans in the New York metropolitan area. The organization is composed of 46 member agencies (as of 2021, it is now at 70) and promotes strategic philanthropy within the Asian American community in an effort to link community assets with community needs. It created and manages the Asian American Community Fund, and participates in the Coalition for New Philanthropy, a multi-year initiative to promote philanthropy in the African American, Latino and Asian American communities in metropolitan New York.