Southeast Asian American

Rocky Chin Papers

APA Staff
Date Range: 1969 – 2008
Survey Conducted: Tue, 2011-12-13
Creator: Chin, Rocky

History: Rocky Chin is a civil rights attorney who has been an active community leader advocating for labor and human rights. An Asian American born in Washington D.C., Chin completed his BA at Lehigh University, his MA at Yale University, and his JD at the University of Southern California. As an attorney, Chin has represented marginalized groups including immigrant and working-class families. He is married to May Y. Chen, former vice president of UNITE HERE and a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).

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Peeling Records

APA Staff
Peeling logoDate Range: 1995 – 2003
Survey Conducted: Sun, 2012-11-04 and Thu, 2009-09-17
Creator: Peeling

History: Peeling was a New York City based collective (1995-2005) of writers, performers, directors and producers. Using autobiography as a departure point, their collaborations were an exploration of contemporary Asian American identities through the development of original theater work. Originally founded in 1995 as “Peeling the Banana” by director/performer Gary San Angel at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the group developed many of its pieces through physical theater and improvisation work, which were later transcribed; others were written and further developed through group workshops. At the time, no other such group existed on the East Coast and many talented artists got their start in or had at one time been members of the group. With sold out performances at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Second Stage, Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), the Desh Pardesh Festival (Toronto), as well as numerous colleges and universities, Peeling the Banana presented its poignant blend of poetry, theater, dance, and music to audiences across the country.

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Asian Garment Workers in New York City Oral History Collection

APA Staff
Date Range: 1989
Survey Conducted: Thu, 2008-12-04
Creator: Nguyen, Bichiluyen

History: New York University undergraduate Bichiluyen Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant, conducted these interviews with New York City immigrant garment workers from Vietnam, China, the Philippines and California as part of an internship in the history department in 1989. Interviews were conducted mainly in English, but some were partially in the interviewees’ native language.

Summary: The collection consists of four interviews. Transcripts or indexes exist in English for all of the interviews. Interviews are with International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union members and staff, and one interview is with a garment manufacturer. Topics covered include emigration to the U.S., working conditions, joining the ILGWU, and major strikes.

Total Size: 5 cassette tapes
APA-related Size: 5 cassette tapes
Languages of materials: Chinese, English, and Vietnamese
Arrangement: other
Location: Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
Bibliographic Control: inventory
Inventory Link: http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/oh_018/
Conditions Governing Access: Contact repository for detailed information on conditions governing access.

New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health Records

APA Staff
Date Range: 1993 – 2010
Survey Conducted: Tue, 2010-03-16
Creator: New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health Records

History: The New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health (NYCAAMH) is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1989 by a group of concerned individuals including health and mental health professionals and organizations. Our mission is to improve the quality of mental health services for Asian Americans in the New York City metropolitan area. The Coalition offers mental health educational workshops and training, and a forum for mental health service providers and concerned individuals to network, share resources, and collaborate on culturally competent models of treatment for Asian Americans. Read more →

Robert Lee and Eleanor Yung Papers, Asian American Arts Centre Collection

APA Staff
Date Range: 1968 – 2001
Survey Conducted: Tue, 2011-01-25
Creator: Lee, Robert (b.1944) and Yung, Eleanor (b.1946); Asian American Arts Centre

History: Partners Robert Lee, an author and curator, and Eleanor Yung, a choreographer and acupuncturist, were both involved in establishing the Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC). In addition to the AAAC, Lee and Yung have held leadership roles in national and New York City-based Asian American cultural and political organizations, dedicating their careers to supporting Asian American artists and their work. Read more →

Khmer Legacies Records

APA Staff
Date Range: 2007 – 2011
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2011-11-11
Creator: Khmer Legacies Records

History: A non-profit organization founded by Socheata Poeuv in 2007, Khmer Legacies’ mission is to document testimonies of Khmer Rouge survivors to create an archive as an educational resource for researchers, students and the global community. Poeuv’s vision for Khmer Legacies was inspired by her family-based documentary, New Year Baby. The film explores the historical legacy of the Khmer Rouge through Poeuv discovering her family’s formation and her parents’ experience during the Khmer Rouge. Despite historically being one of the largest mass genocides in modern history where over 2 million people were killed, the Khmer Rouge remains a largely unwritten topic. Khmer Legacies is meant to address these informational gaps in history through building an archive as an educational tool to heighten awareness and work towards preventing future human atrocities. Read more →

Asian Women in Business Records

APA 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.
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Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Records

APA Staff
Colored drawing of two hands shaking. One represents AFL and the other CIO.
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.

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Asian American Writers’ Workshop Records

APA 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.
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Asia Pacific Forum Records

APA Staff
Date Range: 1998 – 2011APF logo
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2011-01-28
Creator: Asia Pacific Forum

History: Broadcasting on WBAI 99.5 FM and streaming live on the web every Monday from 9-10 pm, 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 and explore topics including activism, civil and human rights, foreign policy, immigration, history, labor, literature, pop culture, and the performing arts. WBAI is part of the Pacifica Foundation, a non-commercial and listener-sponsored national radio network founded in 1946 with about 50 additional affiliates in Houston, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Washington, D.C., and other cities across the United States.
APF has operated as a collective since its founding. Current core collective members are Zhaleh Afshar, Saara Azadi, Olivia Canlas, Mijounga Chan, Michelle Chen, Aniruddha Das, Naved Husain, Danny Kim, Aruna Krishnakumar, and Hyun Lee.

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