Library Observances : AANHPI Experience

This series traces the story of Asian Americans, spanning 150 years of immigration, racial politics, and cultural innovation. It is a timely look at the role that Asian Americans have played in defining who we are as a nation.

What does it mean to become American? What is lost and what is gained in the process? In interviews with historians, descendants, and recent immigrants, this set of powerful Bill Moyers documentaries explores these questions through the dramatic experience of the Chinese in America. Includes Gold Mountain Dreams, Between Two Worlds, and No Turning Back. (254 minutes)

Their ancestors came from one of the world’s most ancient civilizations. From a country rich in history and tradition, they journeyed across the globe to a new frontier rich in little but opportunity. Excluded from most of those opportunities by a dark wall of racial discrimination, they were forced to settle in stifling tenements that came to be called Chinatown. Yet they not only survived, but prospered, becoming one of the most successful immigrant groups in North America. This program presents a unique view of a unique place, taking viewers inside Chinatown to view the Chinese-American experience through the eyes of the people who live it every day. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. (94 minutes)

A documentary by an Asian guy about Asian guys and the stigma they often face. Yellow is a documentary about the Asian male phenomena perceived in the media and gay culture and how it reflects from their childhood.

The dominant narrative of the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans has been that they behaved as a “model minority,” that they cooperated without protest and proved their patriotism by enlisting in the Army. Resistance at Tule Lake, a new feature-length documentary from Third World Newsreel and directed by Japanese American filmmaker Konrad Aderer, overturns that myth by telling the long-suppressed story of Tule Lake Segregation Center. RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE tells the long-suppressed story of 12,000 Japanese Americans who dared to resist the U.S. government's program of mass incarceration during World War II. Branded as "disloyals" and re-imprisoned at Tule Lake Segregation Center, they continued to protest in the face of militarized violence, and thousands renounced their U.S. citizenship. Giving voice to experiences that have been marginalized for over 70 years, this documentary challenges the nationalist, one-sided ideal of wartime "loyalty."

This documentary gives an in-depth look at the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the effect that it continues to have on generations of Chinese and Chinese Americans. This law was the first exclusion policy officially adopted by the United States government, one of the results of the decades long scapegoating endured by Chinese workers caught in the crossfire of the lethal turn-of-the-century labor political powerplay. Personal stories as well as chilling revelations about INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) procedures give a frame of reference to the archived histories of official documents and images, shedding light on the toll of institutionalized discrimination and racism that remains a century later.

Pacific Islanders serve in the U.S. military in disproportionally high numbers and have suffered the highest casualty rates in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The men and women of Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, are American citizens and serve in our country’s military at a rate three times higher than the rest of the country. Learn why the island’s returning veterans say they can’t get the healthcare they need.

This documentary looks at Native Hawaiian protests on the island of Oahu as they attempt to gain more sovereignty over their land. This documentary briefly shows the history of the Native Hawaiian struggle for more independence stemming from the 1930s Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

Through the lens of a personal story, this award winning documentary discusses the effects of colonization on the Native Hawaiian people.