Erika Lee and Judy Yung headline program to celebrate paperback launch of Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America on June 30 at Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco
Erika Lee and Judy Yung, co-authors of the award-winning comprehensive history book on the Angel Island Immigration Station, will headline the "Angel Island Storytelling" program on Saturday, June 30 from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco. Lee and Yung will give a brief historical overview of the Angel Island Immigration Station, followed by special presentations by Japanese, Korean, Russian and Jewish descendants of Angel Island immigrants. These speakers will describe their family's experience on Angel Island. Charles Egan, professor of Chinese language at San Francisco State University will also give a brief talk on newly recovered Chinese, Japanese and Korean poems written by Angel Island immigrants.
The paperback version of the book will sell for $21.95. Books will be signed by the authors.
Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America has been honored with several awards: Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award for Adult Non-Fiction; Winner of the Western History Association Caughey Prize; and Honorable Mention, Book Award in History by the Association for Asian American Studies.
The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. The program is co-sponsored by the Chinese Culture Center.
AIISF and the SF Public Library present artwork from Milly Lee’s Landed June 1 to Aug. 30, 2012 at the Main Library’s Fisher Children Center
San Francisco author and librarian Milly Lee has written three children’s books focused on the Chinese American experience: Landed, Nim and the War Effort, and Earthquake. All three books were illustrated by Yangsook Choi. For the first time, a selection of Ms. Choi’s vivid color paintings from these books will be exhibited at the Fisher Children Center, located on the second floor of the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street. The exhibit will celebrated with a reception on Saturday, June 9 from 10 a.m. to noon. Author Milly Lee will read from her books. The event is free and open to the public.
Immigrant Voices Features: Erna and Julius Scheuer and Philipos Pera
AIISF is proud to present two new stories for the Immigrant Voices section of our website. We are featuring Jewish refugees Erna and Julius Scheuer, who came to Angel Island in 1940, and Philipos Pera, a refugee from Assyria, who was detained at the Immigration Station in 1922 for one year.
We invite you to write about your immigrant experience. Click on "Tell a Story" and follow the easy steps to create an account and submit your story.
Immigrant Heritage Wall Update!
The response to our postcard follow-up for the Immigrant Heritage Wall has been very strong. We now have fewer than fifty plaques left on Phase II of the wall. If you are interested in participating and honoring an ancestor, whenever they came to the U.S., please contact Grant Din at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 415-262-4433.
You can read the Immigrant Voices story of the parents of Tony Leong, Jr. His family is honoring them on the Immigrant Heritage Wall. Tene Woo Kember, who recently volunteered for AIISF by writing the Immigrant Voices story of picture bride Kiyoye Nakamura, also told us the following about her mother, who will be honored on the wall.
My family is honoring my mother, Jew Shee Gon Mae, on the Wall because this is an opportunity to publicly show our respect and love for her. Married to our father, Woo Get, she come to Angel Island in June, 1929, coming from Hoiping, China, accompanied by my older brother, who was 2 yrs. old. My mother was also pregnant at the time with my second oldest brother. My father had gone back to China previously. to marry our mother, but had returned to San Antonio, Texas, without her. Upon her arrival, he came out from Texas to Angel Island to testify on her behalf.
My father was one of the earliest settlers of the Chinese community in San Antonio, having arrived in 1917, when he crossed the Mexican border as part of General Pershing's troops, who were battling Pancho Villa in Mexico. My dad's story has always overshadowed my mother's but by honoring her on the wall, it gives her a voice of her own.
I volunteered to write Kiyoye Nakamura's story for the same reason. We need to hear of the hardships these people went through in order that we, the descendants, are able to appreciate the rich and full lives we enjoy. The connections that we make with those who came before inspires us to live better lives.
The immigration experience is a common thread binding the histories of most Americans. Whether escaping persecution, poverty or lack of economic prospects, immigrants have come to the United States for the ideals it represents — freedom, democracy, and opportunity. Most Americans know the story of Ellis Island, where immigrants crossing the Atlantic Ocean were processed. But the story of its West Coast counterpart, Angel Island, is little-known.
Located in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Angel Island Immigration Station was routinely the first stop for immigrants crossing the Pacific Ocean. The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) is the nonprofit partner of California State Parks and the National Park Service in the effort to preserve, restore and interpret the historic immigration station.