This compilation of images from the various protests that the Asian American Political Alliance attempts to represent the various Asian American groups represented and supported. The yellow pin in the middle is the symbol of the Asian American Political Alliance, and the Black Power symbol is overlaid on the pin because the Asian American Political Alliance was inspired by the Black Power movement. A few images were taken at Berkeley because Berkeley was an important part of AAPA.
While working in this project and researching the Asian American Political Alliance, I came across a lot of different views regarding Asian Americans at the time. AAPA did a lot of different things to try and support the Asian American people, but there were also people who did not like the work they were doing. It was difficult for me to choose what I wanted to focus on in my piece, but ultimately, I wanted to highlight the unity and strength that AAPA gave to the Asian American people. AAPA sought to bring together all types of Asians to fight against the oppression they faced. They saw that they were being oppressed by society and rose up together. This movement made Asian Americans proud to be Asian and completely changed the views that they had of themselves. They were able to express their culture and traditions without giving any regards as to what other people thought of them because this movement taught them that they should be proud of their roots and who they are. As an Asian American myself, I saw the Asian American Movement as a positive because I think people should be able to be proud of where they came from. This movement gave the Asian American people a voice to stand up for themselves in a society that treated them very poorly.
-- Amy Tran
Doing this project was challenging for a present-day student like myself. As a first-year student at UC Berkeley in 2019, I did not live through these moments. Even as I did this project, I had to keep in mind that I can learn about these important moments, but I will never know as much about this history as the people who actually lived through it. It important to acknowledge the people that have lived through these struggles and helped create these opportunities for students like me today. In this case, we have the ethnic studies department at Cal and I am grateful for the people who were able to stand up for our rights. Without these people, we would not have this important department today.
As I conducted these interviews, my understanding of the 1960's Asian American Studies Movement grew. My interviewee’s perspectives are unique and significant and I obtained an insight from them that cannot be acquired from reading historical articles online. I also understand that my identity and perspective in this project are important because I present my own thoughts on the topic. Even though I was not apart of this history, it is meaningful to me and I have a connection to this history, which makes exploring it further valid.
There are two points of views for doing this project. There is a problematic nature in revisiting history, but also “giving voice” in remaking history. It was important for me to embrace both and think about these two things while doing this project. Lived experiences are privileged. Additionally, understanding that history is not a fixed thing impacted my perspective while doing this project. I realized that my involvement through the interviews helped me in my growing understanding of our project’s focus on how our individual perspectives are important. History is not fixed, so students of our time sharing our perspectives on historical events, such as the Asian American Studies Movement, is not so problematic, but important. Ethnic studies and history provide a way to study life. In other words, they are a way of life. Sharing my perspective through reading about the Asian American Studies Movement in the Bay Area and conducting these interviews is important because I am sharing my voice based on my cultural identity and what I have learned about this history.
Anisha Kalan
As I conducted these interviews, my understanding of the 1960's Asian American Studies Movement grew. My interviewee’s perspectives are unique and significant and I obtained an insight from them that cannot be acquired from reading historical articles online. I also understand that my identity and perspective in this project are important because I present my own thoughts on the topic. Even though I was not apart of this history, it is meaningful to me and I have a connection to this history, which makes exploring it further valid.
There are two points of views for doing this project. There is a problematic nature in revisiting history, but also “giving voice” in remaking history. It was important for me to embrace both and think about these two things while doing this project. Lived experiences are privileged. Additionally, understanding that history is not a fixed thing impacted my perspective while doing this project. I realized that my involvement through the interviews helped me in my growing understanding of our project’s focus on how our individual perspectives are important. History is not fixed, so students of our time sharing our perspectives on historical events, such as the Asian American Studies Movement, is not so problematic, but important. Ethnic studies and history provide a way to study life. In other words, they are a way of life. Sharing my perspective through reading about the Asian American Studies Movement in the Bay Area and conducting these interviews is important because I am sharing my voice based on my cultural identity and what I have learned about this history.
Anisha Kalan
The majority of my work on this project is in the layout and design of the website. Additionally, I have a small section on some locations in Berkeley. This came out of making the website and seeing the map feature, and as I was doing research on designing the website (more specifically what images to use). I think it would be a useful tool in contextualizing these events in life today because I personally faced a lot of issues when looking at the past and then moving into mine. The intent of the maps is to bring a more physical aspect to this interpretation because although it is hard to become someone in the past, it is possible to stand in the same steps as the past. In a way, this illustrates a struggle that Hartman faces in her own adventures in looking at the past, as many of these locations won’t necessarily be the same as the past or even mention such events.
The process for designing the website came from looking at our “archives” and thinking about the potential user. Although just for a project, I personally wanted to represent our findings/creation in the most effective way such that many people could perhaps experience this part of history in the same way we did. First, it started on a google site, but because I found the design aspects limiting to me, I moved to weebly (because as much I like computer science I did not have the time to learn how to build my website and have it do justice to our work).
Once we moved to weebly I set out on that research and cementing what exactly I wanted to do with the design of the website, because I figured that having an empty website with just our words and pictures would not be effective to the user. With my potential user in mind (the class and the wider Berkeley community) I found a general layout that I wanted to emulate that had large headers. I figured these headers could be a good way to visually represent some pivotal moments in the Asian American movement (but I did not want these to be the main focus so I blurred the majority of the backgrounds). Some images are of Aoki (a leader but not necessarily mentioned in our works-- just another drawback to looking at and representing history. People might be forgotten.), and others are of protests that was found during research. I wanted a gradient so that these images had good integration with the website itself.
Ultimately, I wanted the user to have a visual experience, because there are some drawbacks to using a website as a platform. (That it can't be incredibly physical.)
--Catherine
The process for designing the website came from looking at our “archives” and thinking about the potential user. Although just for a project, I personally wanted to represent our findings/creation in the most effective way such that many people could perhaps experience this part of history in the same way we did. First, it started on a google site, but because I found the design aspects limiting to me, I moved to weebly (because as much I like computer science I did not have the time to learn how to build my website and have it do justice to our work).
Once we moved to weebly I set out on that research and cementing what exactly I wanted to do with the design of the website, because I figured that having an empty website with just our words and pictures would not be effective to the user. With my potential user in mind (the class and the wider Berkeley community) I found a general layout that I wanted to emulate that had large headers. I figured these headers could be a good way to visually represent some pivotal moments in the Asian American movement (but I did not want these to be the main focus so I blurred the majority of the backgrounds). Some images are of Aoki (a leader but not necessarily mentioned in our works-- just another drawback to looking at and representing history. People might be forgotten.), and others are of protests that was found during research. I wanted a gradient so that these images had good integration with the website itself.
Ultimately, I wanted the user to have a visual experience, because there are some drawbacks to using a website as a platform. (That it can't be incredibly physical.)
--Catherine
Interpreting photographs that represented an aspect of Asian American history allowed me to understand the events more deeply. Looking at the medium of photography, I analyzed aspects such as the background behind the photo and the perspectives of the photographer and was able to understand various emotions and conflict regarding the historical movement.
It was difficult to attempt to understand the events behind the scenes of the photographs because it is not a time period that I have experienced nor relate greatly to. However, it was interesting to see what kind of observations I could pick out from the photographs even today, half a century after the historical movement.
--Sarah
It was difficult to attempt to understand the events behind the scenes of the photographs because it is not a time period that I have experienced nor relate greatly to. However, it was interesting to see what kind of observations I could pick out from the photographs even today, half a century after the historical movement.
--Sarah
Poem #1:
This was my attempt at (very) briefly covering the some colonized/imperialized continents. Clearly there was so much more that happened, and I understand just how different each country (and even within) was, and that they were affected and reacted differently to imperialism. This is my take on dramatic historical contextualization. I didn’t write about the historical events here based on importance, but I also don’t think that enough stanzas of emotions or fictional poetic narrative does justice to the experiences of marginalized groups. So before I give some historical context, I acknowledge the problematicness in generalizing and romanticizing, though I do not intend to. The first stanza is about Native Americans. The general grouping of them as a monolith already shows injustice. However, I decided to write a stanza on Native Americans because Native American students made monumental efforts in the TWLF. The second stanza is about the British empire imperializing China. It was actually inspired by the story of my great-grandparents, who lost everything they had, including their lives from opium. The third stanza talks about the Mexican American War. It’s interesting because I remember singing songs in elementary school about America, especially the lyric, “from sea to shining sea,” very vividly. How is it okay for children to be exposed to—and actively participate in glorifying imperialism—before they even knew what it was? The last stanza is about the Scramble for Africa. Today, when we bring up “Third World,” most of us will think of countries in Africa. Africa is a continent rich in resources due to its geographical diversity, so it has a lot of economic potential. So what happened? I’ll leave it up to the readers to draw connections about imperialism, capitalism, and racism altogether. Also, consider how all three "isms" are microcosms of of an unequal America. DISCLAIMER: As the central focus of our research was on Asian Americans within the TWLF, the other poems are about Asian Americans.
Poem #2:
While this has undertones of my own experiences and sentiments, the main frustration is that the lack of ethnic studies enforcement in American curriculum—K-12 AND in higher education—puts minority groups in extremely vulnerable positions when they are defined by misconceptions, and confronted with ignorance from other people (this includes other minority groups). The imbalance of power dynamics in America is reinforced and perpetuated by the core and elective design in education.
Poem #3:
The last 4 lines, “no history/no self/know history/know self” inspired the direction of the poem. I first saw it in the Doe library exhibit, where the latter was on a sign. It speaks volumes as to how integral ethnic studies programs are for understanding our cultures and identities.
After I finished writing the poems, I contemplated whether or not I had properly encapsulated in the poems the emotions and the atmosphere of the Third World Liberation Movement; and specifically, the Asian American student movement. To say the least, I wasn't satisfied. This was because I struggled with trying to add in lines that explicitly mentioned strikes or protests, or directly relating it back to actual events. I didn't want to challenge the linearity of events anymore in the sense that my poems challenged chronology. Rather, poems #2 and #3 felt timeless. Students in 1968 felt this way, students in 2019 still feel this way. It shows that we still have a long way to go in terms of advocating for representation. I came to terms with my poems having more personal sentiments and experiences rather than romanticizing because I realized that the general consensus of the importance of ethnic studies was what I was able to encapsulate. That was more satisfying than anything else.
--Chan
This was my attempt at (very) briefly covering the some colonized/imperialized continents. Clearly there was so much more that happened, and I understand just how different each country (and even within) was, and that they were affected and reacted differently to imperialism. This is my take on dramatic historical contextualization. I didn’t write about the historical events here based on importance, but I also don’t think that enough stanzas of emotions or fictional poetic narrative does justice to the experiences of marginalized groups. So before I give some historical context, I acknowledge the problematicness in generalizing and romanticizing, though I do not intend to. The first stanza is about Native Americans. The general grouping of them as a monolith already shows injustice. However, I decided to write a stanza on Native Americans because Native American students made monumental efforts in the TWLF. The second stanza is about the British empire imperializing China. It was actually inspired by the story of my great-grandparents, who lost everything they had, including their lives from opium. The third stanza talks about the Mexican American War. It’s interesting because I remember singing songs in elementary school about America, especially the lyric, “from sea to shining sea,” very vividly. How is it okay for children to be exposed to—and actively participate in glorifying imperialism—before they even knew what it was? The last stanza is about the Scramble for Africa. Today, when we bring up “Third World,” most of us will think of countries in Africa. Africa is a continent rich in resources due to its geographical diversity, so it has a lot of economic potential. So what happened? I’ll leave it up to the readers to draw connections about imperialism, capitalism, and racism altogether. Also, consider how all three "isms" are microcosms of of an unequal America. DISCLAIMER: As the central focus of our research was on Asian Americans within the TWLF, the other poems are about Asian Americans.
Poem #2:
While this has undertones of my own experiences and sentiments, the main frustration is that the lack of ethnic studies enforcement in American curriculum—K-12 AND in higher education—puts minority groups in extremely vulnerable positions when they are defined by misconceptions, and confronted with ignorance from other people (this includes other minority groups). The imbalance of power dynamics in America is reinforced and perpetuated by the core and elective design in education.
Poem #3:
The last 4 lines, “no history/no self/know history/know self” inspired the direction of the poem. I first saw it in the Doe library exhibit, where the latter was on a sign. It speaks volumes as to how integral ethnic studies programs are for understanding our cultures and identities.
After I finished writing the poems, I contemplated whether or not I had properly encapsulated in the poems the emotions and the atmosphere of the Third World Liberation Movement; and specifically, the Asian American student movement. To say the least, I wasn't satisfied. This was because I struggled with trying to add in lines that explicitly mentioned strikes or protests, or directly relating it back to actual events. I didn't want to challenge the linearity of events anymore in the sense that my poems challenged chronology. Rather, poems #2 and #3 felt timeless. Students in 1968 felt this way, students in 2019 still feel this way. It shows that we still have a long way to go in terms of advocating for representation. I came to terms with my poems having more personal sentiments and experiences rather than romanticizing because I realized that the general consensus of the importance of ethnic studies was what I was able to encapsulate. That was more satisfying than anything else.
--Chan