Culture

Asian Americans

Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.

Breaking Through

53m 34s

At the turn of the new millennium, the national conversation turns to immigration, race, and economic disparity. As the U.S becomes more diverse, yet more divided, a new generation of Asian Americans tackle the question, how do we as a nation move forward together?

Episodes

  • Breaking Through: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Breaking Through

    S2020 E5 - 53m 34s

    At the turn of the new millennium, the national conversation turns to immigration, race, and economic disparity. As the U.S becomes more diverse, yet more divided, a new generation of Asian Americans tackle the question, how do we as a nation move forward together?

  • Generation Rising: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Generation Rising

    S2020 E4 - 54m 11s

    During a time of war and social tumult, a young generation fights for equality in the fields, on campuses and in the culture, and claim a new identity: Asian Americans. The war’s aftermath brings new immigrants and refugees who expand the population and the definition of Asian America.

Extras + Features

  • ‘They Liked to Pit the Mexicans Against the Filipinos’: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    ‘They Liked to Pit the Mexicans Against the Filipinos’

    2m 16s

    The Filipino farmworkers voted to strike, but they had to convince Cesar Chavez, the leader of the Mexican workers, to join them. The task was left to Larry Itliong. Together Filipino and Mexicans mounted a historic and victorious grape strike that electrified the world.

  • He Fought in Vietnam, but He Had the Face of the Enemy: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    He Fought in Vietnam, but He Had the Face of the Enemy

    1m 10s

    Asians Americans have fought for the U.S. military since the War of 1812. During the Vietnam conflict, thousands served. But many, like Mike Nakayama, soon discovered that their fellow GI’s looked at them and saw the face of the enemy.

  • ‘I Was Trying to Figure out Who I Was’: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    ‘I Was Trying to Figure out Who I Was’

    3m 10s

    Laureen Chew grew up the sheltered daughter of immigrant parents in San Francisco’s Chinatown. But when she enrolled at San Francisco State College in 1968, it was a stunning awakening. The campus was afire with new ideas and a growing movement for ethnic studies and educational equity.

  • Asians Were America’s First “Undocumented Immigrants”: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Asians Were America’s First “Undocumented Immigrants”

    30s

    Connie Yu’s family story in the U.S. almost ended at the Angel Island Immigration Station, where her grandmother was detained for over a year, separated from her American-born children. In an atmosphere of nativism and hate, exclusionary laws have made Asians the nation’s first “undocumented immigrants.” Yet those who manage to stay, build families and communities in America.

  • A Louisiana Family Discovers Their South Asian Roots: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    A Louisiana Family Discovers Their South Asian Roots

    2m 38s

    South Asians began arriving in significant numbers during the late 1800s. Most were men who settled in communities of color and faced segregation and laws against intermarriage with whites. Many formed multiracial families like Moksad Ali, a Bengali Muslim trader, who married an African American woman, Ella Blackman. Together they navigated race in an era of anti-Asian exclusion and Jim Crow.

Schedule

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