A People’s History of Asian America

Dolly and Adrian examine the 2021 Atlanta mass tragedy, reconciling it with the existence of the 1875 Page Act that explicitly banned “immoral" Chinese women. Dolly interviews scholars who study race & gender to learn about how orientalism has shaped the West’s understanding of both Asian men and women, and how we can learn from Black feminists about combating these dangerous stereotypes.

This term emerged in the 2020 pandemic and became normalized by pundits, politicians, and even the president, exacerbating racism and violent experiences. Hosts Dolly and Adrian make the argument that the xenophobic sentiment that Asian people are invasive, a “China Virus,” has always existed as a concept in America, and has resulted in a cycle of violence that dates all the way back to the 1800s.