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Showing Records: 1 - 10 of 15

Oral History Interview with David Chen, Part 2, 2004-07-13

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.015
Abstract In this interview, David Chen discusses his work at Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) as an activist in New York City's Chinatown. Chen is the director of CPC, a private organization started in 1965 serving the public and focusing on low-income immigrant families, mostly Chinese. Services offered include language classes, translations, daycare centers, job training for adults, senior citizen care, childcare, and Meals on Wheels. Prior to his work at CPC, Chen worked for the mayor in...
Dates: 2004-07-13

Oral History Interview with Henry Ye, 2004-03-11

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.005
Abstract Henry Ye of True Light Church is the Director of Immigrant Services at New Life Center, a Lutheran social service organization started shortly after 9/11. Henry was born in Canton in 1979 and moved from China in 1982 to live in Panama for a period with his sister and her family. Henry would eventually move to New York City to attend Lower East Side Preparatory High School and CUNY City College to become a psychologist. He began his career as a social worker with the Chinatown YMCA and a case...
Dates: 2004-03-11

Oral History Interview with Jami Gong, 2004-04-26

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.004
Abstract Jami (Jameson) Gong is a Chinese American comedian and local Chinatown resident. Born August 23, 1969 in New York City, Jami is the son of immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Southern China. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1967 with a desire for better opportunities and a better life for their children. He reminisces about his time growing up and living in Chinatown, the pollution problem, the changing demographics over time, and the education he and his siblings received....
Dates: 2004-04-26

Oral History Interview with Jeanie Chin, 2004-05-20

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.006
Abstract Jeanie Chin has been a resident of Park Row for over twenty years. Her parents were from Toisan, China. Her mother was the main caretaker and a garment factory worker in Chinatown, while her father is a World War 2 veteran who returned to work as laundry worker, restaurant owner and landowner. Jeanie recalls her childhood living in the Bronx and spending time in Chinatown during the sixties and seventies and describes Chinatown as smaller and populated mainly by people from Toisan and...
Dates: 2004-05-20

Oral History Interview with Jeannie Jackson, 2004-07-13

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.007
Abstract Jeannie Lee Jackson is a Chinese American and native New Yorker. She recounts the origins of her seemingly unusual surname for her ethnicity. She recalls her childhood in Brooklyn, growing up as the only Chinese person in her school, working in the family's laundry business, and the role Manhattan's Chinatown played in her life. As a former member of the Ging Hawk Club, she remembers the social activities she engaged in and how it led to her serendipitous meeting of her husband. Jeannie...
Dates: 2004-07-13

Oral History Interview with Jefferson Li, October 20, 2020

 Item
Identifier: 2020.020.028
Abstract Jefferson Li’s family owns and runs the New York Chinatown butcher shop 47 Division Street Trading Inc. Like many Chinatown businesses, his family business took a huge economic hit due to the pandemic. Li took to the popular social news aggregator website Reddit to try and drum up business by publicizing their low prices to New Yorkers who wouldn’t normally be their primary demographic, becoming a pseudo celebrity in the process. As someone who has been in the Chinatown community prior to...
Dates: October 20, 2020

Oral History Interview with Jenny Ye, 2013-03-19

 Item
Identifier: 2013.022.005
Abstract Jenny Ye is a college student at Harvard University and spent her childhood in Chinatown. In this oral history Ye focuses on her childhood and experiences attending public schools in the New York City Chinatown area. She recounts spending time with her family and her cousins and growing up in Chinatown. Ye attended PS 124 and shares her autograph book as she recounts fond memories during elementary school. She also discusses her time in middle and high school with her involvement in CCAV and...
Dates: 2013-03-19

Oral History Interview with Marcella Dear, May 24, 2013

 Item
Identifier: 2013.022.006
Abstract Marcella Dear, a longtime friend of MOCA and a generous donor of over 900 objects, joins us to discuss her exciting life and her memories of Chinatown. Marcella goes into depth about many of the objects she donated, and discusses not only their significance as sentimental objects but also how these objects were used in their original setting, at the Rice Bowl restaurant on Mott Street. Marcella’s father founded the Rice Bowl, and she discusses her childhood growing up in and around the...
Dates: May 24, 2013

Oral History Interview with Marilyn Sontag and Daniel Carter, 2013-02-27

 Item
Identifier: 2013.022.007
Abstract Husband and wife Daniel Carter and Marilyn Sontag sit down with Tomie Arai to discuss their lives living at 218 Centre Street, and all of the changes in the neighborhood that they have watched since they moved in in 1970. They begin by discussing their lives prior to their move to New York City, and how they found their apartment, which was actually designated as an artist’s residence, through word of mouth. Marilyn is a visual artist, and Daniel is a composer and musician. The couple...
Dates: 2013-02-27

Oral History Interview with Mirian Yau Oyola, 2003-10-17

 File
Identifier: 2014.036.011
Abstract In this interview, Mirian Yau Oyola recounts her family’s migration from Guangdong, China to Panama and reminisces about her childhood growing up on a ranch and in a large Asian community in Panama. She chronicles her family’s eventual move to New York City, familial dynamics within a mixed family, the difficulties of cultural assimilation into American life with a Chinese stepmother, and the stark contrasts between life in Panama and America. Growing up in Brooklyn, she recalls how her...
Dates: 2003-10-17

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September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 10
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Community organization. 7
Immigration 7
Social workers. 5