"Who Killed Vincent Chin?" collection
Scope and Contents
The materials in this collection consist of donations from Renee Tajima-Peña, which include transcripts of interviews and trials; court documents; clippings from newspapers, journals, and magazines; research and production notes; and video cassettes of footage used in the documentary film. Donations from the film department at New York University include film reels of different versions of the documentary, audio recordings, and related invoices.
Dates
- Creation: 1980s
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is unrestricted.
Conditions Governing Use
For reference use only; not for reproduction, distribution, or deposit in another collection. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Director of Collections. If publishing, cite: "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" Collection, Museum of Chinese in America.
Biographical / Historical
Vincent Chin, a Chinese American engineer, was murdered by white autoworkers, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park, Michigan, in June 1982. Ebens had been laid off from his auto industry job during a time when Japanese automakers were taking an increasing share of the market, leading to allegations that the crime was racially motivated. Lenient sentencing for the two men resulted in a public outcry from the Asian American community, who charged them in a federal civil rights case. Renee Tajima-Peña and Christine Choy's documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?", recounts the murder and its aftermath, the Detroit auto industry, the American justice system, and the Asian American community.
Extent
20 Linear Feet (12 archival boxes and 12 oversize objects) : 12 linear feet of audio recordings; magazines and journals; newspapers; paper documents; and videocassettes. The oversize objects consist of 13 film reels.
12 box (1: Transcripts of interviews 2: Transcripts of trials and documents related to court hearings 3: Clippings from newspapers, journals, and magazines 4: Research and production documents 5-11: Videocassettes 12: Audio recording tapes and related invoices)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged into 2 series: [1] Audio-visual materials and [2] Paper documents
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection consists of two separate donations, one directly from Renee Tajima-Peña and one from the film department at New York University, which includes the materials from Christina Choy.
General
This finding aid was created with grant support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Processing Information
The arrangement of paper documents into folders, as well as the order of video cassettes, were maintained as they were originally donated, reflecting the way in which the archive was maintained by Renee Tajima-Peña.
Uniform Title
- Title
- "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" collection
- Author
- Christine Shang-Oak Lee
- Date
- November 6, 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Museum of Chinese in America Repository