Abstract In this interview, Larry Long describes growing up in Australia and how he began tap dancing. With a lot of natural talent he quickly got jobs to dance and was able to join a touring performance. However, his dance career was interrupted when he was drafted for the Australian army. After his term he then came to United States, got a job, returned to Australia to get a visa and then came back to the United States. After working some on the West Coast, Long then traveled to New York, performed...

Abstract In this brief interview, conducted just before MOCA hosted its PS 23 reunion event, MOCA talks to PS 23 alumnus Lung Pop Chin, who was born in China and immigrated to the United States in 1914 when he was 9 years old. Pop briefly recounts his detention on Angel Island, being allowed into the country and traveling across America to finally settle in New York City. He remembers experiencing discrimination, racism, and bigotry directed towards Chinese in Chinatown. He also recalls his...

Abstract In her interview, Mannar Wong describes the changes she has seen in Chinatown spanning the past forty years. Emigrating with her mother and father from Hong Kong in the early seventies, Wong was raised in Chinatown and moved to Brooklyn with her parents in the eighties when she was a pre-adolescent. In the nineties, she later returned to the neighborhood she now refers to as “Chinatown Little Italy.” Wongs parents initially disapproved of her decision to move back into Chinatown, a place...

Abstract Margaret Chin, Deputy Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), shares her experiences immigrating to the United States with her family in 1963 and growing up on Mulberry Street, and later Mott Street, both of which were inhabited by predominantly Chinese and Italian populations. Her memories of Chinatown reveal that it was a much smaller community then, which eventually expanded and became more vocal about Asian American rights. As a young adult, Chin became increasingly...

Abstract This oral history focuses on Mary Studzinski, the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) in York County, Pennsylvania. Mary discusses the history and role of PIRC in serving immigrants in detention, which began in response to the Golden Venture. The organization’s operations include educating immigrants about their legal options and guiding them through the asylum application process. She also discusses how circumstances have changed for immigrants under...

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...

Abstract Mr. and Mrs. Chan, founders and owners of the long established and renowned coffee shop and restaurant, Mei Lai Wah, in New York’s Chinatown, are both Taishan natives, who claim that New York, especially their restaurant, is home to them. Upon arrival, Mr. Chan was employed at a bakery, the culinary training from which he later applied to his own business, Mei Lai Wah. Mr. Chan explains that he runs his business like a family and has not changed anything since he first opened it in 1968. He...

Abstract In this interview, J.L. (Anonymous) and Ning-Yuan Li provide viewpoints on their different lives that led them to America. Li, fine art painter, describes his early education and sensibilities as an artist and recalls the Chinese Cultural Revolution impact on fine art in China. J.L., from Taiwan, relates his life story; the era of the "Anti-Japan War," his career as a soldier, and time spent in Paraguay running a small wrist-watch business. Joined by J.T. (Anonymous, also a narrator of her...

Abstract In this interview, Po Yee Ung discusses her external world. She recounts her professional life: a Hong Kong career in business, and a New York City career in journalism. Ung evaluates Eighth Avenue potential as a business and cultural center for Chinese immigrants in Brooklyn, and its deficiencies as a community resource. Ung recounts instances of petty neighborhood crime. She describes the neighborhood aesthetic and real estate conditions. She talks about her affinity for Spanish-speaking...

Abstract Sandra K. Lee, a Chinese American of Taishanese descent, is the CEO and chair of Harold L. Lee & Sons, Inc., Insurance Services. Born in New York City, she lived in Flushing until age seven before moving to Great Neck in Long Island. She attended the University of Rochester, majoring in liberal arts and education. Seeking to be more involved in the Asian American Movement, she moved to California in the early 1970s to join the Asian Studies Department at UC Berkeley, where she helped...