Abstract This oral history focuses on Joan Maruskin, one of the original founders and coordinators of People of the Golden Vision, a group in York, Pennsylvania that advocated for the rights of the Golden Venture refugees. Maruskin is also a staff member of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program. She discusses how she first heard of the Golden Venture detainees, the founding of the People of the Golden Vision and their work, how People of the Golden Vision expanded, and what she...

Abstract Joseph Wah Chu is a Chinese immigrant from Toishan County, Guangdong Province, China born in 1933. He grew up in Guangzhou and Hong Kong before eventually moving to the United States in 1965. In the United States, he worked in different cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City as a waiter and office worker. Joseph would eventually settle in New York City’s Chinatown, citing better job opportunities and existing friendships in NYC. In 1978, Joseph started working at the New...

Abstract Juliann Wang sits down with MOCA to discuss her experience as a Chinese artist during the COVID-19 pandemic. She talks about her experience participating in the online art show “Slaysian” as well as her hopes and goals for her art, before explaining how the pandemic has impacted her world and her view of art’s role in one’s daily life. She then goes on to discuss the impact of COVID on US-China relations and the rise of AAPI racism. She also elaborates on her personal journey from Anhui to...

Abstract In this interview, June Flodsand recounts her life as a working-class, first-generation American, a devout Lutheran of Norwegian parentage. She remembers an innocent childhood of family chores, a first job as a soda jerk, and weekly participation in church and its activities. As an adult, Flodsand married a fellow Lutheran and continued a life devoted to work, church, Norwegian-themed festivities, and socializing. Flodsand laments the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park transition from a...

Abstract Larry Goodman, today’s owner of his familys corporation Grand Machinery Exchange, Inc., recounts how his first generation Polish grandfather founded the company in 1927. Goodman’s father Jerry and uncle Isidore took control of the business in 1947, and Larry Goodman later succeeded his father in 1983. According to Goodman, Centre Street machinery dealers were predominantly Jewish and were often afraid of non-Jewish “outsiders.” These business men were concerned with gaining respect and...

Abstract Ken Hom’s parents immigrated from Southern China. His father served in World War II, and brought his mother to the States through the War Brides Act of 1945. His parents decided to start a life outside of California because of the hate attributed to being Chinese. Thus, Hom grew up in Tucson, Arizona. However, after eight months, his father passed away and his mother decided to move to Chicago to be closer to family and friends. Hom and his mother lived in Chicago’s Chinatown. At age eleven,...

Abstract Kimmie Lee Tie discusses her early life in China and how World War II impacted her family and interestingly her diet. She talks about the experiences she had cooking on her family’s small farm and how after the war she married a Chinese American sailor and moved to the United States. Living in the US, Kimmie and her husband bought a Cantonese restaurant in 1957 which they operated for twenty years. In this environment, she taught herself how to cook with a wok and developed her Chinese...

Abstract Oral History Archive 1994.007.006 Oral History Interview with Kwok-Wai Chan 1993/04/17 Projects People Subjects Find an Interview In this interview Kwok-Wai "David" Chan relates his experience as a Chinese immigrant to New York City. He describes his reasons for emigrating, the family arrival to Brooklyn, and hardships faced soon after. He discusses his education and the value his family places in higher education --something he calls a Chinese value. Chan details his career as...

Abstract Lana Cheung emigrated with her husband from Hong Kong to the United States in 1987. Shortly after her arrival to New York, she remembers being initially surprised by the differences between Chinatown and Hong Kong, particularly in the contrasting architecture and combined residential and commercial areas. Cheung considers Chinatown a safe harbor for Chinese immigrants, where they had a sense of security and could speak their native language. Cheung was employed by a Jewish import...