Abstract Husband and wife Daniel Carter and Marilyn Sontag moved together to Chinatown in 1970, where they continue to live and work today—Carter as a musician and writer and Sontag as an abstract artist and part-time gallery coordinator. In their interview, they describe their meeting in Italy and their decision to subsequently relocate to New York City. The couple illustrates Chinatowns community of artists present during the 70s and 80s, and describes the ways in which that atmosphere has changed....

Abstract During the interview, David Chen discusses his experience as a Chinese American activist and director of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), and his theory of activism. When Chen was younger, he rarely spoke. He would always wait for someone else to say the right thing, to which he would then agree. One time, as a younger student, he was forced to present a project because two of his partners did not show up. One of his classmates expressed how well-spoken he was and at that moment,...

Abstract In this interview, Fai Ling "Alice" Lee discusses the development of the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn; from a sleepy, dilapidated, majority-Norwegian area in the 1970s to a thriving Chinese diaspora in the 1980s and 1990s. She describes the economic and working conditions faced by her father, who worked in a Times Square Chinese restaurant, and her mother, a seamstress in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan. The interview focuses on real estate investing in Sunset Park; home...

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...

Abstract Jack Tchen along with Charlie Lai are founders of the Chinatown History Project, which has gone on to become the Museum of Chinese in America. In this multiple part interview Tchen discusses growing up in Wisconsin and his family’s ties to China. He then recounts his time at Madison college and how he got more involved in activism and Asian American studies. Next he discusses his time working at Basement workshop, how he met Charlie and working on exhibitions. He left Basement workshop with...

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...

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...

Abstract Jenny Ye was born in Manhattan in 1991, and has been a resident of Chinatown her whole life. She actively volunteers and coordinates for community-oriented organizations such as Chinatown Youth Initiatives, Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV), Chinatown Literacy Project, and Asian Pacific American Youth Alliance (APAYA). Ye first became aware of gentrification at a Chinatown Tenant Union meeting. She visualizes Chinatown as having aged low-rise buildings, fire escapes, no...

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...