A research project called "Places of Their Own: Learning Chinese American Legacy Through Oral History" explores the survival and successes of Chinese Americans in 20th century Milwaukee.
Lead researcher, Dr. Hongyan Yang of Boston College, and a team of research students, conducted a series of interviews with Chinese American entrepreneurs and their descendants.
The interviews explored how they developed “places of their own” through their family restaurants, laundries and grocery stores.
The interview and transcribing process took nearly a year to complete. It’s being presented at theMilwaukee Jewish Federation Sunday August 20. The event is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council - Milwaukee, Milwaukee Turners at Turner Hall, AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin, and ElevAsian.
And the Wisconsin chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans, OCA, will host.
Lorna Young, an OCA board member, says the group is hosting this space because the goal is to uplift the stories about early Chinese Americans making a living in Milwaukee through their businesses.
She says it illustrates how Chinese Americans — as one of the many AAPI immigrant groups who have settled in Wisconsin — have developed places of their own for making a living in order to survive and thrive.
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