Asian American Women: From the Cold War to the Movement of the 60s

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Mary Uyematsu Kao will present her black-and-white photographs from the Asian American Movement of the 1970s and talk about the Asian American Baby Boomer Generation of activist women. From the Cold War politics promoting Asian women to be docile, submissive, and exotic, as well as model minorities–to breaking those stereotypes by joining the Asian American Movement–Kao will recount some of the first-hand experiences of Sansei women from her oral history research and her own experience. Never before publically seen photographs from New York Chinatown’s struggle for the hiring of Asian American construction workers at Confucius Plaza, and the struggle for Asian American Studies at the City College of New York will be a special highlight.

Author Bio

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Mary Uyematsu Kao is the Publications Coordinator for the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press since 1987. She received her M.A. in Asian American Studies at UCLA in 2007, with her thesis titled “Three Step Boogie: Japanese American Women in the 1970s Asian American Movement in Los Angeles.” She was the graphic designer for Asian American: The Movement and the Moment and Passing It On: A Memoir by Yuri Kochiyama, among many other UCLA AASCPress titles. Living in New York City from 1974-76, she got involved with the Asian Women’s Group at the Asian Center, and the Confucius Plaza struggle.