Talk Story

On February 16, 2019, nearly 100 people packed the I Street Conference Center in DC Chinatown for our monthly Talk Story event: we were honored to host a special guest, author and activist Helen Zia, as our speaker. Zia is in the midst of a national tour promoting her newest book, Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution. Her remarks and the excerpts she read exposed the inherited trauma of intergenerational memory in the Chinese diaspora, underscoring…

For the first Talk Story event of 2019, the 1882 Foundation hosted a discussion on community collaboration regarding the upcoming 150th anniversary of the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Featuring this event was Corky Lee, a New York-based photographer and activist whose work captures Asian American experience that is usually overlooked by the mainstream media. Corky Lee introducing his work Our Executive Director Ted Gong kicked off the event by reflecting on previous anniversaries and how they addressed Chinese laborers’ contribution to the railroad…

On December 17, 2018, the 1882 Foundation and an enthusiastic group of supporters gathered together at the Xfinity Store in Chinatown. It was a Monday night, at the end of a workday, yet the reception space at the back of the showroom pulsed with energy. While our events are normally held on Sunday's, the 2018 season finale of our Talk Story season was unique in that we wanted to commemorate the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which occurred with the passage of the Magnuson…

On Wednesday, December 14, 2018, the 1882 Foundation had the pleasure of hosting a delegation of professors from China’s Hunan Mass Media Vocational and Technical College at Xfinity Chinatown. The College, located in Changsha, has nurtured thousands of mass media production professionals for Hunan Broadcasting System, one of the most influential and innovative state media groups in China. The visitors were interested in American short documentary production and expressed an interest in viewing 1882 Foundation's award-winning film Through Chinatown’s Eyes: April 1968 produced by Penny…

This month’s Talk Story began with a screening of A Brief Flight, a documentary about Hazel Lee. Lee was a Chinese American pilot who flew for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during the Second World War. She had a passion for flying, and despite her parents’ opposition, became one of the first Chinese American women pilots of her time. After living in Canton from 1933-1937 and repeated unsuccessful bids to join the Chinese Air Force, Lee moved back to the U.S. After the attack…