Public History

Memory and Movement: Documenting Over 30 Years of Asian American Community Organizing in New York City

This public history project documents over thirty years of Asian American movement-building in collaboration with the grassroots organization CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. Since its founding as the Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence in 1986, CAAAV has organized low-income Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City for workers’ rights, police accountability, access to social services, and affordable housing. The project includes an intergenerational oral history project, the digitization of the organization’s archival materials, and a timeline of the organization’s history that was exhibited at CAAAV’s 30th anniversary gala and the “Housing for the People” event in collaboration with the Chinatown Art Brigade.

A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project

Recognizing the critical need for documenting the COVID-19 pandemic and the myriad of ways it has and will impact Asian/Pacific American communities in New York City and nationally, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, in collaboration with Tomie Arai, Lena Sze, Vivian Truong, and Diane Wong, launched the A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project in Spring 2020. The project conducts recorded virtual interviews, and collects digital artifacts documenting the experiences of A/PA individuals and communities during the pandemic.

Selected Media Interviews

Amber X. Chen and Lucy Tobier, “The ‘Save Chinatown’ Coalition Goes on the Defensive in Philadelphia,” The Nation, December 12, 2024.

Hongdeng Gao, “Anti-Asian Violence and Acts of Community Care from the 1980s to the Present: An Interview with Vivian Truong,” Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History, February 1, 2022.

JR Thorpe, “5 AAPI Women Who Made A Major Impact On History,” Bustle, May 26, 2021.

Holly Honderich, “Atlanta Spa Shootings: How We Talk About Violence,” BBC News, March 19, 2021.

Shaena Montanari, “How to Catalog Pandemic History,” Slate, March 16, 2021.

Carolyn Copeland, “Building Stronger Advocacy for Black Lives Matter within Asian American Communities,” Prism, May 6, 2020.