by Betty Lau My earliest memories are of living in an old brick and wood building on the northeast corner of 5th Ave. S and S. Washington streets between the second (2nd Avenue) and third (King Street) Chinatowns. Chinese dock and cannery workers had lived on the waterfront, the original… [ Keep reading ]
by Dr. Marie Rose Wong Chinese American History in Context On 8 May 1882, the 47th United States Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Law in what would be the first significant piece of federal immigration legislation and the only such law that was based solely on race. During its enforcement, the law had seen several revisions and additions with each one being more restrictive in determining which Chinese immigrants would be allowed… [ Keep reading ]
Pieces of Promenade by Leija Farr I’ll give my children the dreams, the streaks of maroon. The glimpses of red apples. The recollections of light, even if broken. Gaped. Hyphenated. They will only imagine the sand colored brick, the incessant shimmer of the store sign. Only now their mother will… [ Keep reading ]
The Power of Authentic Filipino-American Representation Words and paintings by Cleo Pineda As a naturalized citizen of the United States, people often ask me about my experience moving to a different country. Tumultuous. Being raised in a Filipino household where I ate dishes like Sinigang and spoke in Kapampangan and then… [ Keep reading ]
My Grandmother’s Hand by Elana Lim In 2008, two grand openings led me to this story. First, the forty-year-old Wing Luke Asian Museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian and the only Pan-Asian American museum in the nation, reopened in its newly remodeled home in the East Kong Yick building in Seattle’s Chinatown, a four-story… [ Keep reading ]
The Barbershop Talk by Aeon Corvidae (AY-on KOR-vi-day) Pioneer Square, a place where the buildings are frozen in time. The morning air feels and smells of the salty Puget Sound, where you can hear the Western Gulls cry along with the horns of the passenger ferries. This is the neighborhood… [ Keep reading ]
Take a Knee Words and video by Kibibi Monié I was born at Providence Hospital at 8:09pm on October 8, 1948. The Yesler Terrace housing projects is where I got most of my formal training as a performing artist and writer. I have always been a guardian of the underdog in my community. Teaching my neighborhood… [ Keep reading ]
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is looking to commission writers, artists, photographers, or other creatives to participate in a new storytelling project called Seattle Histories. This series focuses on the people and places that have shaped Seattle’s past and led us to the present. In partnership with the Historic Preservation Program, we are highlighting communities and stories… [ Keep reading ]
