The American Archive of Public Broadcasting is featuring a new Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Special Collection.
“This selection of more than 200 archival public radio and television programs spans the years between 1965 and 2019, from stations and producers across the U.S.,” the organization wrote, noting that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
“In addition to news segments and interviews with notable AAPI artists, writers, politicians and leaders, you’ll find films such as Joyce Chen’s China, a documentary about the Chinese American cooking icon’s family visit, and the controversial 1989 WTTW documentary Vietnam: A Chicagoan Goes Home, which marked the first time that the government of Vietnam allowed a former South Vietnam soldier to visit after the war ended.”
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting is a collaboration of Boston public media producer GBH and the Library of Congress.
The new AAPI collection was curated in 2021 by Kate Mitchell, a graduate student at Rutgers University pursuing a Master of Information degree, concentrating in Archives and Preservation, as part of the Library of Congress Junior Fellows program.
It includes interviews with artists and writers such as Maya Lin, Aimee Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, Frank Chin, Elaine Chao and Evelyn Hu-Dehart.
“The collection also spotlights conversations around the representation of Asian Americans in the media and the kinds of discrimination they have faced as a result, for example, “The Asian Image”, “Minorities in the Media”, “The Problem with Apu” and Asian Americans in TV Sitcoms.”
