Boston Chinatown Banquet - Laundrymen

Laundries were among the first industries open to Chinese labor. Based within Chinatown proper and broader surrounding areas, laundrymen are underappreciated pioneers. Today, since few Chinese laundries exist in the area and none within Chinatown itself, this is an easily overlooked part of local history. The video reflects on the lives, conditions and contributions of these "heroes".

Storytellers: Neil China, Stephanie Fan, Paul Lee, Tunney Lee, Barbara Leong

Video footage: Fred Cheung, Victor Fong, David Hartman, Johnny Yong

Interviews: Mike Blockstein, Eun-Joung Lee

Images courtesy of: National Archives and Records Administration, Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files
Producer: Mike Blockstein

Editor: David Lawrence

A Chinatown Banquet is a series of short educational films about Boston Chinatown, sparking learning and dialogue across generations, disciplines and geography. The Banquet offers an unprecedented glimpse into the history, culture, and character of the neighborhood. This multimedia project highlights the Asian American experience and Chinese culture in Boston and was created as an educational tool by youth in the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC or AsianCDC) Young Leaders Network (YLN) which has grown to become A-VOYCE (Asian Voices of Organized Youth for Community Empowerment). These "courses," offering a rich view of the forces that shaped and continue to influence Chinatown, consist of audio and video interviews with community members and others who offer insight into specific issues, interspersed with contemporary and historic footage, images and information, music and ambient sounds. As a part of the Chinatown Heritage Project, the Banquet is a compendium of Chinatown's history, political struggles, culture and physical environment and living conditions.

http://www.chinatownbanquet.org/index2.html
http://www.asiancdc.org/heritage/home.html
http://www.asiancdc.org/

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Boston
• Chinatown
• Asian
• American
• Chinese
• Culture
• Education
• Community
• Development
• Corporation
• ACDC

[NODARRYL]

GREAT VIDEO

[jrjung]

Excellent! Congratulations on an outstanding minidocumentary...keep up the great work.

John Jung..(who grew up in a Chinese laundry)