Learn how to use Ancestry’s software and databases to learn more about your family and their history. Hear from a genealogist and a professor about the importance of Japanese American history.
On December 14, 2024, Del Sol violinist Hyeyung Sol Yoon curates a program that explores the long history of Korean immigration to San Francisco, from those seeking refuge from Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century to more recent immigration taking place post-1965. The program will feature San Francisco-based Korean composer Jungyoon Wie’s “Han”, which incorporates traditional Korean lullaby and an elegy that represents the complexity of han, a feeling of collective unresolved anger, grief, and regret amongst the Korean people. The concert will also feature newly-created pieces inspired by the responses of Joy from Korean-American elders of the Korean Community Center of East Bay’s Jikimee Senior Leadership Program.
About this event
The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation will be hosting an online event with Bill Wong. We will discuss his work on the book SONS OF CHINATOWN: A MEMOIR ROOTED IN CHINA AND AMERICA and take questions from the audience. We hope to see you on October 16th!
About the Book
William Gee Wong’s father entered the U.S. legally as the “son of a native,” despite having partially false papers. Sons of Chinatown is Wong’s evocative dual memoir of his and his father’s parallel experiences in America.
About the Author
William is a print journalist, author, and amateur historian.
A native of Oakland, California's Chinatown, William received his B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley and M.S. at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His print journalism career was spent at The Wall Street Journal (1970-1979) and The Oakland Tribune (1979-1996). He also worked for The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco News Call Bulletin, and has written for the San Francisco Examiner, East West: the Chinese American Journal, and Asian Week, among other publications.
In the mid-1960s, William served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines.
From 1995-1996, he was a regional commentator for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.
William is the author of Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America (Temple University Press, 2001), Images of America: Oakland's Chinatown (Arcadia Publishing Co., 2004), and co-author of Images of America: Angel Island (Arcadia Publishing Co., 2007).
A Zoom link will appear after registering for our Author Spotlight. This link will allow you to access the program on October 16th. For questions, email programs@aiisf.org.
We are thrilled to welcome the Del Sol Quartet back to Angel Island on Saturday, September 14th!
This performance will amplify the Jewish experience on Angel Island, with musical selections that give a wide view of Jewish-American music. Del Sol will feature composer Derek David with his String Quartet no.4, “Kaddish” and David's performances of Yiddish folk songs, combined with short selections from from the Broadway standards of Jerome Kern to LJOVA to the chamber-music of Bay Area's own Gabriela Lena Frank.
There will be two performances: one at 11:30 am and one at 2:30 pm.
The performance is free, but $5 entry to the Detention Barracks Museum is required.
Stay tuned for information about Del Sol’s next performance on December 14.
Register below:
Mark your calendars! AIISF will be at Lincoln Summer Nights. Have fun at Lincoln Square Park on the 2nd Thursday of every month, May through October, 5-8pm. Lincoln Summer Nights is OUR chance to celebrate, connect, stay informed and get involved in our community.
Top: Ellis Island Immigration Station Hospital. Bottom: Angel Island Immigration Station Hospital.
Join us on Zoom on August 21 for the third event in our ongoing collaborative series with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. This time we'll be discussing health and medicine at the Ellis Island and Angel Island immigration stations.
What kind of medical examinations did immigrants undergo? What were the hospitals like? What health conditions did the Public Health Service screen for and treat?
This event is free but pre-registration is required.
Register here:
Family Day is a celebration of family, connection, and heritage at the Angel Island Immigration Station.
Attendees will receive a roundtrip ferry ride from either SF or Tiburon, optional shuttle service, museum entry, crafts, and performances all for $10 per person. The day will be filled with music, dance, history, storytelling, and -- of course -- FAMILY!
With $2.50 in her pocket, Rosa Ginsberg left her family behind in Shanghai, China, in 1940 for an uncertain future in the United States. The 18-year-old native of Vienna landed at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, site of a U.S. immigration station that processed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from 1910 through 1940. She left Angel Island for the mainland on the basis of a mostly true story.
On July 14, experience the Angel Island debut of Shanghai Angel, a one-woman musical written and performed by Heather Klein, Rosa’s granddaughter. The 45-minute piece chronicles Rosa’s journey from Nazi-occupied Austria to Angel Island. The songs are composed from Rosa’s perspective, revealing the internal world of a young refugee woman held in detention.
Heather Klein is a classically trained soprano and Yiddish chanteuse who performs musical theater, Yiddish classical song, theater and folk music.
Tickets for the performance are free but registration is required to reserve a seat in the Detention Barracks Museum. The show will begin at 2:00 pm.
Register Here
Mark your calendars! AIISF will be at Lincoln Summer Nights. Have fun at Lincoln Square Park on the 2nd Thursday of every month, May through October, 5-8pm. Lincoln Summer Nights is OUR chance to celebrate, connect, stay informed and get involved in our community.
Del Sol Quartet are back on Angel Island, this time performing a 35 minute meditation from Takuma Itoh’s American Postcards - Picture Brides. 10 dollars to reserve a seat and get entrance to the Detention Barracks Museum.
Mark your calendars! AIISF will be at Lincoln Summer Nights. Have fun at Lincoln Square Park on the 2nd Thursday of every month, May through October, 5-8pm. Lincoln Summer Nights is OUR chance to celebrate, connect, stay informed and get involved in our community.
Learn how to use Ancestry’s software and databases to learn more about your family and their history. Create a family tree and learn from a genealogist!
Come celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage with us! There will be performances and other activities showing the richness of the AAPI community.
Mark your calendars! AIISF will be at Lincoln Summer Nights. Have fun at Lincoln Square Park on the 2nd Thursday of every month, May through October, 5-8pm. Lincoln Summer Nights is OUR chance to celebrate, connect, stay informed and get involved in our community.
Join us at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center as we celebrate children’s day! Celebrate what it means to be a kid and do some fun activities with us.
Join us on Zoom on April 10 for the second event in our ongoing collaborative series with the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. This time we'll be discussing food and dining experiences at the Ellis Island and Angel Island immigration stations.
Del Sol Quartet are back on Angel Island, this time performing a 35 minute meditation from Huang Ruo’s A Dust in Time. Free with admission to the Detention Barracks Museum.
Are you the descendant of a Japanese American from Hawai’i who was detained on Angel Island during WWII?
We want to hear your story! How did WWII incarceration affect your family? How does it affect you today? What stories did you hear growing up? What questions do you have?
Join us at a storytelling workshop on Sunday, February 25 at Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii Ballroom at 2454 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96826.
The workshop will run from 10 am to 4 pm. Lunch is included.
Please feel free to contact us by email at info@aiisf.org if you have questions.
If you think your ancestor may have been sent to Angel Island but are not sure, we can check the records for you.
Come listen to a story about Angel Island at the Oakland Main Library.
AIISF is excited to present a joint performance from the Del Sol Quartet and the Last Hoisan Poets, on Saturday, December 2nd in the Detention Barracks Museum at the Immigration Station.
Looking Glass and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) have teamed up to bring you this day of exploring Angel Island and Touring the Immigration Station with AIISF Program Manager, Danielle Wetmore.
Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs presents a visual history of the social, political, and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians — as well as moments of Chinese agency and resilience — in the decades before and after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Thursday, June 29, 2023 • 3 pm (Pacific) / 6 pm (Eastern)
Join us for an online watch party of our four latest videos in our API Animated Histories series.
These four videos will highlight aspects of Asian American history; Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island history; communities coming together; and current day stereotypes. Following the four videos, there will be opportunity to engage in brief discussions and reflections with other participants.
Prior to the event, we will send an email containing a Zoom link.. This link will allow you to access the program on May 25th. For questions, email programs@aiisf.org.
Join us for two watch parties of our newly-created animated short videos about Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history. Celebrate APA Heritage Month by learning more about historic figures and events that are unfortunately not always covered in US history classes.
A comprehensive and spirited exploration of Asian American history—its movements, cultures, and key figures—beautifully illustrated and compellingly told for readers of all ages.
Co-authors Cathy Linh Che and Kyle Lucia Wu take us on a journey through stories of celebration and resistance: the Third World Liberation Front, the Muslim Ban, Japanese American incarceration camps, Padma Lakshmi, Rashida Tlaib, Sunisa Lee, and more. It is a history of struggle but also one of great triumph, brought to life with colorful and dynamic illustrations by Kavita Ramchandran.
Written by the directors of Kundiman—an organization dedicated to nurturing Asian American writers—An Asian American A to Z is a book for children of all backgrounds and a vital resource for tomorrow's organizers. Asian American identity formation is expansive yet under-taught, and this book is a necessary intervention that will ground readers in joy, history, and solidarity.
A Zoom link will appear after registering for our AUthor Spotlight. This link will allow you to access the program on May 10th. For questions, email programs@aiisf.org.
SATURDAY APRIL 22nd! Join us to hear stories related to finding a sense of place and belonging (or not) in a home.
