AIISF Newsletter / September 2024
A Message From AIISF’s Executive Director
What do Antigua, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela all have in common?
If you guessed that they are all countries, then you would be right. And if you guessed that they are among the home countries of immigrants who were processed or detained on Angel Island, then you would be double-right!
AIISF joins organizations and communities across the US in celebrating Hispanic and Latino/a/x Heritage Month! Here are two Spanish-language resources about Angel Island Immigration Stations’s history: a 2022 news story on Telemundo and a 2023 podcast hosted by Mariely Rivera Hernández, one of my cohort colleagues from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Fellows program.
I hope you’ll join us on Angel Island for our next Music and Migration concert in partnership with the Del Sol Quartet. Every time I have had the opportunity to hear this talented group play on Angel Island, I am awestruck by their musical technicality, their emotive performances, the vibrations of the music, and the history throughout my body, heart, and soul.
This month, AIISF is also looking forward to presenting sessions at the Asians and Pacific Islanders in Historical Preservation Conference in Seattle, WA, and the Western Museums Association Annual Meeting in Tucson, AZ.
Finally, the start of the academic year is the perfect time to brush up on Angel Island’s history. Check out the curriculum section of our website for several resources that teachers and parents can use to introduce or re-introduce their young ones to this important-to-remember history.
Con paz y amibilidad (With peace and kindness),
Edward Tepporn
AIISF Executive Director
Genny Lim is selected as SF’s Poet Laureate
We congratulate author, poet, and AIISF's 2024 Spirit of Angel Island honoree Genny Lim for becoming San Francisco's first Chinese American poet laureate!
Lim co-authored the acclaimed book "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940," the first collection of Angel Island poetry, published in 1991.
"I see myself as a direct descendant of the first Chinese poets in America,” Lim said, referring to the Angel Island detainees. Her mother, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1935, was detained at Angel Island with Lim’s eldest sister, who was five at the time.
Upcoming Events
Lincoln Summer Nights
Thursday, September 12 | 5:00 pm
Lincoln Square Park, Oakland
Come out to Lincoln Summer Nights, September 12th for more fun and community building in Oakland's Chinatown! We’ll be doing a variety of activities related to the islands history and the stories of the people who came through the immigration station. There will be performances and a wide variety of other community organizations coming as well so don’t miss out!
Del Sol Quartet on Angel Island
Saturday, September 14 | 11:30 am and 2:00 pm | Detention Barracks Museum on Angel Island | Click here to register
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, featuring three pieces by Jewish composers: Derek David’s String Quartet no.4, “Kaddish”; Osvaldo Golijobv’s “Omaramor”; and Lev Zhurbin/Ljova’s “Meditation on Kol Nidrei.”
There will be two performances: one at 11:30 am and one at 2:30 pm.
The performance is free with $5 admission to the Detention Barracks Museum.
Sons of Chinatown Book Talk with Author William Gee Wong
Wednesday, October 16 | 6 pm PST Online | Click here to register
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!
New Virtual Exhibit in October
On October 1, 2024, CyArk, in collaboration with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) and Angel Island State Park, is introducing a new virtual Tapestry experience. This project focuses on the stories of Japanese Americans confined on Angel Island during World War II. Using 3D documentation of the historic Immigration Station and WWII-era mess hall, this virtual experience offers a way to explore and understand this important chapter of US history.
CyArk previously created a 3D tour of the site's historic detention barracks, available to view here. This new 3D experience is based on the exhibit, Taken From Their Families Virtual Exhibition, and was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.
COMING SOON! A Cage Built of Jade at AIIM
AIISF's newest traveling exhibit, A Cage Built of Jade: Detention and Determination at the Angel Island Immigration Station, debuts at the Angel Island Immigration Museum on October 10!
The exhibit faithfully recreates one of the rooms inside the detention barracks and provides a glimpse into Angel Island's history and poetry. We are giving Immigration Station visitors an opportunity to view the traveling exhibit before it tours museums and libraries across the country beginning next year.
If your organization is interested in hosting A Cage Built of Jade, we are now accepting requests on our website. Read more about the exhibit at www.aiisf.org/builtofjade.
The Vault: Poetry Insider
AIISF's latest Vault post explores the surprising connections and unique characteristics of 13 Chinese poems in the detention barracks.
Learn which poem is the earliest-dated poem in the building, which inscription contains a hidden message, which two poems were carved twice, and how researchers were able to recover the translations for several inscriptions decades after they were carved into the barracks walls.
Community and Partner Events
African Arts Festival
Saturday, September 7 | 11:00 am
Yerba Buena Gardens (more info)
Co-presented by Duniya Dance and Drum Company and the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, it’s a family-friendly celebration of live music and dance featuring Bay Area ensembles representing different regions of Africa and the African diaspora, including a sneak peek at “Raices et Résistance,” a collaboration between Duniya and the Afro-Cuban Arenas Dance Company, and a performance by the Guinean funk combo Bongo and the TonTons.
Ten Times Better
Saturday, September 29 | 1:00 pm
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Get ready for an unforgettable event as the Oakland Ballet’s Dancing Moons Festival presents an award-winning performance that celebrates the rich heritage of Asian American Pacific Islander creatives in the Bay Area!
You’ll also see danced highlights from the Angel Island Project performed live by the talented artists of the Oakland Ballet Company.
Reimagining Schools: Serving Newcomers, Building Belonging, and Activating Community Webinar
Wed., September 18 | 11:00 am PST
Online (register here)
Re-Imagining Migration will present a new vision for education beyond K-12, where schools serve as community hubs welcoming families and providing essential support.
Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage
Saturday, October 5 | 11:30 am
Angel Island Immigration Station
The Nichi Bei Foundation has led more than 2,000 people on five Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimages, reconnecting the community to our forgotten legacy at the former Immigration Station, where up to 85,000 persons of Japanese descent were detained between 1910 and 1940.
Held in partnership with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the National Japanese American Historical Society, the pilgrimage also honors those who rediscovered the forgotten Immigration Station barracks in the 1970s, and those who took up the preservation efforts shortly thereafter.