Marie Wenya Burns

In 1870, “Chinese” was the first time an Asian category for race was included in the U.S decennial census. By 1890, “Japanese” was the second. It was not until the 1910 census that other Asian categories were identified as “Filipino,” “Hindu” (used incorrectly for Indian Americans), and “Korean.” That year, 160 Filipinos lived in the […]

      Nestled in the Park County Local History Digital Archive, an electronic collection of visual and oral documentation from Park County, Colorado, lives a photograph titled “Woman of Asian descent sitting with bound feet.” Inscribed on the lower right corner, is an address: 619 Kearny St, San Francisco. And next to it, on […]

I remember the crack of a gunshot in the 2018 debut of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s two-part An American Soldier. I remember the operatic death, the performance of it, the abruptness of it, the sonorous belting, the tall wooden structure on stage right, and the tenor on top of it, playing Danny Chen, […]