Her phone buzzed. It was Sam, her co-curator. “Found a 1974 copy of ‘All I Asking for Is My Body’ by Milton Murayama. But it’s locked behind a university paywall. $45 for a PDF.”
At first, it was just for her. A private Dropbox folder: Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart (1936), John Okada’s No-No Boy (1957), Hisaye Yamamoto’s Seventeen Syllables (1949). Then she added newer voices: a PDF of Cathy Park Hong’s essay “The End of White Innocence,” a link to a recorded lecture by Viet Thanh Nguyen. read asian americans and asians in america online free
Fortunately, the digital age has made these histories and contemporary voices more accessible than ever. If you are looking to deepen your understanding, 1. Digital Public Libraries and Open Archives Her phone buzzed
“I just found my mother’s name in a 1987 newsletter of the Asian American Women’s Collective. She never told me she was an activist. Thank you for making this real. I am crying. She is gone, but now she is here.” But it’s locked behind a university paywall
She froze. Not because she didn’t know any. But because the ones she’d found were either $120 textbooks or out of print for thirty years. The public library had one copy of The Gangster We Are All Looking For —and it was missing.
: This independent, non-commercial, award-winning television and online media network based in Southern California often features content on Asian American stories and experiences, especially in the context of California and the broader Western United States.