Michael Liu — Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018
When:
Tuesday, Jun 08, 2021 6:00p -
7:30p
Tuesday, Jun 08, 2021 6:00p -
7:30p
Where:
Online event
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
History, Lectures & Conferences, Social Good, Virtual & Streaming
Event website:
https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/60886c5d51b41a3a00e7a1e1
Join the Boston Public Library for an online author talk with Michael Liu about Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018. This program, which will be moderated by Boston Public Library President David Leonard, is part of the BPL's Repairing America Series. People who are interested in attending are kindly asked to visit the following registration page: https://boston-public-library.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sbLmNNJyRbWjZv26VzCuyA.
About Forever Struggle
Chinatown has a long history in Boston. Though little documented, it represents the city’s most sustained neighborhood effort to survive during eras of hostility and urban transformation. It has been wounded and transformed, slowly ceding ground; at the same time, its residents and organizations have gained a more prominent voice over their community’s fate.
In writing about Boston Chinatown’s long history, Michael Liu, a lifelong activist and scholar of the community, charts its journey and efforts for survival—from its emergence during a time of immigration and deep xenophobia to the highway construction and urban renewal projects that threatened the neighborhood after World War II to its more recent efforts to keep commercial developers at bay. At the ground level, Liu depicts its people, organizations, internal battles, and varied and complex strategies against land-taking by outside institutions and public authorities. The documented courage, resilience, and ingenuity of this low-income immigrant neighborhood of color have earned it a place amongst our urban narratives. Chinatown has much to teach us about neighborhood agency, the power of organizing, and the prospects of such neighborhoods in rapidly growing and changing cities.
To order this book from one of the BPL's local independent community bookstore partners, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, please visit this link to their website: https://www.tridentbookscafe.com/event/bpl-event-forever-struggle-activism-identity-and-survival-bostons-chinatown-1880-2018. Use the code BPLSHIP for free media mail delivery!
Michael Liu is coauthor of The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism: Community, Vision, and Power and former senior research associate at the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Born in Chinatown to working-class parents, Liu returned to Boston after graduating from Swarthmore College in 1970, and helped create social justice groups such as the Asian American Resource Workshop, the Chinese Progressive Association, the Boston Rainbow Coalition, and the Asian American Political Agenda Coalition. Liu holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from UMass Boston.
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The Repairing America Initiative is the Boston Public Library's pledge to focus its 2021 programming and services on bridging the gaps that divide America. By prioritizing economic recovery, civic engagement, COVID-19 recovery, racial equity, workforce development, and youth engagement, the BPL is working to help Americans rise above the challenges they face.
