Over the course of five months, from November 1968 to March 1969, protesters from the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front chanted, “On strike, shut it down!†The protesters wanted to expose the autocracy and issues of racism found on the university campus. They also wanted a more inclusive environment for people […]
SFSU reaches joint agreement with hunger strikers May 11
San Francisco State University President Leslie Wong and student hunger strikers signed a joint letter May 11 regarding funding for the College of Ethnic Studies, the university said in a statement. The letter also states that “all parties have agreed to honor a silent period through the end of the year.†The university said the […]
Brenda Wong Aoki to present true ‘Forbidden Love’ story in San Francisco
Storyteller and writer Brenda Wong Aoki will perform “Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend: A True Story of Forbidden Love†with Emmy Award-winning composer Mark Izu and koto artist Shoko Hikage as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival starting Thursday, May 19 at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco. “In my […]
Don Nakanishi, pioneer in Asian American studies, dies at 66
Don Nakanishi, a UCLA scholar who gained national recognition for establishing Asian American studies as a viable and relevant field of scholarship, teaching, community service and public discourse, died March 21Â in Los Angeles at the age of 66. A faculty member at UCLA for 35 years, he served as the director of the Asian American […]
Asian American Movement study showcases U.S. cultural radicalism’s robust tradition
CHAINS OF BABYLON: The Rise of Asian America By Daryl J. Maeda (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009, 224 pp., $20, paperback) At California State University, Fullerton, I taught history, Asian American studies and American studies courses. My favorite was an American studies offering developed in the mid-1970s: “American Cultural Radicalism.†If now teaching it, […]
CSU Sacramento remembers founding ethnic studies faculty Wayne Maeda
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Wayne Maeda, a pioneer in the field of Asian American studies, was remembered at California State University, Sacramento on May 3 by more than 100 people his work has touched from all across California. Maeda, a founding faculty member of the CSUS Ethnic Studies Department, touched the lives of many and left […]
Nichi Bei Foundation founding board member, who helped to establish CSUS Ethnic Studies, dies
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Wayne Hisashi Maeda, a founding faculty member of the California State University, Sacramento Ethnic Studies Department and founding board member of the Nichi Bei Foundation, passed away peacefully at his home in Sacramento on Feb. 27, 2013 after a bout with cancer. He was 65. Just three days later, on March 2, […]
Hirabayashi, dean of first ethnic studies school, dies
James Akira Hirabayashi, an emeritus professor of anthropology and ethnic and Asian American studies at San Francisco State University — where he served as the first dean of the first ethnic studies program in the country — passed away peacefully in San Francisco on May 23, 2012. He was 85. “Jim’s passing was going to […]
COMMENTARY: Jim Hirabayashi, academic, actor, brother
Jim was active in the student strike at San Francisco State University. He was instrumental in establishing the Ethnic Studies dept. and the Asian American Studies dept. at SFSU, precursors of similar departments at other universities throughout the country. After the student strike, he with the late George Araki and the late Clifford Uyeda started […]