Asian American History 101

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 42!  Our guest this episode is Alina Chau , an award-winning author, illustrator, animator, filmmaker, and educator whose work combines cinematic storytelling with delicate, expressive watercolor art. Born in Xiamen, China, and raised from infancy in Hong Kong, Chau grew up in a Chinese-Indonesian family during the British colonial era.   She studied digital graphic co...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 41!  Our guest today is E. L. Shen , an acclaimed author and children's-book editor. Her novels have been recognized by the New York Public Library, the American Library Association, the Junior Library Guild, and Bank Street College of Education. Elizabeth "E. L." Shen is a Chinese American writer and children's-book editor whose fiction spans middle-grade, young-adult...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 40!  In this episode, we begin a multi-part series on Asian Pacific Vaudeville Performers. Vaudeville was a fascinating outlet for people who wanted to be entertained back in the early 1900s. Historians have called it America's first mass entertainment industry because almost everyone, regardless of age or social class, had some connection to it. At its height during t...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 39!  Our guest today is acclaimed author Autumn Krause . Her books blend fantasy, gothic storytelling, folklore, romance, and history… often with characters trying to find their place in their world while encountering forces much bigger than themselves. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Autumn has described herself as a gothic romantic at heart. She's our first guest who...

  Welcome to Season 6, Episode 38!  In this episode, we're looking at a diaspora that most people probably don't associate with Asia at all: the Romani people, or Roma. Previously known as "Gypsies" this is a term that's become degrading for some, and it's not the identity term that most Roma people choose. The ancestors of today's Romani people actually came from South Asia. From there, their des...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 37!  Our guest today is Cassandra Lam, the Founder of Mama Lam's , the first American business to produce, package, and distribute a Malaysian curry paste. Raised in New York City, Cassandra launched the company to create a taste of their homeland in their new home in America. We were inspired to learn about how their self-funded, self-produced venture could take the v...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 36!  Our guest today is children's book author, Jasmine Fang who's here to talk about her debut picture book Beneath the Same Round Moon , published by Beaming Books and released on September 1st. Jasmine writes stories rooted in heart and wonder. Beneath the Same Round Moon is a touching story that focuses on a family celebrating the autumn moon festival, AKA the Moon...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 35!  Our guest today is the critically acclaimed UK #1 Sunday Times bestselling writer June CL Tan , author of the Darker By Four Duology , including her latest novel Brighter Than Nine.   A Singaporean who now resides in New York City, June obtained degrees in communications, education, and film before she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a published author....

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 34!  This might be the world's easiest trivia question, but what multibillion dollar sport began as a fun pastime in Hawaii? If you guessed surfing, you'd be right, and that's our main story this episode.   Long before surf shops, professional competitions, or the Beach Boys songs Surfin' USA and Surfer Girl, people across Polynesia had been riding waves for generation...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 33!  Our guest this episode is the award-winning broadcast journalist Carol Lin. Her career has placed her at the center of some of the most consequential moments in modern American history. Other than being a broadcast journalist Carol is also an author and educator, and her work has spanned more than two decades at the local, regional, and national levels of TV News....

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 32! It's food time again! In this episode, we're talking about a dish that may not be as widely known… Yakamein. It's one of those dishes that feels inseparable from New Orleans, but it does show up throughout the U.S. South as well as the Eastern seaboard. In New Orleans, where it may be best known, it shows up at second line parades, food festivals, neighborhood corn...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 31!  Today's guest came from an artistic family, but also was literally discovered on the streets of Tokyo which gave a huge boost to his career. Actor, writer, and producer Gabriel Prevost-Takahashi was born in Tokyo, spent time in Canada while growing up, and has worked on stage and screen for film and television.   Gabriel has appeared in projects ranging from the s...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 30!  We're here to share the history of Filipino Hip Hop… Part 2. In this episode we're talking about the music from the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, a time that's often called "The Modern Age" of Filipino Hip Hop.   Waaaaaayyyyy back in  Season 3, Episode 45 we talked about the beginning of Filipino Hip Hop, AKA "The Golden Age". The Golden Age had some moments of so...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 29!  We have an incredible returning guest who's back with us for the third time! Karen Yin is the author of several books including The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers (published by Little, Brown Spark). She has also written several stories for children, including Whole Whale (published by Barefoot Books), S...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 28!  Sometimes our topical episodes are focused on the obscure history of Asian Pacific Islanders. Sometimes our topical episodes are focused on the weird history of Asian Pacific Islanders. For this episode, it's Asian Pacific history that is both obscure and weird. When it comes to the magicians Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo, this is a history that might be the f...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 27!  Our guest this episode is Miles Toriko Burks . He's a California-based cartoonist, writer, and illustrator whose work focuses on heartfelt stories about identity, friendship, queer joy, and emotional vulnerability. His debut print graphic novel Encore! was released June 2, 2026 through HarperAlley. It's the print adaptation of his very popular Webtoon series of th...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 26!  Our guests today are Jolene Gutierrez and Chris Sasaki … two of the creators of the picture book Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp , Published by Abrams. It's an incredibly moving story cowritten by Minoru (Min) Tonai, an advocate for Japanese American rights. Unbreakable is a great balance of historical information, lived e...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 25! Our guests today are Livia Blackburne and Julia Kuo , the author and illustrator of Bing's Cherries … A modern American tall tale woven by a girl and her father about Ah Bing, the Chinese immigrant behind the Pacific Northwest's most delicious cherries. The book was released on March 10, 2026. Julia Kuo is the author and illustrator of several books including Home...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 24!  Our guest today is Lian Cheun, the Executive Director of the impactful group Khmer Girls in Action . A 1.5 generation refugee from Cambodia, Lian grew up in the Bay Area and has spent more than two decades organizing Cambodian and Southeast Asian youth in Long Beach. Lian along with Khmer Girls in Action turn grassroots activism into real policy change, where yout...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 23!  Our guest today is Eve J. Chung , a Taiwanese American lawyer and women's human rights specialist. She has worked on a range of issues, including torture, sexual violence, contemporary forms of slavery, and discriminatory legislation, and she's also a best-selling author! Eve's latest novel is The Young Will Remember , a work of historical fiction set during the K...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 22!  Professor Ming Hsu Chen is the Harry & Lillian Hastings Research Chair and Faculty-Director of the Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality Program , University of California Law, San Francisco. Chen teaches courses in constitutional law, citizenship, immigration, and race. She brings a socio-legal perspective to the study of race, immigration, and the adminis...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 21!  Erin Entrada Kelly is a multiple award-winning Filipino American author best known for her emotionally honest and deeply relatable novels for middle grade and young adult readers. Born in Louisiana to a Filipino mother, Kelly often draws from her own experiences growing up between cultures. She uses humor, vulnerability, and empathy to explore what it means to sea...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 20!  With Christina Baal Owens is a nationally recognized advocate and nonprofit leader dedicated to advancing racial and gender justice in the United States. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum , where she leads efforts to uplift the voices and rights of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 19!  Our guest today is Sruthi Chandrasekaran. She serves as The Asian American Foundation's Director of Data and Research. She leads strategy development and implementation for the Data and Research team and targeted studies that identify and address the needs of the AAPI community.   The Asian American Foundation, or TAAF , is the leading organization advancing safet...

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 18!  Our guest today is the award-winning author and essayist Minh Lê . Whether writing picture books, middle grade graphic novels, or essays, his work often blends an engaging story with deeper lessons.   His latest picture book is Miles Ahead , the story of an adorable dog who helps his family welcome a new baby cousin. A lighthearted search ensues after their gift g...