New Book on Angel Island

Message from journalist and author William Wong:

Friends

Images of America: Angel Island, an Arcadia Publishing Co. photo history book I co-authored with Branwell Fanning, is now available and there are several events coming up at which I will be appearing (two with my co-author) and to which you are most welcome to come!

I authored Chapter 4 on the immigration station. Chapter 4 runs 40 pages and has 78 wonderful historic photos that tell the story of “the Ellis Island of the West,” from 1910 to 1940, and the heroic campaign by many Asian American and other activists to save and restore the station as an American historic landmark. My co-author Branwell Fanning, a former mayor of Tiburon, did a wonderful job in collecting historic photos that tell the overall history of the beautiful island in San Francisco Bay. In all, there are about 200 photos and other images in the 128-page paperback book.

There are lessons to be learned from the Angel Island immigration experience — enforcing the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act — that are relevant to today’s hot immigration debate.

Here are the upcoming events:

SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2007, 4 P.M.
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925 (Marin County)
(415) 927-0960
(800) 999-7909
www.bookpassage.com
Bran and I will be showing a selection of slides from our book and, of course, signing copies.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007, 7 p.m.
Chinese Historical Society of California
965 Clay Street
San Francisco CA 94108
(415) 391-1188
www.chsa.org
I will be showing a PowerPoint slide-show of selected images from Chapter 4 and someone from the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation will be providing an update on the restoration project. This event is being co-sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), www.aiisf.org. Books will be on sale and I, of course, will sign copies.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2007, 6 p.m.
Asian Resource Gallery
310 8th Street
Oakland CA 94607
The Asian Resource Gallery, curated by Greg Morizumi, will be showing a selection of photos from Chapter 4 of Images of America: Angel Island as well as some from my earlier Arcadia photo-history book, Images of America: Oakland’s Chinatown. The theme of this exhibit is “Alien Rites: From Angel Island to Oakland’s Chinatown.” This is the reception for the exhibit and will also feature a reading by well-known performance artist Genny Lim.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
San Francisco Public Library, Chinatown Branch
1135 Powell Street
San Francisco CA 94108
(415) 355-2888
My co-author and I will be showing slides from our book and answering questions. Books will also be on sale with us signing them.

[Angel Island, in the heart of San Francisco Bay, was used as a holding/detention center to screen immigrants by immigration authorities between 1910 and 1940–during the Chinese Excusion era. In fact both my parents were detained at Angel Island, and survived grueling questioning and examination. Many others did not. Many of those being inspected were held for months and even years. bh]