May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) — a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. It is celebrated in May to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, as the majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.
Celebrate APAHM by tuning into one of these free, virtual events, open to the whole UC community!
UC virtual events
Please note that all listings reflect Pacific Time. Select each link to register.
Movie screening and discussion: “July 4, 2020”
UCLA | May 2, 7 – 8 p.m.
In July 2020, at the peak of the pandemic in the city of Los Angeles, misunderstandings and conflicts between a Chinese immigrant father, a white restaurant owner, and a young Black man escalate into a tumultuous climax. We’ll watch the 20-minute film together as a community, followed by a live Q&A with the director and producers.
AAPI Heritage Month: Film Screening “Not Your Model Minority” and Discussion with Filmmaker Jon Osaki
UCSF | May 3, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
This documentary film reveals how the model minority myth has historically been used to create a wedge between AAPI and other communities of color and perpetuate divisive narratives. The discussion with San Francisco-based filmmaker Jon Osaki is an opportunity for in-person and online audiences to deepen their understanding of the model minority myth, how it is detrimental in creating partnerships amongst minority groups and how to build power and progress toward addressing systemic racism in the U.S.
Climate Displacement in the Shadow of War: Feminist Refugee Perspectives featuring Heidi-Amin-Hong, UC Santa Barbara
UC Berkeley | May 4, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
This lecture series explores the relationship between human mobility and climate change and disaster from the early modern period to our own time. We will chart how people have grappled with the need to move out of harm’s way while examining mobilities that climate change and disaster have provoked and the economic, social and cultural developments they have sparked.
Images and Knowledge of the Stars Along the Silk Road Between the 5th and the 15th Centuries
UC Berkeley | May 5, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Learn about material objects that document the spread of astral images throughout the Silk Road, including how they were appropriated, transformed and repossessed by different cultures and social groups along the way.
Munchin’ with Chef Julia
UCLA | May 9, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
Chef Julia Rhoton, culinary arts coordinator for the UCLA Teaching Kitchen, will share simple, healthy and sustainable cooking tips on making Spam fried rice with veggies and pineapple; Fijian fish curry served with Jasmine rice; and Samoan chicken with coconut rice. Be prepared to learn easy and practical tips to one-up your skill in the kitchen.
Discussion with Zhuqing Li and Perry Link on Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War
UC Riverside | May 15, 1 – 3 p.m.
Perry Link will host an interview and Q&A with Zhuqing Li, the author of “Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War.” Li’s book follows the extraordinary lives of her two maternal aunts, women whose experiences traced China’s journey through war and upheaval across three-quarters of the last century. As stated in the New York Times, “‘Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden’ is not a history of Taiwan-China relations, but in telling this gripping narrative of one family divided by the ‘bamboo curtain,’ Li sheds light on how Taiwan came to be — and why China might one day risk everything to take it.”
AAPI Mental Health Resilience Panel Discussion
UCSF | May 16, 10 – 11 a.m.
UCSF staff members Diane Ngo and Hoa Su will talk about their mental wellness journeys and the importance of centering access to health care and digital equity for the AAPI community. We will also be joined by Dr. Thao Tran, psychiatrist and Medical Director of Chinatown/North Beach Mental Services, a San Francisco Department of Public Health community clinic which provides specialty mental health care to primarily non-English speaking Asian immigrants and refugees. The session will end with resources and a Q&A.
Mental Health in the Community 101
UCLA | May 16, 12 – 1 p.m.
Interested in starting therapy but not sure how? Learn about your options through the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander lens, including how to begin your mental health journey and how to maximize your access to mental health resources.
Bancroft Roundtable: The Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project at the Oral History Center
UC Berkeley | May 18, 12 p.m.
For the Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project, the Oral History Center recorded nearly 100 hours of interviews with 23 descendants of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. The project examines intergenerational trauma stemming from incarceration at Manzanar, in California, and Topaz, in Utah; the impact of various types of healing; and how narratives change across generations.
California Dean-ing
UCLA | May 23, 1 – 2 p.m.
Join us as we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with producer, writer and director Dean Devlin. We’ll discuss the cultural production of AANHPI in Hollywood, the impact and implications of AANHPI media representation and his experience as an AANHPI trailblazer in Hollywood.
To add additional UC events, email ucnetwork@universityofcalifornia.edu.