BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES
The following compilation of Asian Pacific American heroes, pioneers, trailblazers, pathfinders and role models is only a mere sampling of the many Asian American men and women who have made an impact in this country. The little information provided about them does not do justice to the their lives and legacies. Instead, this listing is meant only to open the window to the rich historical tapestry of Asian America.

WAH CHANG - Sculptor/Artist
Wah Chang is an award-winning sculptor with an impressive list of one-person shows of his work by the time he finished high school. His art led him through periods of work for many major film studios in Hollywood in the 1940's, starting with the Walt Disney Studios. He worked in the model department during the production of "Fantasia", "Pinochio", "Snow White" and "Bambi". During the war years, he was at work on training films for the Army and Navy. In the 1950's, he established his own Special Effects Studio, "Projects Unlimited", to do the impossible for sequences in "The Seven Faces Of Dr. Lao", "The Time Machine", "The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm", "The King And I", "Cancan", and many others. He also designed many of the futuristic props for the original Star Trek series. Wah Chang produced his own educational films on Natural Resources and Wildlife. From these he was drawn into his present work of bronze sculpture devoted to Wildlife. The diversity of his sculptures reflect the range of his long and active art career.

Source: http://www.fineartco.com/Resumes/chang.htm

SUSAN AHN CUDDY - Naval Officer
Susan Ahn Cuddy would be considered a pioneer even today. While attending San Diego State College, she went with some friends to enlist in the Navy but was not allowed to join because she was "Oriental." She wasn't about to take "no" for an answer and kept trying, finally being accepted in 1942. With her determination and hard work, she rose through the ranks to become the first female gunnery officer in the Navy's history in 1944. She went on to serve the United States in the Office of Naval Intelligence and then joined the National Security Agency (NSA) in 1947. She was also awarded a fellowship in 1947 and studied East Asian Studies at the University of Southern California. Then in 1959 she resigned from the NSA and resettled in Los Angeles.

Mrs. Cuddy was born in 1915 in Los Angeles, California to Dosan and Helen Ahn. Her father, Ahn Chang Ho, was a legendary Korean freedom fighter. Mrs. Cuddy saw her father only five years of her life but has lived by his words, "Be a good American. Do your best in all endeavors and don't forget your heritage." She says, "I believe we can be both Korean and American. The best comes from combining the best of both cultures." She considers her greatest successes as "being a good mother, and communicating with all races of people."

Source: (c) 2001, Kim L. Rodgers

LE LIEU BROWNE - Writer and Activist for Refugees
Vietnamese-born Le Lieu Browne began an enduring and fruitful association with the United States while writing, editing and translating for the U.S. Information Service in Saigon. When she married New York Times correspondent Malcolm W. Browne, news writing and photography of Southeast Asia, the Middle and Near East, South America, Eastern Europe and the USSR were added to her accomplishments. After the couple exchanged their nomadic existence of many years for a more stable, permanent residence in the U.S., Le Lieu became a social worker with the International Rescue Committee. But she found her true vocation as Director of the NYC Refugee Employment Project and hit her stride as Founder/Chair of the Refugee Women Council. Both organizations are devoted to skill training, job development and placement, and social adaptation of entrants from all parts of the globe. Recently retired, Le Lieu Browne is still a vigorous champion of assisting refugees - new Americans - in becoming productive members of New York City's work force. She is also active in the Vietnamese community in the Bronx. To learn more about Refugee Women Council please visit www.rwcouncil.org

JESSICA HAGEDORN - Writer & Artist
Jessica Hagedorn is a versatile playwright, actor, poet, songwriter, singer, editor, short story author and novelist. Born and raised in the Philippines, Hagedorn has become an important voice in Asian American literature and a powerful critic of both Philippine and American culture. Her most well-known works are the novel "Dogeaters," recently adapted for theater, and "Danger and Beauty" combining poetry and prose from previously published collections. She is editor of "Charlie Chan is Dead," a seminal anthology of Asian American writing.

DR. DAVID HO - Scientist and Researcher
Dr. Ho was named TIME magazine's Man of the Year in 1996 and has served on numerous advisory councils and boards, helping to set the direction for research at government institutions and major research hospitals. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute and a Council Member for the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health. He is also currently a reviewer for 19 peer-reviewed medical research journals. Under Dr. Ho's direction, researchers at Aaron Diamond have published groundbreaking studies of HIV.

JAMES WONG HOWE - Cinematographer
James Wong Howe, born as Wong Tung Jim in China in 1899, was one of the greatest American cinematographers in history. He pioneered the use of "deep focus" (where the background is as clear as the foreground) and received two Academy Awards. A former assistant for Cecil B. DeMille, Wong's work can be seen in classic film noir such as "The Thin Man," crowd-pleasing musicals such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and his final film, "Funny Lady," starring Barbara Streisand.

DAVID HENRY HWANG - Playwright, Screenwriter & Artist
David Henry Hwang is a playwright, screenwriter, and librettist, best known as the author of "M. Butterfly", which ran for two years on Broadway and won the 1988 Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner, Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as the 1991 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. His most recent play, "Golden Child", premiered Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre and received a 1997 OBIE Award for playwriting. Subsequently, it moved to Broadway, where it received 1998 Tony and Outer Critics Circle Nominations for Best Play. He is currently represented on Broadway as co-author of the book for Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida", which received four 2000 Tony Awards. Mr. Hwang is currently the Artist In Residence at New York University's APA Studies and Institute.

Source: http://www.apa.nyu.edu/index2.htm

KAZU IIJIMA & MIN MATSUDA - Social Activists
In 1968, these two nisei women started one of the first Asian American organizations in New York and helped spark the beginning of the Asian American Movement on the East Coast. They founded Asian Americans for Action, or Triple A, to establish a political voice for the Asian American community. Comprised of both young college students and older political activists, Triple A addressed the issues of race and culture and opposed the Vietnam War. In later years, the group worked to establish the United Asian Communities Center in New York City.

DANIEL K. INOUYE - War Veteran & Senator
Daniel K. Inouye, born in Hawaii in 1924, enlisted in the US Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team as an 18-year-old. In addition to receiving bullet wounds in the abdomen and leg, his right arm was shattered by a German rifle grenade at close range and was later amputated. In 1959, Inouye was elected to the US House of Representatives as Hawaii's first Congressman and the nation's first of Japanese descent. He was elected to the Senate in 1962. In 2000, a Distinguished Service Cross awarded to Inouye was upgraded to a Medal of Honor.

LARRY ITLIONG - Labor Activist
As recorded in the Philippine News of February 12-18, 1977, "Larry Itliong carved his immortal place in the history of the farm workers ... when he led a strike of Filipino-American farm workers in the grape vineyards of Delano on September 8, 1965. The prolonged strike sparked the long struggle of farm workers to gain the right to improve their working conditions. It was Larry Itliong, the report stated, and not Cesar Chavez, who first declared war against the California growers. The Filipinos, under the leadership of Itliong, were the original "strikers." It was also stated that Larry Itliong was the area director of the AFL -CIO Agricultural Workers Organizing Committe e (AWOC). Larry Dulay Itliong was born October 25, 1913 in the Philippines. Not having finished grammar school, the self-educated Itliong came to the United States in 1929. In 1956, he founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in California, ten years before the famous Filipino Delano grape strike which triggered Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and their people to join with the Filipino labor pioneers in the California agricultural fields. Today, we owe a debt of gratitude to Larry Itliong and his Filipino brothers for increasing justice, equality, and human dignity for American workers.

Source: http://www.aagen.org/do_txt/ahievements/itliong.htm

BILL & YURI KOCHIYAMA - Activists
The dynamic duo of Yuri and her husband, the late Bill Kochiyama began at Camp Shelby, in Mississippi, in the middle of World War II. Bill was in basic training camp with the all Japanese American 442d battalion Purple Heart Battalion and Yuri, then known as Mary, was interned at the Jerome, Ark. relocation camp just across the Mississippi River. Their commitment to social justice began after 17 years of marriage and six children, when the Kochiyama family moved to Harlem in 1960. For over forty years, the work of this pair touched thousands of lives in diverse communities fighting for worldwide nuclear disarmament, the Japanese American Redress and Reparations Movement and the International Political Prisoner Rights Movement.

FRED KOREMATSU - Activist
Fred Korematsu was one of three men who challenged Executive Order 9066, the presidential mandate that imprisoned Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II. He was arrested, tried and convicted for failing to report for evacuation and was relocated with his family to an internment camp in Topaz, UT. He appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, but on December 18, 1944, the court ruled against him, citing the simple reason that �we�re at war with Japan.� Personal justice for Korematsu came on November 10, 1983, when his wartime criminal conviction was vacated.�In 1998, President Clinton awarded Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, the nation�s highest civilian honor.

ANG LEE - Film Director
Ang Lee first gained fame for his second feature film, "The Wedding Banquet" (1993), which was described as a cross-cultural, gay Green Card, comedy of errors and became the first film from Taiwan to earn an Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film. In 1995, he directed his first English-language feature film, the critically acclaimed "Sense and Sensibility" and followed that success with "The Ice Storm" (1997), also well received. In 1999, he did "Ride With the Devil" and returned to his native language in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," starring Yun-Fat Chow. In addition, Lee wrote the screenplay for "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" (1994).

BRUCE LEE - Film Actor
Bruce Lee was an American star of Hong Kong martial-arts films, and was a martial-arts instructor to celebrities before beginning his own acting career. After getting his break as the side-kick "Kato" in the American television series "The Green Hornet", Lee, exploded onto the international film world with "Enter of the Dragon" (1973). Lee is credited with introducing the Martial Arts to the mainstream American public, as well as being a role model for thousands of young Asian American boys growing up in the United States at a time when masculine Asian role models were scarce. His life was later made into a major motion picture called "Dragon."

DR. SAMMY LEE - Olympic Diver
Dr. Sammy Lee is the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal. Lee had to overcome much discrimination before attaining his goal of being an Olympic champion. "I would practice at the Los Angeles Swim Stadium and Brookside pool," Sammy said "but non-Whites would use the pool at Brookside one day a week. And then the pool was emptied after we used it, and fresh water was brought in the next day." The 1940 and 1944 Olympics had been canceled due to WWII. Then in 1948, Sammy,28, astounded the world by winning a gold medal in the lOM platform and a bronze medal in the 3M springboard. In the 1952 Games, Sammy won his second gold medal. At 32, he was the oldest person to win a gold medal in diving, and the first male diver to win back-to-back diving gold medals.

Source: http://www.thesammy.com/lee.html

MAYA LIN - Artist
At the age of 21, Maya Lin, a Yale architecture student from Ohio, won a competition to design the Vietnam War memorial for Washington, DC. Her unique design coupled with her Asian heritage prompted controversy, criticism and even racial slurs from veterans protesting her involvement. Nevertheless, Lin went on to design the most visited public artwork in America and has since created other grand-scale monuments such as the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, the Women's Table commemorating the 100th anniversary of the year Yale admitted women to its graduate school, and a 38-foot-long elliptical clock for New York's Penn Station. In addition to her many architectural projects, Lin is also an accomplished sculptor of small-scale works, which have been widely exhibited.

LOIDA NICOLAS LEWIS - Immigration Lawyer & CEO
Loida Nicolas Lewis is Chairperson and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., a multinational food company with sales in 1996 of $2.2 billion. Mrs. Lewis was the first Asian woman to pass the New York State bar exam without having studied law in the U.S. After winning her discrimination complaint on the basis of race, sex, and national origin against the Immigration and Neutralization Service (INS) in 1979, she served as General Attorney with INS until 1990. Mrs. Lewis has written three books on U.S. immigration law. The latest is How to Get a Green Card, now a bestseller in that genre. In 1972, she established a monthly magazine for the Filipino-American community and served as the magazine's publisher until it merged with another publication in 1979. Mrs. Lewis is one of the founders of the Asian-American Legal Defense & Education Fund.

PATSY T. MINK - Politician
Representative Patsy T. Mink is the first Asian Pacific American woman elected to Congress and represents the second district of Hawaii. As a Hawaii Democrat, she was elected to house in the 89th Congress and served from 1965 to 1977.� In September 1990, she won the special election to fill the House Seat vacated by Senator Akaka.� She has taken an active interest in the battle for the Equal Rights Amendment, women�s rights and environmental affairs.

IRENE NATIVIDAD - Activist & Writer
Irene Natividad, born in the Philippines, is an outspoken activist and writer whose editorials have appeared in USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, to name but a few. She is the first Asian Pacific American to have been elected president of the National Women�s Political Caucus and in that role worked tirelessly to launch more women into the political arena. Natividad also served as Director of the Global Forum for Women and for many years has been one of the most influential women in American politics.

DR. HAING NGOR - Holocaust Survivor & Human Rights Activist
Best known for his 1984 Academy Award-winning screen recreation of Dith Pran�s life in �The Killing Fields� of Cambodia, Dr. Haing Ngor was also a survivor of that country�s genocidal regime. A physician and medical officer before the Khmer Rouge seized power and began purging Cambodia of all educated people, Ngor eluded detection but could not escape four long years of witnessing atrocities and withstanding relentless torture and starvation. These experiences were graphically detailed in his autobiography, �A Cambodian Odyssey.� Residing in Los Angeles near Chinatown, Ngor devoted his efforts to telling the world about the Cambodian holocaust and aiding other survivors, displaced persons and refugees in making the enormous transition from the old homeland to the new. In 1996 Haing Ngor was killed in a robbery outside his house which many speculated was an assassination meant to silence Ngor�s criticism of the ruling Cambodian government.

ISAMU NOGUCHI - Sculptor
Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles in 1904. His father was an internationally acclaimed Japanese poet, and his mother was an American writer and teacher. Shortly after World War II, Noguchi tried to foster friendly relations between the United States and Japan through his art work, creating pieces and monuments commemorating peace between the two countries. In the early 1950s, Noguchi develop proposals for gardens, playgrounds, and public plazas. At the same time he explored other aspects of design, and in 1942 he created his first prototypes for furniture and lamps, which were later marketed by Herman Miller and Knoll. Noguchi�s work can now be seen at the Isamu Noguchi Museum in Queens.

ELLISON ONIZUKA - Astronaut
Ellison Onizuka, born in Hawaii in 1946, gained early recognition as an Eagle Scout and as a participant in sports, National Honor Society, 4H and church activities. He became NASA�s first Japanese-American astronaut in January 1978. He first flew as a mission specialist on STS 51-C, the first Space Shuttle Department of Defense mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Jan. 24, 1985. He died Jan. 28, 1986, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff.

RON TAKAKI - Author
Ron Takaki is the author of "Strangers from A Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans," which is an extraordinary blend of narrative history, personal recollections, and oral testimony that presents a panoramic history of Asian Americans. He writes about the Chinese who laid tracks for the transcontinental railroads, plantation laborers in the cane fields of Hawaii, and "picture brides" marrying strangers in hopes of becoming part of the American dream. His book is mandatory reading in Asian American Studies programs across the country and continues to inspire thousands to explore Asian America.

GEORGE TAKEI - Actor
George Takei is best known for his portrayal of "Mr. Sulu" in the acclaimed television series "Star Trek," and was one of the few Asian faces seen regularly on TV during the 1960s. He has twenty-seven feature films and hundreds of television guest-starring roles to his credit. George serves on the Board of Governors of East West Players, the nation�s foremost Asian Pacific American theater. He is chairman of the Japanese American National Museum and a member of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission.

Source: http://www.georgetakei.com

AMY TAN - Writer
Amy Tan's work has been translated into twenty languages. For her first book, "The Joy Luck Club," Amy Tan won The National Book Award and the L.A. Times Book Award in 1989, and the novel became the longest running best-seller on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list for that year. Later a popular film by the same title was made based on the book.

Source: http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/amytan

MICHI NISHIURA WEGLYN - Activist & Author
Michi Nishiura Weglyn, activist and author of "Years of Infamy:The Untold Story of America�s Concentration Camps" which fueled a movement that eventually led to reparations for more than 80,000 Japanese Americans interned during the war. She was also a costume designer for The Perry Como Show, a painter and a poet.�She died at the age of 72 on April 25, 1999.

TAKUJI YAMASHITA - Lawyer
As a young immigrant from Japan, Mr. Yamashita was among just 10 members of the class of 1902 at the University of Washington law school. After passing the bar, Yamashita was denied his license to practice law by the Washington State Supreme Court. The state attorney general mocked Mr. Yamashita�s "worn-out, star-spangled banner orations" before the court and argued that "in no classification of the human race is a native of Japan treated as belonging to any branch of the white or whitish race." The judges, while acknowledging in their decision that Mr. Yamashita was "intellectually and morally" qualified to practice law, said that he could not become a lawyer because, as a Japanese immigrant, he was ineligible to become an American citizen and only citizens could be lawyers. In 2001, Takuji Yamashita was vindicated when the States' chief justice signed a resolution finally admitting Yamashita as an honorary member of the bar posthumously, 99 years after first passing the bar exams with honors.

HELEN ZIA - Editor & Writer
Helen Zia has long been at the forefront of Asian-American and other social issues. Eventually becoming the executive editor of Ms. magazine, Zia wrote about sexual harassment and college date rape long before those topics were broadly recognized. As a widely published journalist, Zia is also a pillar of strength in the Asian American Journalists Association. With the publication of her book, Asian American Dreams, last year, she has raised the level of awareness of the Asian community to an America entering a new century.

A GRAIN OF SAND - Musicians
Chris Kando Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin are the are driving musical force behind "A Grain of Sand." The band was created during the Asian American Movement from 1969-1973 as an expression of resistance to stereotypical assumptions about people of color in general and Asians in particular. Chin said "The US involvement in the Vietnam conflict was wrong, that racial injustice must be fought whenever and wherever it appears... and we must work together for positive political change..."

CHINESE AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN U.S. CIVIL WAR
There has been documentation of the Chinese coming to the Americas since the 1700's, but many people do not know that Chinese soldiers served in the Civil War. Chinese soldiers served in the Army and Navy in various capacities such as infantry, landsmen, stewards, and seamen.

Source: http://hometown.aol.com/gordonkwok/accsacw.html

CHINESE RAILROAD WORKERS
Between 1847 and 1874 in the United States, 9000 Chinese laborers, also known as "coolies," were used to construct the Transcontinental Railroad. Chinese laborers built the more difficult half of the railroad, which required dangerous blasting through the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies while dangling by ropes in baskets. During this time, many Chinese laborers endured discrimination, persecution by mobs and were denied legal rights enjoyed by white Americans such as voting and purchasing land.

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THE TIGER BRIGADE
Shortly after the attack on Pearl harbor by the Japanese, an all Korean National Guard Unit was established to protect the West Coast against attack during during World War II. These young men trained daily in preparation for defending their country. Though, they didn�t get to see any action, they are nevertheless honored by the West Coast Korean American community for their courage and patriotism.

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