Anti-Asian American Racism and Violence: Then and Now

This program is geared for educators, but open to all learners.
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Anti-Asian American Racism and Violence: Then and Now -with CWB resident teaching artist Susan Stein
With violence and racism against Asian-Americans surging, we will focus on a dark chapter in American history during World War II too often omitted from school curricula. Through close readings in several genres, including fiction, graphic novels, film, and survivor testimonies, we’ll explore the roots and relevance of World War II Japanese Internment camps today. Texts include excerpts from When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo, and A Fence Away from Freedom by Ellen Levine as well as the documentary The Cats of Mirikitani. This is an interactive session that combines discussion, imagination, and critical thinking.

Susan Stein is an actor, playwright and teaching artist in NYC. Stein has spent the past eight years touring her original play, Etty, directed by Austin Pendleton, to theaters, universities, schools and prisons throughout the United States and parts of Europe. Stein has been an Artist/Scholar in residence at Cambridge University, Duquesne, Boston College, Vanderbilt and Chapman University. She leads workshops in writing and acting throughout the US and UK. Susan studied acting at NYU Graduate School and SUNY Purchase and received a Master’s in Writing at Wesleyan University. She was on the faculty of Princeton Day school for 13 years.