The American Revolution: Thanksgiving, history and a slap of reality

The 12-hour documentary 'The American Revolution' includes the role of Native Americans.
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REVIEW

So, PBS dropped a new Ken Burns joint, The American Revolution. I suspect MAGA folks will hate it because it includes the history usually left out of our high sdhool history books and includes the role of Blacks and indigenous peoples and knocks a few of our white Founding Fathers off their pedestals.

If not for the native tribes, there probably would not have been a Thanksgiving observance with the Europeans who migrated to ths continent. The religous zeealots who fled Europe would not have survived if not for original locals.

 If you're a history buff like me, this series is a must watch. It's not your grandpappy's tale of Minutemen and redcoats. This one actually talks about the people largely erased from our textbooks: Indigenous Peoples.

Let me tell you, this is long overdue.

As the series emphasizes, the war was also often a struggle between the refugees from Europe and indigenous nations, between enslavers and the enslaved. Some Americans won their freedom. Others, like Native Americans, lost it.

The doc lays it right out there: this whole "freedom" thing for the colonists was, essentially, a war for Native land. The Brits had that Proclamation of 1763 trying to keep folks contained, but the Americans? They wanted to go west, consequences be damned.

Not just sidekicks

The American Revolution, explores the complexities of the war from a wide range of perspectives, including a significant focus on the role of Native Americans. The series, which premiered on November 16, 2025, examines the conflict through the stories of diverse individuals, revealing the virtues and contradictions of the revolutionary period. Native American nations, caught in the middle, were forced into a struggle over land that led to their displacement, and the series highlights their long-overdue visibility in American history, notes the Lakota Times.

The narrative here isn't the usual white-centric fluff. They bring in Native historians, giving us the real deal. The core message is powerful: The Revolution wasn't just about taxes; it was about real estate and who had sovereignty over it. This is a crucial pivot in how we understand American history.

You had the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a powerful group, totally split. Some went British, some went American (shoutout to the Oneida Nation for their Continental Army assist!), and others tried to stay neutral. It was a messy, brutal time.

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Burns doesn't shy away from the stuff white supremacists don't want to hear about their heroes. While the framers of the Declaration of Indepedence were signing the historic document that espoused "all men created equal" many of them were slave owners. The series also details the significant brutality of the war in "Indian Country," including General George Washington's orders to devastate and burn entire Native towns, orchards, and food stores. That's a piece of history we often gloss over in favor of cherry trees.

Now, there's been some debate about whether the Iroquois Confederacy inspired the US Constitution. It's a talking point, maybe a little romanticized, but the fact remains: these were complex, sovereign nations with sophisticated diplomacy, dealing with the British, French, and Americans as equals, even if the new US government ultimately didn't honor that.

Ken Burns' and PBS's 'The American Revolution' includes the role of indigenous peoples.

A View from the Edge

As an American, I look at our history and think about what my patriotic parents taught me about our adopted land. My folks emphasized English, the language of our new home, so I lost my Tagalog. That's the immigrant experience—trying to fit in while losing a piece of yourself.

This documentary is a good reminder that the "American Dream" was built on the back of Native displacement. It forces us to ask: do our institutions really serve all the people, not just the powerful? It's a test of whether our democracy truly breathes for everyone. The struggle must commence in the field of ideas, as the great Jose W. Diokno used to say, before it can descend into the arena of action.

FYI: How to watch

It's a six-part series, 12 hours total. Plenty of time to get your history fix.Watch the episodes: You can stream it on the PBS website for a limited time.
For the serious viewers: PBS Passport subscribers can stream it for ages.
Bonus Content: Check out the extra resources on PBS LearningMedia.

It’s more than political drama; it’s a vital piece of our national story that we need to hear, understand, and bear witness to. We need closure on our past, or it will continue to haunt us like a political cold case. Go watch it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.

In case you missed it: "Who Killed Vincent Chin" documentary online

In 1982, Vincent Chin was a 27-year-old starting his career as a draftsman in Detroit. On June 19, the Chinese-American immigrant went out with friends to celebrate his upcoming wedding. He died four days later after getting beaten with a baseball bat.

Yesterday, On the 40th anniversary of the slaying of Vincent Chin, POV presented a Special Encore Presentation of the gripping 1988 Academy Award® nominated film, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, by filmmakers Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña, on Monday, June 20.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, murdered by two white men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, in Detroit, Michigan on June 19, 1982. 

VIEW: The award-winning documentary, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, is still available online here.

The documentary, which originally aired on POV in July 1989, details the incident from initial eye-witness accounts, the ensuing murder trials to the lenient sentences the assailants received, and the repercussions for the families and community involved. Who Killed Vincent Chin? also chronicles how the case brought the disparate Asian American communities of Detroit together for the first time, and how they transformed themselves from a grassroots advocacy group into a national movement.

Their efforts helped bring public attention to the anti-Asian hate that led to Vincent Chin's murder, and encouraged Asian American groups across the country to fight for equality and justice. The U.S. Department of Justice brought federal civil rights charges against the killers, but they were ultimately acquitted on appeal, on grounds of pre-trial publicity and errors made with witnesses.

Chin, a Chinese American, was brutally beaten to death by two auto-workers with a baseball bat. They blamed the Japanese for out-of-work auto workers.

“I was vaguely aware of the killing of Vincent Chin in 1982. The next year, when I had the opportunity to meet Lily Chin, Vincent's mother in Detroit, Michigan, I knew this was a story that would make an impact. The project started as a short film to help the American Citizens for Justice (ACJ) raise the legal fee but with the support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the film was expanded. It was a privilege to have taken part in the telling of this story nearly forty years ago and still see its relevance and importance today.” said documentary filmmaker Christine Choy.

“We knew who killed Vincent Chin, but the real question was why? Was it because of his race? For me it was a Rashomon-like enigma, trying to untangle the conflicting perspectives of the people who lived through the case. It also revealed the fractures in America itself, and ultimately, how people bridged those divides to fight for justice”  filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña added.

Who Killed Vincent Chin? represents a critical turning point for Asian Americans with chilling relevance today. Anti-Asian sentiments that were further stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to ongoing xenophobia, particularly against Chinese Americans, though they have affected the broader AAPI community. 

From March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021, over ten thousand hate crime incidents were reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit coalition tracking incidents of hate and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Breaking news headlines about the 2021 Atlanta and Indianapolis shootings, and the recent murders in New York City of Christina Yuna Lee and Michelle Go as well, show that these hate crimes are disproportionately targeted at the elderly and Asian American women.

"Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a watershed moment in filmmaking craft as well as in building and unifying an intersectional political project for the Asian American community,” said executive director of American Documentary and executive producer of POV Erika Dilday, “Now more than ever we can feel its resonance, and I’m so happy to make this essential work newly accessible to millions of viewers on PBS.”

“The Library of Congress last year added the Who Killed Vincent Chin? documentary to the National Film Registry as one of the most important films in America,” Homberg noted. “We are very pleased that POV and PBS will be airing it to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Vincent Chin tragedy as our nation reaffirms its commitment to social justice for all Americans in the hope that a horrible act such as this will not be repeated.”

Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a co-presentation with Detroit Public Television (DPTV) and CAAM (Center for Asian American Media). Juanita Anderson (now on the board of American Documentary), Nancy Tong, Robert Larson are Executive Producers. Erika Dilday and Chris White are Executive Producers for American Documentary | POV.

“The brutal attack on Vincent Chin was a harrowing but significant incident in Detroit’s and America’s history,” said Rich Homberg, president and CEO of Detroit Public Television (DPTV). “This film is a moving testament to the loss of a young man’s life and to the people who stood up to protest this terrible injustice. It speaks volumes now more than ever about the wave of discrimination and violence against Asian Americans we continue to witness."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Documentary 'Asian Americans' wins Peabody Award

The 5-episode documentary Asian Americans  is a winner of the 2021 Peabody Awards, one of most prestigious honors in broadcast journalism.

“History and solidarity were always central concepts of the Asian Americans. We wanted to tell our own story within the context of race and justice in the U.S. Not the story of the Model Minority or the Perpetual Foreigner,” says series producer Renee Tajima-Peña. 

The critically acclaimed PBS documentary series Asian Americans was premiered a year ago on PBS. It is a production of WETA Washington, DC and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) for PBS

“Being selected for a Peabody Award is a tremendous honor for CAAM and an acknowledgement of our four decades of work to bring Asian American stories to the broadest possible audience,” says CAAM Director of Programs Donald Young, who is also one of the executive producers of Asian Americans. 

“Respected for its integrity and revered for its standards of excellence, the Peabody Awards elevate stories that defend the public interest, encourage empathy with others, and teach us to expand our understanding of the world around us--all goals that we here at CAAM value,” he said.

The expansive five-part series chronicles over 250 years of Asian American experiences, which are deeply intertwined with United States history at large. 

“One thing that’s really important about the team that came together to make Asian Americans is that everyone has a long track record of being invested in the Asian American story. And we could locate our own family stories in the series. We figured out that Don’s family has been here the longest, back to the early Chinese migration in the 1800s,” says Tajima-Peña. “My grandparents came in the early 1900s—sugar cane workers, picture brides, all of whom had no pathway to citizenship for 50 years in America. Jean Tsien, Grace Lee and Geeta Gandbhir could trace their families’ arrivals to the 1965 immigration reforms. S. Leo Chiang was a parachute kid. Duc Nguyen, one of our archivists, arrived as a refugee from Vietnam.”

Asian Americans is one of the 30 works cited this year. The Peabody 30 are the best of over 1,300 entries submitted from television, podcasts/radio and the web in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service and multimedia programming.

For the complete list of Peabody awardees, click here.

Asian Americans, narrated by Daniel Dae Kim and Tamlyn Tomita, chronicles the role of Asian Americans who did the most dangerous work of tunneling through the Sierras to build the Transcontinental Railroad, petitioned the Supreme Court to grant birthright citizenship, and challenged racial school segregation. And this history continued through the 20th century and into the 21st century. 

“Asian Americans continued to fight for justice in the courts, at the ballot box, in the streets, the fields, on campuses and in the culture. We’re fighting today. That’s the story we wanted to tell.”

'A Thousand Cuts', the anti-Duterte documentary, will be shown in the Philippines

SCREEN CAPTURE / A THOUSAND CUTS

Journalist Maria Ressa faces a host of charges in the Philippines.

No television station in the Philippines was daring enough to air A Thousand Cuts, an award-winning documentary critical of President Rodrigo Duterte's attempts to suppress press freedom. The people of the Philippines will, at last, have the opportunity to view the film about their own country.

“After a year of screening for audiences around the world — from New Zealand to North America, from Israel to the Netherlands, A Thousand Cuts is finally coming home. I’m so grateful that Frontline (PBS) stepped up to the plate to make the film available to audiences in the Philippines where it matters most,” says filmmaker Ramona Diaz.

PBS' Frontline, the longest-running investigative documentary series, announced Tuesday, March 2, that it has acquired full-streaming rights for the award-winning film A Thousand Cuts in the Philippines, a country experiencing an escalating war between the government and the press.

The important acquisition will make the film accessible March 13 on PBS.org/frontline and YouTube to the people in the Philippines who are most impacted by the issues in this story. The news comes after Philippine distributors and TV did not license the film.

A Thousand Cuts chronicles the story of Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa, a top target of  Duterte’s crackdown on the news media. Ressa and her colleagues have been at the forefront of reporting on Duterte’s brutal war on drugs and she has endured harassment, arrests, and a cyber libel conviction that could send her to prison. In January, she posted bail for her tenth arrest warrant.

The film will begin streaming in the Philippines on Saturday, March 13. At 9 pm PHT/8am EST on March 13, Frontline will host a live YouTube roundtable discussion with Ressa, Diaz and Frontline’s Executive Producer, Raney Aronson-Rath. The roundtable will explore the importance of sharing A Thousand Cuts with Filipino audiences as Ressa’s legal situation continues to unfold.

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary made its U.S. broadcast debut on Frontline (PBS) in January this year, and is currently available to stream in North America. By securing full streaming rights on both PBS.org/frontline and YouTube, the Philippine people can stream A Thousand Cuts in its entirety and learn about the implications for democracy when press freedom is threatened — a story that is increasingly vital, as Duterte has taken severe measures to thwart journalists.

“At Frontline, we felt we needed to do whatever we could to make this story available to the Filipino people,” says Frontline Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We’ve seen a growing desire to have A Thousand Cuts be more permanently accessible in the Philippines, especially as Maria’s legal situation continues to worsen. We’re proud we can make Ramona’s documentary available to the community it impacts the most.”

Prior to its PBS broadcast, A Thousand Cuts completed a robust festival run — including Sundance Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival and AFI DOCS — and a nation-wide virtual theatrical release last summer. The New York Times calls A Thousand Cuts “absorbing” (Critic’s Pick), The Washington Post says the documentary is “utterly urgent” and The Hollywood Reporter describes the film as  “essential.”

A Thousand Cuts is now streaming online in North America on pbs.org/frontline and YouTube. The film is also available to stream in the PBS Video App and on PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

TGIF Feature: PBS 'Great Performances' presents Lea Salonga in concert

YOUTUBE

Lea Salonga at the Sydney Opera House.

As part of its fourth annual “Broadway’s Best” lineup, PBS' Great Performances shines a spotlight on Tony Award winner Lea Salonga with the world premiere of Lea Salonga in Concert, Nov. 27.

Captured in peak performance from the Sydney Opera House last year with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Salonga performs the beloved songs she made famous throughout her Broadway career and her signature songs from the animated movie blockbusters, Aladdin and Mulan as well as the showstopper, “On My Own” from Les Miserables.

Speaking from her home in Manila, Salonga said, “I’m glad we have these to remind us of just a year ago what life was like and maybe bring hope to people that this is what we have to look forward to once the virus is gone.

“This is like a time capsule for me because you see the audience shoulder to shoulder, not wearing masks, screaming and unrestrained in their reactions and responses to whatever is happening on stage,” she said.

Salonga, long a Broadway mainstay, recently appeared in her first movie role in Yellow Rose, which premiered last month to critical acclaim despite the coronavirus limiting audiences. In the movie directed by Filipino American Diane Paragas, Salonga plays the aunt of the movie's main character played by Eva Noblezada.

When she watched the movie for the first time, Salonga said to herself, "This is beauty. This is a work of art that our people can be really proud of." 

Renowned worldwide for her powerhouse voice and perfect pitch, Salonga entered the Broadway musical scene with her 1991 performance as Kim in Miss Saigon, for which she became the first Asian to win a Tony. Most recently, she starred in the Tony-winning 2017 revival of Once on This Island. 

She was also the first Asian cast member to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway, the character who sings "On My Own." 

“The first time I ever sang it, I was 17 years old and I’m now 49,” she said. “I don’t get tired of singing the song. And I allow myself for the context of things to be different because I’m not that kid experiencing unrequited love. I’m an older woman and the words fall differently after enough life.”

Lea Salonga's "Great Performance" will air, Nov. 27, 9 p.m. on local PBS stations (check local listings.) 

TGIF Feature: BTS breaks NPR viewing records to benefit public media

Public media stations got a pleasant surprise last Monday. BTS, the 7-member boy group who are the current kings of K-pop, appeared on National Public Radio's Tiny Desk concert and set a record for online viewership.

And BTS' fans, who call themselves the BTS Army, came through big-time and ended up donating generously to the NPR-affiliated PBS, Public Broadcasting Stations that aired the laid-back, intimate concert.

Public radio stations are independent operations and there’s no central database of donations, says NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara, who notes that the concert now has more than 6 million views online, and NPR Music got 100,000 new subscribers to its YouTube channel since Monday morning. The Tiny Desk concert broke the viewership record in just 25 minutes.

One doesn't usually associate K-Pop with PBS or NPR, which skew towards an oldr demographic, but the nonprofit media might reconsider their audience with the success of the BTS appearance.

BTS had intended to spend 2020 selling out arenas around the world, only to spend these last few months performing in isolation in their hometown of Seoul. It took a global pandemic to get on the group's schedule. 

Billie Eilish previously held the first-day Tiny Desk record for views, with 782,000 on the first day of her session. BTS had 700,000 views in the first 15 minutes the mini-concert was online, and more than 950,000 by end of the session, NPR’s Anais Laurent says.

Without their coordinated clothing and noted choreography, the Korean band dressed casually, seated in a row for their session, taped at the Vinyl & Plastic by Hyundai Card record store in Seoul. It was is also the first occasion on which the group performed its No. 1 hit, an upbeat, funky “Dynamite,” its first all-English recording with a live band. A couple of them couldn't sit still and had to get up and dance.

From there they went into a more mellow, ballad mode, with "Save ME," from 2016.

“It’s been the roughest summer ever,” BTS’s RM says in the session, “but we know that spring will come” before moving into another of their hits, “Spring Day.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For those who might have missed the performance on Monday, enjoy:

Anecdotally, Lara says, people—many of them for the first time—definitely seem to be donating to say thanks for the concert, something they've been missing in these pandemic times.

Gabe Rosenberg, the digital news editor for Columbus, Ohio, NPR affiliate WOSU, encouraged the BTS Army to donate to public radio stations to say thanks.

Rosenberg’s social media quickly filled with responses from BTS fans saying they’d done exactly that, a phonomenon also experienced by other NPR affiliates such as the San Francisco-based KQED.

“My TweetDeck was relatively unusable for most of the day.” Rosenberg says the surge of contributions is especially welcome during an extremely trying time for local journalism. “One Tiny Desk concert can’t really reverse the effects of a pandemic on a local newsroom’s budget, but it does something to make you a little optimistic about why you’re doing what you’re doing.”

The donations are not new to the BTS Army. When BTS donated $1 milllion to Black Lives Matter, in 24 hours, the Army matched the donation. At every concert venue, the group donates a portion of their earnings to a local charity.

Teachers learning to include Filipino Americans and the Farm Labor Movement

The recent PBS documentary Asian Americans brought attention to a history most Americans know little about. To most of the non-Asian audience, the series presented new information.

Hopefully, the documentary provides a jumping off point for people to probe deeper into the history and the contributions of Asian Americans.

One of the highlights of the 5-part series was the critical role played by Filipino Americans in the American labor movement, particularly in instigating the 1965 Grape Strike that propelled the United Farm Workers into prominence. The documentary highlighted the critical role played by union organizer Larry Itliong, an unsung hero in the annals of Asian American history.

In 2013, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, the only Filipino American lawmaker in the California legislature and the son of UFW union organinzers, introduced a bill which requires the State Board of Education to include the role of Filipino Americans in the farm worker movement as part of the state’s curriculum.

"Authoring AB123 has been one of my top accomplishments in the #CAleg," Bonta recently tweeted. "It requires schools to teach the #Filipino contributions to the Farm Labor Movement."

There are about 150,000 Filipino American in California's K-12 schools, or 2.4% of the total number of students. Combined with other Asian ethnicities and nationalities, Asian American students are almost 12% of California's students.

The state is also home to the two public schoosl named for a Filipino-Americans in the US, Union City’s Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School and the Jose Antonio Vargas elementary School in Mountain View.
One of the hurdles in getting Filipino American history into the classroom is that most teachers knew nothing about the subject. Like most Americans, their history textbooks omitted the contributions, accomplishments and issues faced by Filipino Americans.

To help fill this knowledge gap, the Content, Literacy, Inquiry, & Citizenship Project, in conjunction with the California Department of Education, created a video (below) that outlines a brief history of Filipino Americans and how teachers could  incorporate the lessons into their teaching of American history. 

Under Bonta's legislation, middle and high school students from grades 7 to 12, will learn about the roles of Filipino Americans and other immigrants in the farm worker movement. 

Dolores Huerta, a social justice and labor rights activist, advocated for the bill's passage. 

“The students of California need to learn that the sacrifices made by both the Filipino and Latino workers benefitted all Californians. AB 123 will ensure that the history is taught accurately,” Huerta said in a statement right after then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation into a mandate.

Series like the PBS documentary help battle the "perpetual foreigner" image hung on Asian Americans.

Speaking to the NY Times, Daniel Dae Kim, who did part of the narration of the the PBS' Asian Americans, the actor said: "I would hope that it’s a celebration of what it means to be American. If we can redefine that word to be inclusive of every group that contributes to this country, then the documentary will have done a real service."

Making Asian American history an integral part of America's history begins in the classroom -- from the landing of the first Asian on North America's shores in 1587 through the expansion of the US Empire to the country's current largest source of new immigrants. 

PBS documentary, 'Asian Americans,' premieres tonight

It has been years in the making but Asian Americans will finally air on May 11 and 12, at 8 p.m. on your local PBS station.

The 5-part documentary series examines what the 2010 U.S. Census identifies as the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States. Told through individual lives and personal histories, Asian Americans explores the impact of this group on the country’s past, present, and future.

The television series chronicles the fastest growing racial/ethnic group's history in the United States and examines the role Asian Americans have played in shaping America. More specifically, the Asian American-led series explores the impact Asian Americans have had on the country, from the1850s Asian immigrants lured by the California Gold Rush to modern refugee crises to the fight for desegregation and education equality.

"Although Asian Americans have significantly shaped national identity through educational change, most Americans may be unfamiliar with such efforts," says Stewart Kwoh, Executive Director and President of Advancing Justice – Los Angeles and who championed the need for such a comprehensive documentary.


Kwoh continued, "It is fitting the documentary launches this month during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month because there is so much people do not understand about our culture and how much we are woven into the fabric of this country's historical tapestry."

Summaries of each episodes are below:

EPISODE 1: BREAKING GROUND (Monday, 8 p.m.)

In an era of exclusion and U.S. empire, new immigrants arrive from China, India, Japan, the Philippines and beyond. Barred by anti-Asian laws they become America’s first “undocumented immigrants,” yet they build railroads, dazzle on the silver screen, and take their fight for equality to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

EPISODE 2: A QUESTION OF LOYALTY (Monday, 9 p.m.)

An American-born generation straddles their country of birth and their parents’ homelands in Japan and Korea. Those loyalties are tested during World War II, when families are imprisoned in detention camps, and brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the battle lines. 

EPISODE 3: GOOD AMERICANS  (Tuesday, 8 p.m.)

During the Cold War years, Asian Americans are simultaneously heralded as a Model Minority, and targeted as the perpetual foreigner. It is also a time of bold ambition, as Asian Americans aspire for the first time to national political office and a coming culture-quake simmers beneath the surface. 

EPISODE 4: GENERATION RISING (Tuesday, 9 p.m.) 

During a time of war and social tumult, a young generation fights for equality in the fields, on campuses and in the culture, and claim a new identity: Asian Americans. The war’s aftermath brings new immigrants and refugees who expand the population and the definition of Asian America. 

EPISODE 5: BREAKING THROUGH (Tuesday 10 p.m.)

At the turn of the new millennium, the national conversation turns to immigration, race, and economic disparity. As the U.S becomes more diverse, yet more divided, a new generation of Asian Americans tackle the question, how do we as a nation move forward together?

Asian Americans joined the civil rights campaigns in the late 60s and 70s.

Five hours doesn't seem enough time and there are sure to be some questions on what is not included in what has been described as a comprehensive look at Asian Americans' impact on the US. Fears have been expressed that the series will emphasize an East Asian perspective and overlook the contributions and history of Hmong Americans, Filipino Americans and South Asians. The producers say they took great pains to make sure that the voices go beyond the Japanese, Chinese and Korean communities.

Hopefully, teachers and students working out of their homes will take advantage of this series for their social studies, government and history classes. A full K-12 education curriculum will bring this historical significance and more to light with engaging digital content from the series. Through the new curriculum, the history of the Asian American experience will be available for current and future generations and for all communities of color to explore the history, contributions, and complexities of Asian Americans.

“These are American stories: stories of resilience in the face of racism, of overcoming challenges as refugees from war and strife, of making contributions in all sectors of society: business, technology, military service, and the arts, said Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media. 

"These Asian American experiences and voices provide a vital foundation for a future fast approaching, in which no single ethnic or racial group defines America, in which shared principles will define who we are as Americans.”

Asian Americans is a production of WETA Washington, D.C. and CAAM for PBS, in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Flash Cuts, and Tajima-Peña Productions – the company behind Who Killed Vincent Chin? and No Más Bebés. 

PBS plans documentary series on Asian Americans for 2020

A mural, created by seven Filipino artists and donated to the Philippine-Louisiana Historical Society, depicts the lives of Louisiana's Manilamen, the Filipino settlers who founded the first permanent Asian American settlement in the New World probably in the late 1500s.

ASAM NEWS

PBS and WETA announced Monday a new five-part documentary series on Asian Americans, scheduled to broadcast in May 2020 for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

According to press materials, as welcome as the project will be, it apparently will be skipping the opening chapters of Asian American history.

A unique aspect of the limited series is that Asian Americans will be looking at the significant role of Asians Americans in shaping US history and identity from the first wave of Asian immigrants in the 1850s, according to a press release.

“These are American stories: stories of resilience in the face of racism, of overcoming challenges as refugees from war and strife, of making contributions in all sectors of society: business, technology, military service, and the arts," said Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media. 

The series is helmed by a team of Asian American filmmakers, including the Academy Award-nominated series producer Renee Tajima-Peña (Who Killed Vincent Chin?). 

“As America’s home for documentaries, PBS is committed to telling stories that illuminate and celebrate the rich diversity of our country,” said Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO. “We are proud to share this important series with our audiences, and to deepen understanding about the extraordinary impact of Asian Americans on our national identity.”

Unfortunately, by apparently focusing on East Asian migration, the series would omit any mention of the first  documented arrival of Asians setting foot in the New World off the California coast in 1587, or the founding of the first permanent settlement in the Louisiana bayous in the late 1500s by Filipino seamen who escaped their forced service on the Spanish galleons.

PBS is making this a Multiplatform initiative that will consider what it means to be a US citizen. Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA, said, “Following our previous series, The Jewish Americans, The Italian Americans and Latino Americans, WETA remains committed to revealing the significant stories of the entire American people.”

“We are proud to support the Center for Asian American Media for the important work they do bringing programs about the Asian American experience to public media and audiences across the country,” said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO.

Executive producers are Jeff Bieber and Dalton Delan for WETA; Stephen Gong and Donald Young for CAAM; Sally Jo Fifer for ITVS; and Jean Tsien. 

“We are proud to have WETA as a partner on this milestone series, which weaves the histories of many Asian American communities within the broad sweep of American history,” said Gong.

"These Asian American experiences and voices provide a vital foundation for a future fast approaching, in which no single ethnic or racial group defines America, in which shared principles will define who we are as Americans.”

VIEWS FROM THE EDGE contributed to this report.

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Take On America talks to 100 Asian American Millennials, Nov 2

IT'S NOT OFTEN Asian Americans are given the opportunity to talk about themselves. Speaking out is not something usually associated with Asian Americans but this program breaks that stereotype.

This Friday, 100 Asian American Milennials will have a chance to sound off on issues like affirmative action, workplace discrimination, stereotypes and more in PBS' Take On America.

Based on the trailers, the conversation might get pretty explosive.

The young Asian Americans gathered in San Francisco to meet and talk to moderator Carlos Watson, who brought with him celebrity chef and raconteur Eddie Huang, actor Harry Shum Jr. and fashion designer. Kimora Lee Simmons and attorney Harmeet Dhillon.

The most heated conversation centered around affirmative action with Dhillon, Republican National Committee member taking on the more liberal Bay Area audience.The trailer chose to focus on that debate but the audience and panel also talked about dating, identity and Asian male stereotypes.

Take On America airs on PBS on Friday, Nov. 2. Check local listings for show times.
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TGIF Feature: AAPI Heritage -- PBS airing six films about Asian America

IT'S MAY so it must be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. You can tell it's May with the attention mainstream media is placing on all things regarding this ethnic group. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, PBS is presenting six compelling documentaries on public television this May through the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM.  Three of these films, Finding Kukan, Random Acts of Legacy and Who is Arthur Chu? will premiere on season 6 of America ReFramed, an award-winning documentary series on public television.  Resistance at Tule Lake and The Chinese Exclusion Act will screen on PBS and WORLD Channel. The CAAM-produced Pacific Gateway: Angel Island VR will air digitally on PBS’s American Experience. Check your local listings for exact airdates and times.  These enlightening and inspiring films spotlight the resilience of Asian/Americans and the role of Asian/Americans in shaping U.S. history.  Viewers are encouraged to share your thoughts using #MyAPALife. All of the films will stream online for a limited time following their respective premiere date. Learn more about these films on the CAAMFest blog. These films are supported or co-produced by CAAM, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE directed by Konrad Aderer Broadcast date: May 6, 2018 on WORLD Channel A minority group is unjustly persecuted amidst racially-charged scapegoating by politicians. That’s the eerily relevant backdrop for RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE, Konrad Aderer’s examination of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, which couldn’t come at a more important moment.

FINDING KUKAN directed by Robin Lung Broadcast date: May 8th on WORLD Channel Streaming online: May 9, 2018 - June 7, 2018 FINDING KUKAN documents filmmaker Robin Lung's 7-year journey to piece together the incredible story behind the pioneering mediamaker Li Ling-Ai, the co-producer for the 1941 documentary film, KUKAN. Despite having no Hollywood or government backing, KUKAN was screened at the White House for President Roosevelt before becoming the first of two documentary features ever given an Academy® Award in 1942.

RANDOM ACTS OF LEGACY directed by Ali Kazimi Broadcast: May 15, 2018 on WORLD Channel Streaming: May 16, 2018 - May 14, 2021 From one of the earliest known home movies, Ali Kazimi weaves a visually rich narrative of a wealthy Chinese American family from the Depression era. Combined with family accounts and other commentators, the film offers an intimate and radically different perspective on the Chinese American community in Chicago with a surprising feminist twist.

WHO IS ARTHUR CHU? directed by Yu Gu and Scott Drucker Broadcast: May 22, 2018 on WORLD Channel Streaming: May 23, 2018 - June 21, 2018 WHO IS ARTHUR CHU? follows 11-time Jeopardy! winner Arthur Chu, who won almost $300,000 by using an unconventional strategy on the game show. The national attention led this insurance analyst to amass tens of thousands of fans and haters on Twitter. Arthur plans to put his 15 minutes of TV fame to good use, and launches a career as both a speaker and writer. By dissecting topics such as racism and sexism particularly in “nerd culture,” his posture shatters the “model” Asian American stereotype.

PACIFIC GATEWAY: ANGEL ISLAND VR directed by Felicia Lowe and co-produced by CAAM Broadcast: May 28, 2018 on American Experience’s Facebook live stream Journey across the bay to the Angel Island Immigration Station in this fully immersive virtual reality experience, exploring the poignant stories carved into the walls of the “Ellis Island of the West.” In her first foray into this new digital medium, veteran filmmaker Felicia Lowe uses the historic Angel Island Immigration Station to shine light on a dark part of America’s past.

The Lim Family, American born and educated. The Chinese Exclusion Law made it difficult for the young generation to find employment, forcing many families to seek opportunities back in China. Lim Tong Family Archives.

THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT directed by Li-Shin Yu and Ric Burns and co-produced by CAAM Broadcast – May 29, 2018 as a Special Presentation of the PBS series American Experience THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT, a two-hour film for national broadcast on PBS, will explore in riveting detail this little known, yet deeply resonant and revealing episode in American history – one that sheds enormous light on key aspects of the history of American civil liberties, immigration, and culture – during one of the most formative periods of U.S. history. __________________________________________________________________________