Message from hlee

[Anonymous]

I visited the Wing Luke Asian American Museum in Seattle this past week. There was a special exhibition called “These Walls can Speak”, tracing the history of Asian Americans around the area dating back to the 1880s, via three historic buildings in the International District (China Town and Nihonmachi –Japan Town). The exhibition features Kong-Yick Buildings, Higo and The Eastern Hotel, all of which are still standing within the International District just outside the museum. This exhibition is a “unique melding of history, personal testimonies and artifacts, linking the past, present and future of an evolving neighborhood filled with rich stories” The exhibition gives you an insight into Asian immigrant life back in the early 1900s , and the interactions between the Japanese-American, Chinese American and Filipino American communities living in the same neighborhood. The pictures and artifacts are accompanied by beautiful poems by Ronald Antonio, which transports you back in time to walk among the ghosts of Asian immigrants who occupied these buildings long time ago. I found this exhibition to be very interactive in that it prompts the viewer’s emotional involvement with the everyday life of Asian immigrants within these buildings. This exhibit is on view until December 11, 2006.

One of the permanent exhibitions in this museum is a replica of a Japanese internment camp at Camp Harmony. The way it’s set up is very similar to the exhibitions at the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles. One can view the camp and it’s artifacts from inside and out while listening to recorded first hand account interviews. Along the periphery of the camp are newspaper clippings during WWII, which demonstrates the general American public feelings about Japanese Americans during that time.

This museum is definitely worth a visit when you’re out in Seattle.
http://www.wingluke.org[Edit by="hlee on Aug 20, 4:06:46 PM"][/Edit]