During Bahadur researches her great-grandmother’s history, I was surprised that many Asian women had been exploited for a longtime age. What I learned about Bahadur’s research is there was no record that explain what women think and express what they express their emotion at that time. The limits of the archive are she can only know what the happening is going at that moment through the record in office; records are silent. In order to treat these limits, she had no choice but to rely on her own journey. If I were to construct an archive of my family history, I would ask my parents first because I think it is a right way to know about my ancestors. And then I would meet my relatives to interview what they say about them.
The person who I watched was Connie Young Yu who is a Chinese American. She was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father was in Overseas for World War II in China, he was a liaison officer. In 1974, her father moved her and her sister to San Francisco and he came back from the War. She went to public school in San Francisco and graduated at Mills College in Oakland major in English. And then she got married with Dr. Hu Ping and they have three children. She always knows about the railroad because her parents are very active about the Chinese Historical Society. Her father told her that his childhood and old railroad workers. Her father said there were many Chinese who were killed on the railroad. He said that the Chinese suffered really sad and terrible. She wanted to be a writer, a novelist-fiction, Chinese-America. In order to research about the history of Chinese, she went to Stanford graduate library and she saw the quote “I’d like to make a toast to the forgotten and neglected contingent of builders of the railroad the Chinese.” This quote made her life to write nonfiction. And then she stared to write the story of the Chinese-America. I wondered if I could say that the pain, or discrimination, suffered by the Chinese in the days of her father, great-grandfather, had been completely eliminated today.
Minjee,
I agree, I believe that primary sources like family or close friends and relatives are far more knowledgeable and understanding than historic recordings. Through people, we are able to feel the depth of a person’s story. How they feel and what they think will not be written on paper by a POC’s white male official. The system was a product of its time and it is clear that times were biased.
I listened to Connie Young Yu’s interview too! Her story was amazing. She research was very factual and oral history based. It felt very genuine listening to her talk about the obstacles she and her family faced in the past. Her interview made me think of how far her family has come in terms of success.
Hey Minjee!
I also said that I would check in with family as to our histories. It’s how I’ve inquired in the past for sure!
I saw Connie’s history in the Chinese Railroad project and watched a short portion of her interview while searching for one to write about. It’s interesting to me how even today there are still recollections of the experiences of our ancestors. The person I studied for my oral history, interestingly, didn’t speak of the railroad workers’ struggles, but he did mention the racism,xenophobia, and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Minjee, I agree with the others that going directly to the sources of information– your parents or other relatives– is a great first step to learn more about the past. I wonder what other sources you could access to learn about your family history, especially if there are pieces of the stories that are missing or unknown even to them.