 Young Yu |
Acclaimed historian Connie Young Yu of Los Altos Hills is one of five people being honored at the 11th annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Local Hero Awards ceremony 6-8:30 p.m. today at the KQED Public Broadcasting Center, located at 2601 Mariposa St. in San Francisco.
Union Bank of California, N.A., and KQED Public Broadcasting sponsor the event.
During the past 40 years, Young Yu has made local Asian American history accessible and relevant to the Bay Area community through articles, presentations and books recounting the early experiences of Chinese Americans, including her “Chinatown, San Jose, USA” (San Jose Historical Museum Association, 1991).
Working to ensure that Asian American historical sites are recognized, restored and made available to the public, Young Yu has been instrumental in launching projects across the Bay Area. They include: the restoration of the Immigration Barracks at Angel Island; exhibits in the Ng Shing Gung building at History Park in San Jose; the Chinese Walls in Woodside; and the archeological excavation on the Chinatown site in San Jose.
“It’s wonderful to be recognized for one’s work,” said Young Yu, a resident of Los Altos Hills since 1970. But she isn’t comfortable being labeled a “hero.” “What I do is record other people’s heroism and accomplishments,” she said.
Young Yu’s work and passion for recounting the experiences of immigrants draws on years of research, oral histories and her own family background.
Her paternal grandfather, Young Soong Quong, was among the early merchants of the Heinlenville Chinatown in San Jose, and her maternal grandmother, Lee Yoke Suey, was detained on Angel Island for 16 months while the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect.
Young Yu is a member of the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, the Advisory Council of Asian Americans for Community Involvement and a trustee of the Hakone Foundation. She is a former trustee of her alma mater, Mills College in Oakland.
“I grew up hearing (history) from my parents,” she said. “My parents were pack rats – they saved everything. It (interest in history) came from realizing their stories were relevant.”
The 1970s housewife was politically active in her early days, serving at one point as a youth delegate for presidential candidate George McGovern.
But Young Yu found her calling as a historian.
“We have to connect (to history),” she said. “That’s part of our culture, our values.”
Also being honored are: Regina Clewlow (San Francisco), founding executive director, Engineers for a Sustainable World; The Rev. Norman Fong (San Francisco), deputy director, Chinatown Community Development Center; Cathy Inamasu (San Francisco), executive director, Nihonmachi (Japantown) Little Friends; and Christina Mei-Yue Wong (San Francisco), director of community initiatives, Chinese for Affirmative Action.
Members of the community nominated the honorees, distinguished for their commitment and contributions to the Bay Area through the arts, business, community activism, volunteerism, education and social services.
