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| Renown American Chinese peope |
As a child I’ve always passed through Chinatown to get food
and I never really gave any thought about the area. It is not only a cultural
town, but a place where the American Chinese people feel comfortable. I really
enjoyed walking through the museum because I thought it was very modern and
easy to follow. There are so many things the American Chinese have done for our
country that I knew nothing about. From having the first woman dentist to
co-founding YouTube, the American Chinese have helped America. I am not saying I
thought they have contributed nothing to this country, but I was surprised as
to how much they have contributed. American Chinese people such as Maya Lin,
Grace Lee Boggs, and David Ho has made advances in architecture, women’s
rights, and medicine. The first Chinese immigrant traces back to the end of the
1700s, something I have never learned. To try to restrict Chinese immigrants
from coming into the U.S, a race that has been in this area for the same amount
of time as other European immigrants, is crazy to me. But I was glad to see
that race is not problem for the American Chinese culture. There was one piece
in the museum that I really liked; the topic of mixed citizens. Being of many
races myself, I understand how difficult it is to explain whether I am white or
black. Even though I participate more in my Italian culture, I should not have
to explain my background. A woman who’s photo was in the museum said, “I am a
whole “other”.” It made me happy to
read that because for so long I used to be very frustrated for selecting other
for documents who only allowed you to choose one. I think we should all be
proud of all of our cultural backgrounds, and who we are.
The tour of Chinatown was brutal. It was scorching hot and
we walked around the streets for an hour. The heat made it so hard for me to
focus on the tour and actually be interested in it. One thing that I do
remember is our guide saying usually in Chinatown there are the same stores in
the same area. I thought that was smart because for someone who cannot read the
titles of the stores, they would know one specific area to go to. Our guide
told us there were many tenement houses in this area and that’s exactly where
we went next.
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| Woman of mixed race |
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| Building in Columbus Park |
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| Street in Chinatown |
I wish I had enjoyed the tenement tour because I find the
topic very interesting. I wish we learned more about actual tenements than the
families who lived in there. I was surprised by how big the apartment was.
Although it is not big for a family of 4+, it is larger than the tenement
apartments I have seen in the photos by Jacob Riis. Tenement houses were
primarily of immigrants but I’m sort of confused because I see every settler
rather than the Native Americans an immigrant. I enjoy learning about this era
because this was around the time my grandfather came from Sicily and my grandmother
from Ireland. Well at least that’s what my mom has said. Our guide said
different races would be in a town relatively of their culture and I can agree
with her on that because there is a census of my grandfather living in Little
Italy. She then said that Italians began to move to Brooklyn, and I can agree
with that also because my grandfather moved to Brooklyn. I enjoy being able to
relate things to my family because it allows me to remember it more. The
tenement house was extremely hot and I could not imagine having to live there. After
almost every tour I am so thankful to have been born during this time period.
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