"Inheriting": Asian Americans Perspectives on How History Affected Their Lives

A perfect list for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.

Inheriting, produced by LAist studios and distributed by the NPR network, is a multi-part, narrative that features seven Asian American and Pacific Islander families as they explore how an event in history affected their lives. 

Host Emily Kwong says this show is the "history class I wish I had growing up." Inheritingis inspired by her own experience looking more deeply into her family history. "The past became personal to me when I stumbled upon a single date, 1943," she writes in an essay for LAist. That was the year the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, just as my grandmother, Hui Chen, was preparing to immigrate to the U.S. When I stitched these two timelines together — my family history and sociopolitical history — my perspective of my own family shifted."

On Inheriting, you'll hear similar stories. Season 1 spans 100 years of history, from the occupation of Guan to 9/11. The first two episodes are out now. They follow Carol Kwang Park as she learns what her mom experienced during the riots of the 1992 LA Uprising. 

🎧 On Episode 1, Park talks to her brother and mother for the first time about what it was like to work at the gas station as kids around the time of the uprising. 
🎧 On Episode 2, a personal crisis prompts Carol to start processing this historical event and her place in history.

 

KJ