WOMEN IN US-ASIAN RELATIONS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Dr. Peggy Christoff and her students examined the ways women historically sought to increase understanding between the U.S. and Asia over a 125-year time period (from the 1850s to the 1970s). They examined the trajectory of American history in the early 1800s when women were precursors, at the turn of the 20^th century when women took on roles as progressives, and in the mid-1900s when women challenged the status quo both domestically and abroad. They traced the broader context of U.S.-Asian relations, encompassing the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction era, American missionary movements in Asia, Chinese exclusion laws, WW2 Japanese internment camps, the Korean War, the ascendancy of the Chinese Communist Party, Philippine independence, Indian political movements, and the Vietnam War.

Here are the Interviews  they conducted with women who are cross-cultural “travelers” between the United States and Asia.