Overview

Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she cofounded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants. Susan Blumberg-Kason draws on extensive interviews to profile the community and social justice organization. Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education. Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. At once intimate and broad in scope, When Friends Come from Afar uses one woman’s life to illuminate a bedrock Chicago institution.

Full Product Details

Author:   Susan Blumberg-Kason
Publisher:   University of Illinois Press
Imprint:   University of Illinois Press
Edition:   New edition
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780252046070

ISBN 10:   0252046072
Pages:   200
Publication Date:   30 September 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Foreword The Ten Founders of the Chinese American Service League Author’s Note Prologue: Chinatown Diplomacy Part I: The Early Years in the 1970s Hong Kong Connections Eleanor So and Her Seniors Charitable Organizations and Connections The Dentist’s Office A Tale of Two Chinatowns   Part II: The Busy 1980s In the Spirit of the Settlement Movement Linda Yu to the Rescue A Solution to a Very American Problem Have You Eaten? The Next Generation of Social Workers The Zhou Brothers Plant Roots in Chinatown   Part III: The Expansive 1990s The Youth Center on Canal Street Expanding Senior Services Senior Housing Becomes a Reality CASL Needs a New Home   Part IV: A New Home in the 2000s Program Consolidation and Expansion Multigenerational Services in One Space CASL’s Impact and Recognition   Part V: New Challenges in the 2020s Pandemic Response The End of an Era Epilogue    Looking Forward Acknowledgments Appendix I    Chinese American Service League Board of Directors, 1978–2022 Appendix II    List of Interviews and Written Statements Notes Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China and Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong.

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