Gertrude Yukie Tsutsumi
Gertrude Yukie Tsutsumi, also known by her stage name Onoe Kikunobu, is one of the premier nihon buyo (Japanese classical dance) artists in Hawaii and has been studying the tradition for more than 50 years.
Tag Archives: Asian Descent
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Sumita Mitra
An Indian American inventor known for creating a revolutionary dental filling material that improved the way dentists restore teeth, Sumita Mitra used her curiosity and imagination to discover the idea for the material where she least expected it.
Hua Wenyi
Internationally renowned kunqu (Chinese opera) singer
Amy Tan
By bravely exploring experiences of immigrant families, heritage, memories, and poignant struggles, Amy Tan’s writing makes sense of the present through the past and adds ground-breaking narrative to the diverse sweep of American life and literature.
Sangeeta Bhatia
A biomedical researcher, MIT professor, and biotech entrepreneur, she has invented human microlivers to study drug metabolism and liver disease as well as nanoparticles that help diagnose, study, and treat ailments like cancer.
Florence Finch
Florence Finch aided United States military intelligence and the Philippine resistance movement during World War II. She provided supplies to prisoners of war (POWs) in Manila when the Japanese occupied the island, and she survived arrest and interrogation.
Yang Fang Nhu
In 1978, Fang Nhu and her husband were forced to leave Laos, their livelihood threatened by the Communist regime. In Providence, Fang Nhu became active in the immigrant Hmong community and was eager to teach her weaving skills to her daughter-in-law Ia-Moua Yang. For Fang Nhu, weaving was not just making cloth, but was representative of a social fabric.
Yuquin Wang
Chinese-American rod puppeteer
Gitanjali Rao
At 16 years old, Gitanjali Rao has invented a device to detect lead in water (inspired by the crisis in Flint, Michigan), an anti-bullying app, and was named TIME’s first “Kid of the Year” in 2020, among other notable accomplishments.
Em Bun
Em Bun was born January 1, 1916, in a small village in southern Cambodia. Her maternal ancestors had always been considered the village weavers. As a child, she watched her grandmother and mother weaving. Em Bun learned to weave from her mother when she was about 10 years old. She also learned to process the silk from cocoons raised on the family’s farmland.
In 1979, Em Bun, along with her four daughters and two sons, fled Cambodia because of the communist takeover. They escaped to refugee camps in Thailand, and finally arrived in the United States on June 4, 1981. They settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, because one of her sons was already living there.
In the United States, it was difficult for Em Bun to continue her prestigious work as weaver, farmer, and merchant. The language barrier inhibited her ability to make new friends, and she lapsed into isolation and depression. Then a group of Pennsylvania women provided her with a loom and weaving materials. Em Bun was truly happy for the first time in nine years, according to her children.
Subsequently, Em Bun was recognized as a master weaver by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Grants from the council encouraged her daughters to study their mother’s art. All her family members now wear Em Bun’s bright pure silk hand-woven sarong skirts to Cambodian weddings and celebrations. Cambodians up and down the East Coast have placed their own orders for the two-meter lengths of silk. Em Bun uses leftover silk from a tie factory in central Pennsylvania, anointing the materials as she weaves with tapioca and coconut oil to provide the unparalleled luster and sheen of true Cambodian silk.
The subtlety of a master Cambodian weaver is expressed in the basic decisions of which colors enhance others. Although Em Bun’s work appears to be mostly solid colors, close examination reveals that the warp threads differ from the weft threads that cross, producing unusual and shimmering hues. Em Bun’s exquisite and sensitive work has helped her continue to serve as the village weaver, though her village is now nationwide. In addition to her children, she has taught others her art. She has given demonstrations at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., and in her own community. She has helped fellow Cambodian immigrants maintain contact with their heritage and has been a catalyst for the preservation of Cambodian traditional arts in the United States.