Seeking Community

Photographer Lizzie Chen and Asian Pacific American Community Archivist Ayshea Khan are excited to present Seeking Community: Asian American Belonging within the Austin American-Statesman, a curated selection of photographs from the Austin American-Statesman Photographic Morgue collection housed at the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. During a time when Austin’s Asian Pacific American population was small, international visitors, new immigrants, educators, and families had to be resourceful and resilient in the search of community. These images from the 1960s-1980s offer a rare glimpse into early moments of collaboration, education, and exchange. These images were first physically installed as an exhibition at the Asian American Resource Center in September 2022.

All images were produced as part of the ongoing Austin History Center project, “Communities of Color in the Austin American-Statesman Photo Morgue: A Digitization Survey.” The  Austin American-Statesman Photographic Morgue Collection (AR.2014.039)  contains hundreds of thousands of negatives taken by staff photographers between 1958 and 2012. The “morgue” of a newspaper was an area in the building where back issues and past negatives were kept. The survey aims to digitize thousands of negatives documenting Austin’s African American, Latinx, and Asian Pacific American communities. This initiative is funded by a TexTreasures Grant made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

The copyright of all the images a part of this exhibit belong to the Austin American-Statesman.

A group of over 40 Chinese children visited a ranch on this hot summer day in 1980. The kids rode horses, ate hot dogs and egg rolls, and played games together.

Alan Taniguchi began teaching part-time at University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture in 1955 and assumed a permanent position in 1961. He served as the school's Dean from 1967 to 1972 and was an active organizer on campus. He advocated for social responsibility within architecture education and fought for Black and female architects to join UT's faculty. He resigned in 1972 to become the Director of Architecture at Rice University and continue his private practice. Alan is the son of Isamu Taniguchi, who was incarcerated at Crystal City during World War II. Through Alan's involvement with designing Austin city projects, Isamu built the Japanese Gardens at the Zilker Botanical Gardens as a gift of peace to the city.

On December 15, 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced the formal recognition of the People's Republic of China. This declaration also severed a longstanding diplomatic and military tie to Taiwan. As a result, over 100 Taiwanese students from University of Texas at Austin marched from campus to the Federal Building in downtown Austin to voice their opposition to the decision.

By February 1980, more than 70 Vietnamese young refugees were enrolled at the Gary Job Corps Training Center in San Marcos, TX. Gary Job Corps Center first opened in 1965 and is the largest Job Corp center in the United States that serves individuals 16 to 24. At the time these photographs were taken, the center struggled with identifying Vietnamese-speaking staff that could readily assist youth who were overwhelmed by their new environment. Do Son, pictured center in the photograph on the right, was 19 years old when this photograph was taken. He came to the U.S. from a fishing village in Vietnam, staying with an aunt in Florida before volunteering for the Job Corp to increase his English proficiency and job skills.

Bashir Ahmed was a camel driver who met Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson during his goodwill mission in Karachi, Pakistan. Johnson extended an invitation to the United States to Ahmed, who readily accepted. Leveraging the resources offered by the People-to-People program, Bashir was able to tour New York City, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Johnson's private ranch during his week-long stay.

The Islamic Center of Greater Austin, now known as Nueces Mosque, was established in March 1977, by the Muslim Students’ Association at UT-Austin as the first mosque in Austin. The first building was a white frame 2000 sq. ft. building at 1906 Nueces Street. An adjacent building was later purchased in 1982 to establish the Peace Elementary School, the first accredited full-time Islamic school in Austin.

vand his family came to San Marcos from Vietnam in 1975. The family moved to Austin in 1976, to open the Saigon Egg Rolls stand on the Guadalupe Street Drag of the University of Texas at Austin. The business gained popularity quickly, selling between 200-300 eggrolls per day. Saigon served the UT community for over 20 years alongside other vendors such as Long Beach Egg Rolls.

Leung Ock Ngin and his wife Helen Keyes pose amid their Chinese pumpkin patch. Ngin was born in Canton, China and owned the Wing On Cafe at 319 E 6th Street in the 1940s. In 1957, he married Helen Keyes, a white Texan whose mother ran Keyes Beauty Shop on Speedway. Helen's sister, Anna Louise Keyes, was married to Jimmie Joe Lung, a member of another early Chinese American family. By 1965, Ngin was a cook at Lung's Chinese Kitchen. In the August 1965 article published in the Austin American-Statesman, the couple recommends preparing the pumpkin in a soup with beef, chicken, or pork.

Sadayo Taniguchi (right), wife of Isamu Taniguchi, sits with Mrs. John Kemp and Suzue Imamura, along with Suzue's child, Mari. Suzue, native to Kyoto, was the wife of Takashi Imamura, who was attending graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. Baby Mari was born in Austin in December 1969, and the family lived on Enfield Road. The Imamuras were hosted at Kemp's home as part of the Host Family Program, first established by UT's International Hospitality Committee in 1958.

Father Sathi Bunyan came from South India to the United States in 1971 to attend Southern Methodist University. He later served as an assistant priest at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Austin. In preparation for the church's Holiday Fair, Bunyan prepared mincemeat, puri, and potato curry for the congregation. These recipes were published in the October 29, 1976, issue of the Austin American-Statesman.

The Nguyen family is among the 450 Vietnamese refugees that came to Austin through Fort Chaffee in Arkansas in 1975. Van Thin (back center) was a former official in the Saigon Department of Communication Transportation when he and his family fled Vietnam and resettled in Austin under the sponsorship of the University United Methodist Church. His wife, Thi Minh, was a teacher and their daughter, Thi Tuyetmai, was a sophomore biology student at University of Texas at Austin at the time of this photograph. Their youngest daughter, Kieu Oanh, was a freshman at Lanier High School.

Statesman photographer Lonnie Sutherland had to climb a telephone pole and drop onto a roof to snap this photograph of Mahmoud Homsi and his family, complete with baby their baby in tow. The Syrian family were world travelers making their way through the University of Texas at Austin campus.

Sindha "Mickey" Kashinath Hulbe and his wife Nirman Hulbe are pictured with their son, Vijay. Mickey attended University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) to receive his PhD and Nirman was attending the School of Library Science. Mickey chose UT-Austin because it was near San Antonio, where a past caregiver, Ruth Ecklund/Andrews, resided. Their plans were to return to India once their studies were complete, where Mickey continued his work in community development.

Mrs. Tetsuro Asaba holds Seiko, the 8-months-old baby of Mrs. Nobu Ooyama at the very first International Wives coffee event. The event was organized by the International Hospitality Committee of Austin at the home of Francis Conley.

Lt. Col. Norman S. Laird adopted two teenage Thai boys, Chalor (left, first picture) and Wanchai (right), when stationed at the air base at U-Tapao, Thailand. The teenage Thai friends worked together at the air base when they met Laird. Laird worked with their parents to facilitate an adoption so that Chalor and Wanchai could recieve an education in the United States. Both boys arrived in Austin in October 1973, and attended Del Valle High School.

Professor Dao Nhat Tien operated a publishing house in South Vietnam which ran a political-economic magazine called Viet. He came to Austin as a refugee in 1975, and due to the language barrier, received employment at a 7-Eleven convenience store. He continued his passion of publishing by authoring Vietnamese children's book and a local newspaper for Austin's Vietnamese community. He also served as a chairman for the Vietnamese Refugee Association.

The San Juan Child Development Center was located on East 2nd Street and served 14 Vietnamese refugee children in 1976. The Center opened in June of 1970 as part of the San Juan Lutheran Church.

Bich-Chi Vu Thuong teaches English to newly arrived Vietnamese refugees Quang and Mi-Ling at Koenig Lane Christian Church. Bich-Chi arrived in Austin in 1975, with her husband and four children. In addition to teaching at the church, she operated a community newspaper, Que/Me Homeland. She also taught an English summer class at Austin High School.

Noriko Murakawa and Takeo Murakawa show a book on Japan to a fourth grader at the Pease School. Noriko studied educational psychology at University of Texas at Austin while her husband studied electrochemistry as a Fulbright Research Scholar.

Tuan Nguyen, 25 years old in this photograph, came to the United States from Vietnam. While he was able to make it to Austin, his brothers, sisters, and parents had to remain in his home country.

Mrs. Graham Smedley adjusts the veil of Alice Yu-Ian Yao moment before Alice's wedding to Youh Ku. Both from Shanghai, the couple met in Dallas and moved to Austin to study and work as University of Texas at Austin graduate students. The ceremony took place in the Harris Memorial Chapel of the University Methodist Church. Smedley, along with Mrs. George Michael Cox, were family friends of the couple and served as "stand-in mothers" during the ceremony.