A native of China, Suellen Cheng studied under the tutelage of UCLA Historian Gary Nash, whose work influenced a new generation by emphasizing and celebrating the role of minorities and people of color in the larger narrative of American history. Following in his footsteps, as founding curator of the Chinese American Museum and now Museum Director and Curator of El Pueblo Historical Monument, Cheng has spent the last two decades of her career recovering the unrecorded history of early Chinese immigrants to Los Angeles and California. In the following videos, Suellen Cheng describes the first building blocks of the Chinese community in Los Angeles and the community's transition from a city of migrants to the home of longtime residents.
Support for the Departures' Chinatown installment is provided through these funders and local community partners, as well as from viewers like you.
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Click here to see all funders and community partners for Departures.
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THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
The Great Wall of Los Angeles has been a work in progress since its inception, and plans for its growth include extending the story from the 1950s into the 1990s.
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THROUGH THE COMMUNITY'S EYES: PERCEPTIONS OF THE GREAT WALL
The value of the mural is evident through the eyes of the growingly diverse local community. Neighbors have a personal connection to a particular panel's story or have grown up with it, learning and sharing the lessons the mural has to offer.
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NEW VOICES: NEW FACES IN LOS ANGELES MURALISM
Today, young artists inspired by SPARC and other pioneering muralists are continuing the legacy of muralism in Los Angeles with new avenues of approach.
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RESTORATION OF THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
More than 25 years later, Judith Baca and SPARC returned to the Great Wall, to restore its luster after years of fading in the summer and beaten by the waters of the Tujunga Wash.

















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