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Postwar Chinatown, Changed By Federal Immigration Law

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Irvin Lai. Photo via Departures: Chinatown.

On this Presidents' Day, The Laws That Shaped L.A. invites readers to revisit Departures' comprehensive recent multi-media exploration of the 1965 Immigration Act.

Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, the Act transformed Los Angeles' Chinatown -- and had many other significant effects locally, nationally and internationally.

To learn more about the 1965 Immigration Act and it's local as well as national and international importance:


  • Click the link in this sentence to watch videos, see photos and read the accompanying text of Departures' "The Postwar Years" mural.
  • Click the link in this sentence to read and watch videos of, "When Chinatown and a Nation Transformed.
  • Click the link in this sentence to read Juan Devis' appreciation for and to view videos of the late activist, Irvin Lai.

A new Laws That Shaped L.A. post returns next Monday. Read the stories in the series so far here.

Top: Irvin Lai. Photo via Departures: Chinatown.

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