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.
| ISBN: | 9780252046070 |
| Publication date: | 3rd December 2024 |
| Author: | Susan BlumbergKason |
| Publisher: | 3 Fields Books an imprint of University of Illinois Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 200 pages |
| Genres: |
Gender studies: women and girls Ethnic studies Social work Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Social and cultural history Local history History of the Americas Biography: general |