Celebrate the first Chinese-American Hollywood movie star with your very own Anna May Wong fabric doll kit. The kit features an illustration of Anna May Wong on the front of the fabric, and educational details on the back. The finished doll doubles as a pillow!
Anna May Wong was an Asian American actress who found success in both Hollywood and Europe in films such as Piccadilly (1929), Daughter of the Dragon (1931) and Shanghai Express (1932). Though as a Chinese American she was often limited to smaller roles that fit the Asian stereotypes expected by white producers and audiences, Wong still managed to put her own stamp on the parts she was allotted. She built a career that spanned silent films, talkies, the theater and television, and was considered a fashion icon. Wong is now recognized as an iconic Asian American actress who dealt with difficult circumstances and helped blaze a trail for subsequent generations of performers.
From February 11, 2022, Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass' America shines a light on the late 1860s—at a moment of great hope for the promise of equality under the law. The famed orator and once-enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass took his “Our Composite Nation” speech on the road to argue for a plural American democracy, especially calling out the need to include Chinese American immigrants. The mission of this new nation, he declared, was to provide the world “a composite, perfect illustration of the unity of the human family.” For what was the U.S., he said, but “the most conspicuous example of composite nationality in the world?” This special installation features artifacts, images, and a theatrical design that bring Douglass’ compelling speech to life and explores his vision of freedom, citizenship, and equal rights that remains urgently relevant today, as a hopeful plea for America to live up to its founding ideals.
