A Conversation With AAPI Women of Congress by Chrissy Lau, NMAH Goldman Sachs Multicultural Junior Fellow

On March 12, 2013, I attended the event “A Conversation With AAPI Women of Congress” at Capitol Hill with my supervisor, Noriko Sanefuji. I had the privilege of partaking in the community celebration of Asian Pacific Islander women who had recently won seats in Congress and made U.S. history. Grace Meng, the representative for New York, is the first Asian American to be elected to Congress from the east coast in U.S. History. Tulsi Gabbard, the representative for Hawai’I, is the first American Samoan and Hindu female to be elected to Congress. I enjoyed hearing both of these strong women leaders graciously talk about continuing their public service to their constituents and communities as well as their newfound impressions of working in Capitol Hill. I also met many other prominent Asian Pacific Islanders present to celebrate these women’s victories, including Franklin Odo, former Director of Asian Pacific American Center, and Norman Mineta, former Secretary of Transportation. Notably, they both took an interest in my dissertation on Japanese American arts and leisure in the 1920s. For Norman Mineta, he remembered that he developed a love for baseball as a young boy. I fully enjoyed the opportunity to meet and greet the Asian Pacific Islander community in Washington D.C.