Article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/these-artists-want-draw-chinese-railroad-workers-back-history-n997181

Painter Lin Zhi and photographer Li Ju are have collaborated and have organized a showing of Art and Stories to recognize the Chinese workers of  the transcontinental railroad, right before celebrating it’s 150th year anniversary. Painter Lin Zhi has been painting watercolors of sections in the railroad, showing the absence of workers. This is calling attention to the erasure of Chinese in the building of the railroads. Li Ju is a photographer from Beijing, who had only recently found out about the Chinese railroad workers in America, has been taking pictures, similar to Zhi’s watercolors. Together they have produced and gathered many parts of American history, that have not been shared to the majority of the world in order to celebrate/recognize the effort of the workers.

I chose this because it ties into two subjects. One because I like to follow artists and their endeavors, and because of the recent reading we had just completed by Frank Chin. I think it is important that history be accurate and inclusive, that it shouldn’t just be one sided or a narrow slice of the past. The most memorable quote from the article is from Kwan, the president of the Chinese Railroad Workers Association, “I absolutely have hope that it is going to change- because we’re changing it.” This is in response to American schools not including this history as part of their education.