Oral Histories and Interviews
On this site you can view video and read transcripts of interviews of people who have descended from the Chinese laborers who worked on the first transcontinental railroad. The interviews seek to discover as much as possible about the workers as transmitted through family lore. The amount that we can learn is limited and dimmed by time, of course, but at least names, home villages, and other material can be added to our understanding of these workers. We can also learn the dynamic histories of the families who, despite cruel discrimination, struggled and flourished in the United States.
An introductory essay by Connie Young Yu, a descendant of a railroad workers and one of the interviewers, describes how the interviews were conducted and provides more background, photos of artifacts, and interpretation of the experiences of early Chinese immigrants and their families.
Also included are three additional videos: interviews with two historians, Charlie Chin and Philip Choy, and Maxine Hong Kingston reads passages from her book China Men that recount the experiences of her grandfather and other men who worked on the railroad.
→ “History from Descendants: An Introduction to Oral History Interviews” Connie Young Yu
Browse interviews by family. Descendants of the same railroad worker are grouped together. Non-descendant interviews are listed under “Affiliates.”
An alphabetical list of all interviews in the collection.
Chan, Gene O.
Chin, Charlie
Chong, Raymond Douglas
Chow, Wilson
Choy, Philip P.
Din, Grant
Eng, Florence
Gor, Ed
Hom, Anthony
Hom, Gary
Hom, Kent Montgomery
Hong, Hazel C.
Jew, Linda Susan
Jung, William Tim
Kingston, Maxine Hong
Kuhn, Carolyn
Lee, Grace
Lee, Sandy
Leong, William
Leung, Ellen Wong
Leung, Wallace
Liang, Paulette
Lim, Richard C.
Lim, Victor
Long, John
Low, Rose
Low, Russell
Mock, Lorraine
Mock, William Sing
Okamura, Kitty Wong
See, Lisa
Tsang, Sylvia Lim
Wong, John R.
Yee, Andrea
Yee, Gene Lim
Yee, Wendy Jane
Yin, Chan Hong
Young, Vicki Tong
Yu, Connie Young
Yu, Jennifer