Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018
Chinatown has a long history in Boston. Though little documented, it represents the city's most sustained neighborhood effort to survive during eras of hostility and urban transformation. It has been wounded and transformed, slowly ceding ground; at the same time, its residents and organizations have gained a more prominent voice over their community's fate.

In writing about Boston Chinatown's long history, Michael Liu, a lifelong activist and scholar of the community, charts its journey and efforts for survival—from its emergence during a time of immigration and deep xenophobia to the highway construction and urban renewal projects that threatened the neighborhood after World War II to its more recent efforts to keep commercial developers at bay. At the ground level, Liu depicts its people, organizations, internal battles, and varied and complex strategies against land-taking by outside institutions and public authorities. The documented courage, resilience, and ingenuity of this low-income immigrant neighborhood of color have earned it a place amongst our urban narratives. Chinatown has much to teach us about neighborhood agency, the power of organizing, and the prospects of such neighborhoods in rapidly growing and changing cities.
1136976282
Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018
Chinatown has a long history in Boston. Though little documented, it represents the city's most sustained neighborhood effort to survive during eras of hostility and urban transformation. It has been wounded and transformed, slowly ceding ground; at the same time, its residents and organizations have gained a more prominent voice over their community's fate.

In writing about Boston Chinatown's long history, Michael Liu, a lifelong activist and scholar of the community, charts its journey and efforts for survival—from its emergence during a time of immigration and deep xenophobia to the highway construction and urban renewal projects that threatened the neighborhood after World War II to its more recent efforts to keep commercial developers at bay. At the ground level, Liu depicts its people, organizations, internal battles, and varied and complex strategies against land-taking by outside institutions and public authorities. The documented courage, resilience, and ingenuity of this low-income immigrant neighborhood of color have earned it a place amongst our urban narratives. Chinatown has much to teach us about neighborhood agency, the power of organizing, and the prospects of such neighborhoods in rapidly growing and changing cities.
32.95 In Stock
Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018

Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018

by Michael Liu
Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018

Forever Struggle: Activism, Identity, and Survival in Boston's Chinatown, 1880-2018

by Michael Liu

Paperback(First Edition)

$32.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    In stock. Ships in 1-2 days.
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

Chinatown has a long history in Boston. Though little documented, it represents the city's most sustained neighborhood effort to survive during eras of hostility and urban transformation. It has been wounded and transformed, slowly ceding ground; at the same time, its residents and organizations have gained a more prominent voice over their community's fate.

In writing about Boston Chinatown's long history, Michael Liu, a lifelong activist and scholar of the community, charts its journey and efforts for survival—from its emergence during a time of immigration and deep xenophobia to the highway construction and urban renewal projects that threatened the neighborhood after World War II to its more recent efforts to keep commercial developers at bay. At the ground level, Liu depicts its people, organizations, internal battles, and varied and complex strategies against land-taking by outside institutions and public authorities. The documented courage, resilience, and ingenuity of this low-income immigrant neighborhood of color have earned it a place amongst our urban narratives. Chinatown has much to teach us about neighborhood agency, the power of organizing, and the prospects of such neighborhoods in rapidly growing and changing cities.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781625345462
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date: 12/18/2020
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

MICHAEL LIU is coauthor of The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism: Community, Vision, and Power and former senior research associate at the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Table of Contents

Preface & Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Introduction A Chinatown Walk 1

Chapter 1 Bands of Brothers Build Community, 1880-1941 13

Chapter 2 A Neighborhood Moves through Unfamiliar Times, 1942-1974 33

Chapter 3 The Neighborhood in a World-Class City, 1974-1983 59

Chapter 4 Chinatown Joins the Revolt of the Neighborhoods, 1975-1983 85

Chapter 5 Limits of the Populist Growth Coalition, 1984-1989 99

Chapter 6 "To Be or Not to Be" for the Parcel C Garage, 1990-1993 125

Chapter 7 Leading against the Growth Machine, 1993-1998 141

Chapter 8 Building New Alliances, 1999-2007 157

Chapter 9 Bubble, Trouble, and Testing a New Vision, 2008-2014 173

Chapter 10 Chinatowns and Ethnic Survival in a Globalized World 189

Conclusion Making the Road by Walking 201

Notes 209

Index 241

What People are Saying About This

Tarry Hum

Forever Struggle describes opportunities for and challenges to building cross-racial alliances that address shared concerns regarding police brutality, environmental racism, bureaucratic, real estate—driven city planning, and exclusion from local policy decision-making. This is the most important contribution of this book... most Chinatown studies tend to emphasize these communities''enclave' qualities, reinforcing the sense of insularity, self-sufficiency, and clannishness.

Anthony Bak Buccitelli

Forever Struggle is an accessibly written and broad political, social, and economic history of Boston's Chinatown. Liu has uncovered the fascinating and previously overlooked story of one of Boston's most vital ethnic communities.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews