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American Immigration Law Center
Exhibit Hall
Last updated July 5, 2007

The only facility in Washington, DC devoted exclusively
to displaying travelling exhibitions about our nation's immigrant heritage.



Current Exhibit on Display: The Artwork of Belle Yang: Immigrant, Author, Illustrator and Activist

July 16, 2007 - December 14, 2007

Utica Exhibit

American Immigration Law Center
Exhibit Hall
American Immigration Law Foundation’s Curriculum Center
918 F Street N.W., Washington, DC



The vivid, Chinese-influenced artwork from "Hannah is My Name" and "Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father's Shoulders" tells two stories of a young girl and her family's transition from China to San Francisco, California and the coming-of-age of the artist's father in northern China in the 1930s and 1940s.

Accompanying the collection is the documentary "MY NAME IS BELLE". "MY NAME IS BELLE" is an autobiographical story based on the childhood of Belle Yang and her ability to overcome the struggles of assimilation into American society. Of "MY NAME IS BELLE", author Amy Tan said "Belle's voice is so true and pure it is capable of washing away the grainy layers of cynicism."

Born in 1960 in Taiwan, Belle Yang lived part of her childhood years in Japan. At the age of seven, she and her family immigrated to the United States. She studied at Stirling University in Scotland, graduated from University of California-Santa Cruz with honors in biology, but eventually went on to pursue fine art at the Pasadena Art Center College of Design and the Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting in Beijing. She returned to the United States in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square protests.

"I returned with gratitude in my heart for the freedom of expression given me in America. I returned convinced that I would firmly grasp that generous gift with both hands - always," Belle Yang said regarding her return to the United States.

Check out Belle Yang's website: www.belleyang.com

Read the recent article by Marie Arana about Belle Yang in The Washington Post: July 1, 2007 Book World Section.

Belle Yang's comic in Washington Post Book World, July 1, 2007, "Against Forgetting"





AILF Building
About the Exhibit Hall

We are located at:
918 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004

1/2 block from Fords Theater to the west and
1/2 block from the International Spy Museum to the East.

Open Weekdays 10:00am - 5:00pm
For more information about our exhibits call (202)742-5600.

More information is available online about
the historic American Immigration Law Center building.


Bring AILF's Traveling Immigration Exhibit to Your Community



Past Exhibits
UTICA: The Town That Loves Refugees (UNHCR)
An Immigrant Christmas 2006
Mexican Voices, American Dreams:
A Celebration of Mexican Immigration

Between Cultures:
Children of Immigrants in America

An Immigrant Christmas 2005
Gateway to America: Images from Ellis Island
Family Heritage: A Second Grader's Perspective
America's Heritage
The Jewish Immigration Experience
Prisoners in our own Home
Mexican Voices/American Dreams
Building and Bridging Communities
Americans by Choice
Fly to Freedom
No Human Being is Illegal
Immigration and Caricature
Home for the Heart
America's Gateway
The Enemy Alien Files
An Immigrant Christmas 2002


Copyright © 2004-2007
American Immigration Law Foundation
918 F Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20004
202-742-5600 (voice) | 202-742-5619 (fax) | info@ailf.org (email)

 

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