The Greenwich Historical Society presents a student-curated exhibit highlighting personal family stories and artifacts gathered as part of the My Story, Our Future project. A collaborative initiative organized by the India Cultural Center and the Asia and Asian American Studies Institute at UConn, the project aims to collect and contribute stories about South Asian American youth identity in Connecticut in support of the state’s mandated K-12 Asian American/Pacific Islander curriculum. Student participants spent the fall of 2022 learning to interview family members on their experiences as immigrants to North America from South Asia. The exhibit will be on view in the Historical Society Museum Lobby from February 13-26.
In the news
You can learn more about the My Story, Our Future initiative and the related upcoming student-curated exhibit by reading the article featured in the Greenwich Time here.
Bios
Jason Oliver Chang
Jason Oliver Chang is Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut where he also serves as the Director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute. As a public servant he sits on the Board of Education for West Hartford Public Schools, the Governor’s Hate Crimes Advisory Council, and the State Historical Records and Archives Board. He is the co-founder of a grassroots organization advocating for Asian American and Pacific Islander studies education reform in K-12 public schools. He is a proud father of three and partner to a Texan poet. When he’s not teaching or holding meetings, he can be found near large bodies of water.
Terry K Park
Founding Director, Maum Consulting
Dr. Terry K Park (he/him) is founding director of Maum Consulting, an Asian American Studies-based educational social enterprise. He also works full-time as the Education and Narrative Change Program Officer at The Asian American Foundation. An award-winning educator, social justice advocate, and former performance artist, Terry has over twenty years of experience at the transformative intersections of anti-racist education, social change storytelling, and media advocacy.
Dr. Park previously served as a full-time, teaching-focused professor of Asian American Studies at seven higher education institutions across the U.S., including Wellesley College and the University of Maryland, College Park–where he oversaw two Asian American oral history projects–as well as Hunter College, San Quentin State Prison and Harvard University, which awarded him a Certificate of Teaching Excellence. Terry has also participated in several national and community-based Asian American organizations across the U.S., including a stint as the Executive Director of Hyphen, an award-winning Asian American news and culture magazine. As a social justice-oriented actor trained by Augusto Boal, Anna Deveare Smith, Judith Sloan, and Ernest Abuba, Terry wrote and performed a semi-autobiographical, oral history-based solo show, 38th Parallels, which enjoyed an Off-Broadway run with Pan Asian Repertory Theatre.
Dr. Park received his BA in International Studies from Vassar College, his MA from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and his PhD in Cultural Studies with a designated emphasis in Studies of Performance and Practice from the University of California, Davis. A second generation Korean American born in Orange County and raised in San Jose, Salt Lake City, and Seoul, Terry currently resides in Oakland, California.
