San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Hosts Special Events For Asian Pacific American History Month
Free admission to Visitor Center and Maritime Museum. Admission to historic ships: Adults $10, Ages 15 and under free (with adult supervision).
Join San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in celebrating Asian Pacific American History Month on Saturday, May 6, Saturday, May 13, and Sunday, May 28. Special programs include:
May 6: “Chinatown’s Maritime Stories" and “Dogpatch Ranch" (a film screening)
May 13: “The Sea of Invisible Riches"
May 28: “Chance and Fair Play"
Chinatown’s Maritime Stories
Saturday, May 6, 10:00am. Meets at Portsmouth Square/Ends at Hyde St. Pier. Free
Walk with a ranger through Chinatown to the Park. You’ll learn about the role Chinese American laborers played in the birth of San Francisco, the Chinese Exclusion Act (and its lingering effect on today’s Chinese community), and how workers hired out of Chinatown sailed aboard the ship Balclutha to Alaska’s salmon canneries during the early 20th century. RSVP: e-mail us
Film Screening of “Dogpatch Ranch"
Saturday, May 6, 1:00-3:30pm, at the Visitor Center, 499 Jefferson Street. Free
This film tells the story of Glenn Lym's Chinese great grandfather and grandmother, and the seven children they raised on a ranch in the late 1800s in Dogpatch, the Potrero, San Francisco. How and why did they raise their family in an outlying neighborhood instead of in Chinatown? This was a time of intense anti-Chinese sentiment; some answers spin out in the lives of their children and suggest an unexpected interface between early Chinese entrepreneurs and San Francisco’s business elite tied to the Pacific Ocean trade and to the railroads.
The Sea of Invisible Riches: Asian Americans and the Alaska Salmon Grounds, 1880-1929
Saturday, May 13, 11:00am-12pm, Hyde Street Pier. Subject to ship admission fee
Explore the role Asian Americans played in the struggle for immigration rights in the decades bordering 1900. This journey took place on the vast arctic coast and ocean of Alaska and the Northeast Pacific. Along the way, learn how Asian Americans captured the invisible ecological and environmental riches of the sea - which Europeans were still in the process of understanding.
Chance and Fair Play: A Dialogue about Maritime Equality and Opportunity
Sunday, May 28, 1:00-3:00pm, at the Visitor Center, 499 Jefferson Street. Free
This facilitated dialogue program includes a talk and illustrated presentation about the ship Balclutha as well as an audience-driven discussion of equality and opportunity from the Asian Pacific American Cannery Worker perspective. Come and share your thoughts and connect stories of the ship to experiences in your own life.
Ongoing Exhibits
The park has a variety of ongoing exhibits that focus on the Asian American experience. Look for the Grace Quan at the small boat dock on Hyde Street Pier, an example of the small craft that Chinese immigrants used to catch shrimp in San Francisco Bay. At the park Visitor Center, exhibits bring to life stories of 19th century Chinese immigration.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located at the west end of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The park includes a magnificent fleet of historic ships, Visitor Center, Maritime Museum, Maritime Research Center, and Aquatic Park Historic District. For more information, please call 415-447-5000 or visit nps.gov/safr, Twitter @SFMaritimeNPS, and Facebook @SanFranciscoMaritimeNHP.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
