The Goleta Valley Historical Society will host a second lecture in conjunction with its exhibition “Avenge Ellwood: The Japanese Attack on California.”
Dr. Xiaojian Zhao of the Asian American Studies Department at UCSB will present “The Impact of WWII on Asian Americans” at 1 p.m. this Sunday, April 29. The presentation will focus on the impact of war on both Chinese and Japanese Americans and how Asian American men and women experienced the war differently.
Born in China, Zhao received her Ph.D. in U.S. history from UC Berkeley. She has taught Asian American history at UCSB since 1994. Her first book, Remaking Chinese American: Immigration, Family, and Community, 1945 to 1965, received the History Book Award from the Association for Asian American Studies in 2003. She has published two more books in recent years, including The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy. She spent a year in China in 2010 as a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow.
Currently, she is working on a new book project on Chinese immigration in the global era.
The exhibition commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Ellwood Shelling, when on Feb. 23, 1942, a large Japanese submarine surfaced at sundown off of Ellwood Mesa and fired its deck cannon at the tidelands oil-production facilities clustered along the shore. The shelling followed the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged the United States into World War II.
Visitors can experience the exhibit, on view until Dec. 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Reservations are required to attend the lecture. Society members are complimentary, guests are $10. For more information about the lecture or the exhibition, click here or call the Goleta Valley Historical Society at 805.681.7216.
— Dacia Harwood is an events coordinator for the Goleta Valley Historical Society.