Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung was the first Chinese American woman to become a physician. She founded one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1920s. During World War II, she and her widespread network of “adopted sons,” most of them American soldiers, sailors, and airmen who called her “Mom,” became famous. Although she faced prejudice because of her race, gender, and sexuality, Dr. Chung forged a distinctive path throughout her life.

Maggie Gee was of one of two Chinese American World War II Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She was also a noted political activist and research physicist.

Yuri Kochiyama was a Japanese American political and civil rights activist. During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly removed her and her family to an incarceration site for Japanese Americans. For fifty years, Kochiyama spoke out about oppressive institutions and injustice in the United States.

Larry Itliong was a Filipino American labor organizer and civil rights activist. He played a central role in the founding of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Itliong is best known for his role in the 1965-1966 strike and boycott against California grape growers and the subsequent founding of the UFW. His activism was a lifelong endeavor. For more than four decades, he organized and advocated on behalf of farm and cannery workers, immigrants, and Asian Americans.

Philip Vera Cruz was a Filipino American labor organizer, farmworker, and leader in the Asian American movement. He played a central role in founding the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Vera Cruz is best known for his role in the Delano Farmworkers strike and boycott, and his leadership in UFW, where he served as the second vice-president.

In 1934, Leah Hing, a first-generation Chinese American, became the first U.S.-born Chinese American woman to earn a pilot's license.

Harry S. Kawabe was one of Seward's most prosperous and popular businessmen.

A leading conservationist and politician, Kent carried his advocacy to Washington, D.C. When he was elected to the House of Representatives from Marin, he authored the law founding the National Park Service in 1916. He also supported the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote, no doubt influenced by his wife Elizabeth, an ardent suffragist. But Kent brought harmful ideas to Congress as well.

Vincent Chin was a Chinese American draftsman who lived in Detroit, Michigan during the deindustrialization of the Midwest. On June 19, 1982, Chin was the victim of an anti-Asian hate crime. White autoworkers Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz fatally beat him with a baseball bat. Vincent Chin’s life and the legal struggle for justice that followed his murder inspired the development Pan-Asian American community organizing in Detroit.

Grace Lee Boggs was a Chinese American civil rights and labor activist. Her support for causes such as the Black Power movement, feminism, and the environment spanned over 70 years. Throughout her life, Grace Lee Boggs maintained the core belief that if people worked together, they could accomplish positive social change.