History was made on Oct. 24, 2022 when for the first time the image of an Asian American appeared on United States currency. This distinct honor goes to Anna May Wong (黄柳霜), a groundbreaking actress in the 20th century during the rise of the film industry and a champion for Asian American representation in film.
Born in 1905, Anna May Wong was the granddaughter of a Chinese immigrant. Growing up in Los Angeles, she found herself at the epicenter of a nascent Hollywood film industry, with productions setting up equipment in her neighborhood. Film roles followed, though opportunities were limited by the ethnic stereotyping common at the time.
Despite those barriers, Wong had a storied career, becoming the first Asian American actor to get top billing in a Hollywood production (Toll of the Sea) in 1922 and even founding her own production company, Anna May Wong Productions. A year before she died at the age of 56 in 1961, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of her advocacy for greater representation of Asian Americans in Hollywood and cinematic achievements.
To better understand Anna May Wong’s extraordinary life and career, the Renwen Society presents a lecture on January 14, 2023 by Dr. Yu Juan, a research on Anna May Wong. Dr. Yu will present Wong’s life in general, and her visit back to China in 1936 in particular. Dr. Yu will illustrate her talk with rare film footage of Anna May Wong in China.
With a Ph.D. in art, Yu Juan is a researcher at the Shanghai Audio Visual Archive, specializing in the study of of Chinese cinematic history and documentaries. She has produced a short bio video series of “Anna May Wong’s vlog”, which has been nominated for the Best Archive Program Award in 2022 by The International Federation of Television Archives, a global network of broadcast archives. She has published several studies on Anna May Wong’s visit to China in 1936.
2022年10月24日美国联邦铸币局正式发行印有黄柳霜头像的硬币。这是美国货币上首次出现亚裔面孔。黄柳霜是谁？她被誉为首位闯荡好莱坞的华裔女星，也是首个在好莱坞星光大道上留星的华裔演员。
黄柳霜1905年1月3日出生在美国洛杉矶。1919年14岁的她在电影《红灯笼》中以群众演员身份进入演艺界。1922年彩色印染电影《海逝（The Toll of the Sea）》中她首次以主角身份亮相大荧幕。黄柳霜的演艺生涯跨越电影、电视以及舞台等多种媒介，一生参演了60多部电影，包括默片以及首批彩色印染电影。她还因1951年的电视节目《柳霜女士的画廊》成为美国电视历史上首位美籍亚裔主角。
美国《时代》周刊这样评价黄柳霜的职业意义：“她作为亚裔美籍演员，在一个‘白人扮演黄种人’盛行且有反通婚法律的年代，克服万难获得了有意义的角色”。Stony Brook大学的历史系教授雪莉·詹妮弗·林(Shirley Jennifer Lim)评述黄的职业生涯时说：“黄柳霜一直在奋力面对身为一名亚裔美籍女演员的困难”。
1961年2月3日黄柳霜去世。她至今仍被视为是国际电影明星、时尚偶像、电视事业的开拓者，以及美籍亚裔电影演员中的代表人物，仍在演艺界和电影界中享有非凡的影响力。
为进一步了解黄柳霜的生平和艺术贡献，华美人文学会于2023年美东时间1月14日晚8时至9时半（北京时间1月15日上午9时至10时半）特邀黄柳霜研究者余娟博士做《美国货币上的华裔明星——黄柳霜的精彩人生》专题讲座。余娟博士将追溯黄柳霜的不凡生平，并聚焦黄柳霜1936年首次也是唯一一次的中国之行。在这八个多月的寻根之旅中，美国赫斯特新闻社派出华裔摄影师王小亭拍摄新闻片。黄柳霜自己也有摄制制作了名为《我的中国电影》（My China Film ）的私人电影。讲座将结合这批珍贵历史影像与当时的媒体报道等档案资料，解析首位好莱坞华裔女星归国行程及其背后的文化意义，以此纪念这位杰出的华人女性。
主讲嘉宾余娟，艺术学博士，现任上海音像资料馆副研究馆员，长期关注中国电影史和纪录片的研究与创作领域，制作第一人称历史类短视频《黄柳霜的VLOG》系列获国际电视资料联合会（FIAT/IFAT）2022年度最佳档案节目奖提名，文章《1936年华裔女星黄柳霜的归国行程》发表于2022年《档案春秋》杂志，论文《从双重他者到国族认同——1936年黄柳霜回国影像考证与文化浅析》入选2022年中国电影史学年会。