From the Ground Up Screening and Panel

From the Ground Up follows artist Leon Sun, historians Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee of the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour, and Caroline Cabading of Manilatown Heritage Foundation as they explore the intersections of Asian American community art, history, and archival work in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour (berkeleysouthasian.org) has been educating the public on the local history of South Asian Americans since 2012. Their popular 3-hour tours provide “a deeply researched, sometimes emotional, and always inspiring glimpse at four generations of Desi freedom fighters, feminists, students, queer activists, and more”. Check out their website for some amazing local history resources, like the Secret Desi History blog (secretdesihistory.com). From the Ground Up also profiles the activists behind the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, whose mission is to promote social and economic justice for Filipinos in the United States by preserving history, advocating for equal access, and advancing Filipino arts and culture. They operate the International Hotel Manilatown Center, “the historic site of the community struggle to save the International Hotel and prevent the eviction of its elderly residents from 1968-1977. [The I-Hotel] became a focal point in the creation of the contemporary Asian American movement, especially for Filipino Americans and San Francisco’s housing justice movement” (from https://www.manilatown.org/international-hotel-manilatown-center).