 | Reinventing Citizenship: Black Los Angeles, Korean Kawasaki, and Community Participation Subjects: Community development -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century; Social service -- California -- Los Angeles -- History -- 20th century; African Americans -- California -- Los Angeles -- Politics and government -- 20th century; Community Act;
Local activists in Los Angeles and Kawasaki ardently challenged the welfare institutions. By creating opposition movements and voicing alternative visions of citizenship, African American leaders, Tsuchiya argues, turned Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty into a battle for equality. Koreans countered the city's and the nation's exclusionary policies and asserted their welfare rights. Tsuchiya's work exemplifies transnational antiracist networking, showing how black religious leaders traveled to Japan to meet Christian Korean activists and to provide counsel for their own struggles. Reinventing Citizenship reveals how race and citizenship transform as they cross countries and continents. By documenting the interconnected histories of African Americans and Koreans in Japan, Tsuchiya enables us to rethink present ideas of community and belonging. Kazuyo Tsuchiya is associate professor of American history and culture in the Department of English at Kanagawa University. |
