In 2012, the Presidio Trust continues its popular Contemporary Historians at the Presidio lecture series. Talks by nationally known historians cover large themes in American and world history, and put the Presidio into context as a former military post and an innovative national park.

The Redmond Kernan Lecture: The Annual Talk Honoring Redmond Kernan, a Lover of History and the Presidio

Americans First: Chinese Americans and the Second World War

Featuring K. Scott Wong

This talk will address the impact of World War II on Chinese Americans, on both Hawaii and the US mainland, and most notably in San Francisco. Mr. Wong will describe the changes the war brought to the social status of Chinese Americans, changes in occupations, and their often over-looked service in the American military. 

K. Scott Wong is the James Phinney Baxter III Professor of History and Public Affairs at Williams College where he teaches courses in Asian American history, comparative immigration history, the history of the American West, history and memory, and American Studies. He is the co-editor, of Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era. Most recently, he published Americans First: Chinese Americans and the Second World War.