Event Special Events May Family Day: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month

The Family Day on Saturday, May 11 will feature stories from the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in the Library’s collections. Planned activities will invite you to creatively share your own family histories and experiences. 

Ticketing Information: Register for free tickets to visit the Library at loc.gov/visit. Separate free event tickets are required to attend the special events above.  Visitors only need one of these two tickets to enter during Family Day.

Scheduled Programming: 

Family Day activities with the Informal Learning Office
10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Join us for creative activities exploring AAPI identities and histories through Library of Congress collections. Learn about the diversity of the AAPI community and experiences relating to immigration, adoption, military service, and more. Use this inspiration to write and draw your own family’s stories as part of an onsite activity, then use our take-home guide to record memories in your family and community.  Free timed-entry passes are required for this drop in event.  

Hidden Portals Mask-Making Workshop
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Celebrate AAPI History Month with Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren. Families with children ages 6-12 are invited to a mask-making workshop where attendees will create cardboard virtual reality masks in the shape of a tiger’s head and use them to visit “hidden portals” the artist has made to historic Asian American neighborhoods around the U.S.  

No special equipment beyond a smart phone is required to participate. Lessons will begin every half hour from 11:00-2:00 p.m. in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Room LJ-119. This event requires a free special event ticket. Register Here. 

George Takei Shares “My Lost Freedom”
2 p.m.: Hear from award-winning author, actor and civil rights advocate George Takei about his new book, “My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story”. 

What happens when the world as you know it disappears? In 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared anyone of Japanese descent living on the West Coast to be an enemy of the United States. Four-year old George Takei and his family were American in every way, but because of their Japanese ancestry, they were removed from their home in California and forced into camps with thousands of similar families.

Learn about Takei’s childhood as an enemy in his own country and his adulthood as a beloved icon, as he shares his newest picture book, “My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story.”

Book sales and signing to follow. This event requires a free special event ticket. Register Here.