The poster publicizing “Asian American Poetry Reading” features a black and white image of three laborers in rice hats in front of a wagon. The event took place on a Thursday night on October 28, 1976 in the Asian Community Library, about seven months after its opening.
The image of laborers in rice hats suggest Asian immigrant laborers. The image may evoke connections to the harsh conditions and injustice Asian immigrant laborers faced in their experience in the United States. The poetry reading may contain such themes of diaspora, immigration, labor, and injustice. The poets featured on the poster include notable activists, academics, and artists in the Asian American community such as Janice Mirikitani, Al Robles, Russell Leong, and Lane Nishikawa.
The poetry reading was part of the Kearny Street Workshop archives. Kearny Street Workshop, founded in 1972, is an organization from San Francisco that highlights, produces, and presents art of Asian Pacific American community.
An event from Kearny Street Workshop with artists well known in the Asian American community showcases the relationship the library had with other organizations with similar goals. The event also shows the type of programming the library held to create and gather community.
