A Wash U librarian creates online project to teach St. Louis’ Asian American history

A librarian at Washington University in St. Louis is leading an online interactive story map project that highlights Asian American history in the region.

The Missouri Humanities Council awarded Joan Wang a $10,000 grant to digitize images, maps, videos and narrative stories of Asian Americans in St. Louis and include them in an online project that will be available in December.

“The project’s purpose is to provide a platform to learn and interact with history and to have a better understanding of the intersections of races and cultures,” said Wang, who specializes in East Asian and Chinese studies.

The story map project, “Asia in St. Louis: A Story Map Dedicated to the Greater St. Louis Community,” was inspired by a Wash U history course that discussed Asian American history with a focus on St. Louis. The students performed research projects on the region's Asian culture and will be included in the story map project.