Wong, Legan, 1951-

Legan Wong was born on January 19, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York as the eldest child of immigrant parents from Taishan, Guangdong Province, China. He was named after a U.S. Army nurse surnamed Egan, who cared for his 19-year-old father after he was wounded in Saipan in the Pacific front during WW II. His father immigrated to the U.S. in 1935 as a boy and worked as a laundryman and in various Chinese restaurants as a waiter, bar tender and manager. His mother immigrated in 1949 and worked as a seamstress in garment factories. The family lived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn until 1964 and ultimately settled in Elmhurst, Queens. Wong is married to artist and activist Tomie Arai. They have two children, Masai Williams and Akira Wong, and two grandchildren, Kai and Kenji Williams.

Wong was active in the New York Asian American Movement during the 1970s and 1980s. From 1971 to 1973, he served as one of two office coordinators for Basement Workshop at 26 Catherine Street after its move from the basement of 54 Elizabeth Street. Basement Workshop was comprised of professionals, college students and young activists who were involved in the various divisions of Basement, including Bridge magazine, Amerasia Creative Arts, Asian American Resource Center and Asian Children’s Underground. Wong was active in the Asian American Resource Center.

From 1972 to 1974, Wong was a member of Asian Tactical Theatre (AT&T), a collective of Asian American activists involved in helping to develop the Asian American cultural front of the larger Asian American Movement. Members of the guerilla theatre group performed pieces on Asian American identity and political/community awareness at street demonstrations, rallies, conferences, college and university campuses, and benefits for community and political organizations.

During this period, Wong also worked on various projects to promote the development and expansion of Asian American Studies. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Asian American Studies was in the early stage of development, with programs available in a number of colleges and universities in California and only one in New York City (at City College). At that time there was resistance on the part of college administrators to implement courses of study on their belief that there existed no academic legitimacy and interest from students for these courses. Wong’s activist work included several conferences, including “Through Our Own Eyes: An Asian American Conference” held at Pace College on April 15-16, 1972 and attended by hundreds of student activists from Mid West and East Coast colleges and universities, and the May 6, 1974 “Asian American Curriculum Development Workshop,” organized for New York City public school officials and teachers interested in incorporating Asian American themes in the public school curriculum.

From 1972 to 1973, as an undergraduate at Queens College, NY, Wong developed the curriculum and taught the course “The Asian American Experience” in the Honors & Interdisciplinary Program. Between 1973 and 1976, Wong served as an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College, NY in its Department of Black & Puerto Rican Studies. After a departmental review of the curriculum and proposed lectures, he was hired to teach the course “The Asian American Experience,” a historical and contemporary examination of the experiences of Asians in America. Within the department, Wong also worked on curriculum development and designs for other possible Asian American courses.

Between 1972 and 1974, Wong was a member of Asians in the Spirit of the Indo-Chinese (ASI), a collective of Asian American activists involved in the Viet Nam anti-war movement. In 1974, he worked with Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE) on its campaign to get construction jobs for Chinese workers and to expose the racism of the construction industry at the building site of Confucius Plaza. In 1975, when the organization changed its name to Asian American for Equality (AAFE), Wong became involved in its organizing of demonstrations against police brutality.

In 1976, Wong worked as a researcher and free lance writer for the Council on Interracial Books for Children and authored the section on Asian Americans in Stereotypes, Distortions & Omissions in U.S. History Textbooks and in the special edition on Asian Americans for Civil Rights Digest, journal of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Between 1982 and 1985, Wong worked as one of the executive producers of East West World Records. The record company produced the album “Back to Back” featuring the songs of Chris Iijima and Charlie Chin and “Vision & Dreams” performed by the Los Angeles-based Asian American jazz fusion band, Visions.

Wong was also a member of Soh Daiko, a taiko group based at the New York Buddhist Church. At the time of its founding, Soh Daiko was the only taiko group on the East Coast.