80 years ago today Americans chose bigoted cruelty and that choice haunts us still
Eighty years ago today, America invoked a “greater good” as justification to use force against a targeted social group. The toxic...
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amylsommers
- Feb 2
- 2 min
Beyond the tagline: James Weldon Johnson in Japan
It's odd how often we *know* of a historical figure as the creator of X or the hero of Y ~ their endeavors, and indeed, their life,...
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amylsommers
- Jan 25
- 1 min
When skilled reader/writers ask interesting questions...
Authors and podcasters Wendy Kendell and Carl Lee interviewed me this month for their #ANovelTalk podcast. Both claimed zero knowledge...
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amylsommers
- Dec 7, 2021
- 2 min
80 years ago today: Japan attacks U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 am Honolulu time on December 7, 80 years ago today America learned a tragic lesson about the danger of hubris and false...
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amylsommers
- Oct 4, 2021
- 3 min
Mystery Women/Men revealed!
In the countdown to Asia Society of Southern California event on September 28, I posted photos on social media posts of African Americans...
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amylsommers
- Aug 30, 2021
- 3 min
Two Events: Shanghai on the Eve of Pearl Harbor & Pre-WWII Black Internationalism in Asia
In September I get to present alongside people whose work I admire at two Rumors from Shanghai-related events. What a boon for a China...
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amylsommers
- Jun 8, 2021
- 4 min
An Introvert Sits Down to Write a Book...
As an introvert, the act of writing is right up my alley. Spend hours alone?✅ Reading and researching?✅ Imagining things? ✅ I’m all in!...
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amylsommers
- Apr 15, 2021
- 1 min
African Americans in Interwar Asia
Thrilled to see the final form of this essay I wrote for BlackPast! It considers the ambitious and varied endeavors of the African...
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amylsommers
- Apr 8, 2021
- 1 min
On Historic Shanghai's Bookshelf
Historic Shanghai has an interview up on their blog, discussing Rumors from Shanghai's beginnings and the influence my sojourn in...
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amylsommers
- Apr 7, 2021
- 1 min
NüVoices Collective Online Interview is up...
NüVoices, a collective of women China experts from a range of fields/professions, now has an online interview up about my historical...
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amylsommers
- Apr 6, 2021
- 4 min
Highly Improbable! And yet...
A Black American representing the diplomatic interests of the United States in the Russian Far East at the turn of the 19th century?...
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amylsommers
- Mar 20, 2021
- 3 min
Pre-WWII Seattle and the Japanese Community
In #RumorsFromShanghai, characters from Black, Chinese and Japanese backgrounds shape the protagonist's viewpoint and interests. These...
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amylsommers
- Mar 10, 2021
- 4 min
Early Pacific Northwest-China Ties
Early Chinese residents in Washington State most famously and numerously drew from Southern China's Taishan region. The impact of...
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amylsommers
- Mar 1, 2021
- 4 min
"Rumors from Shanghai" launched
March 1, almost a year to the day since the original planned launch date at the 2020 Shanghai International Literary Festival, is launch...
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amylsommers
- Jan 23, 2021
- 3 min
Post-Inauguration Reading...for Fun: "Remembering Shanghai"
The celebrations the last time America ousted a disastrous head of state is a fond memory. Michelle Garnaut, inimitable founder of M on...
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amylsommers
- Dec 6, 2020
- 1 min
No, Biden's China Policy Will Not Be Trump 2.0
The Seattle Times has an op-ed out "The path to a new China policy" from Michael Burke and me: We have no illusions that the US and China...
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amylsommers
- Dec 1, 2020
- 4 min
From beginning to end ~ Tyranny & Strongmen
With the thorough thumping delivered at the end of November by Republican-appointed justices in the Third Circuit, Trump's ...
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amylsommers
- Nov 6, 2020
- 2 min
Debt & Gratitude: Black Americans Saving the Day...again
Friday morning, post-election Day 3 and the voting tallies for Georgia and Pennsylvania now show Joe Biden leading. Perhaps by the end of...
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amylsommers
- Sep 12, 2020
- 5 min
Dreaming and...Deferring
When I was little, two when-I-grow-up-I-want-to-be dreams lit my fire: one was becoming a writer and the other was becoming a lawyer....
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amylsommers
- Jul 31, 2020
- 5 min
China In U.S. Courts: Not New, but...What Happened?
On July 30, @Kate_OKeefe and @aviswanatha’s article “China’s New Tool to Chase Down Fugitives: American Courts” appeared in the WSJ: The...
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