She Was Born in Los Angeles. America Made Her Carry a Card | Anna May Wong, Part One

Anna May Wong was born in Los Angeles in 1905, to parents who were also born in the United States. She spent her working life carrying a government card that certified she had been admitted to her own country as a native, on the word of a doctor. Part 1 of 2. From a laundry on Figueroa Street to a Broadway stage in 1931, by way of Berlin: the modelling job at ten, the Chinese Exclusion Act case file, the first Technicolor lead at seventeen, the fan magazines that could not decide what she was, the production company she founded at nineteen, the reasons she gave for leaving America, and the three years in Europe when she was finally treated as a person rather than a category. Part 2, The Dragon Dress, covers 1931 to 1961: the Travis Banton gown now in the Metropolitan Museum, the part she spent five years trying to get and did not, the trip to China, and what survived. ------------- Find our Podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or where ever you listen to your podcasts. ------------- Watch our other videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3OqLHVo6eGkl86dsCJlWdQg9UNuNoWm https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM3OqLHVo6eH5hSfUOdjVzGLZxfJOKbeG -------------- 💬 Which fashion icon should we explore next? Let me know what you think in the comments. 👍 Like, 🔔 subscribe, and click the bell so you never miss an icon. https://www.youtube.com/@TheFashionMemoir ✨ Remember: in fashion as in life, be fearless and fabulous — this is The Fashion Memoir.