We Built America

“We Built America,” an inspiring video short by Owen and Samuel Chin-Rust about how their great-great grandfather helped shape American history, is now available on our web page. 

Owen and Samuel write, “When we learned that the original photo marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point left out the Chinese workers, who comprised 70% of the laborers, and the subsequent photo by Corky Lee who recreated it with the descendants of the workers, we were inspired to tell the stories of other early Chinese immigrants, including that of our own great-great-grandfather. Our video project “We Built America” allowed us to shine a light on stories that have been ignored or missing from history, stories that tell us something of ourselves, what we’ve inherited, and where we might go.”