Abstract
The documentary will highlight the history of Cleveland’s AsiaTown through the perspective of Cleveland historians, community leaders, business owners and residents. Cleveland’s AsiaTown is a business and residential community on the east side of Cleveland with a high concentration of immigrants and citizens of Asian descent. By the 1920’s many of the Chinese began settling and building businesses around Rockwell Avenue and East 22 which is now considered AsiaTown. By the 1950s, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese groups began migrating to Cleveland. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the MidTown region (of which Asiatown is a large portion) has a self-identified Asian population of 39 percent, well above the national and state average.