Youth Voices Rising: Connecting Art, Activism, and Asian American History

February 7, 2026

In October 2025, Densho’s Education and Public Programs Manager, Courtney Wai, led a zine-making workshop for middle school students in the Youth Voices Rising program at Austin’s Asian American Resource Center. The session was a continuation from Densho’s past programming on Gidra, the influential Asian American movement newspaper of the late 1960s and ’70s.

James Lemuel introduces the history of Japanese American incarceration to Youth Voices Rising students.

The workshop began with an introduction to Japanese American wartime incarceration. Youth Voices Rising facilitator James Lemuel provided historical context, connecting this chapter of U.S. history to broader global patterns of imperialism and exclusion faced by early Japanese immigrants.

Courtney Wai shares how Gidra covered the anti-war movement, fought gentrification and displacement, and emphasized “Third World” solidarity.

Students then learned about the history of Gidra, including how it emerged from the Asian American movement to challenge silence, erasure, and distorted narratives about Japanese American incarceration. They explored how the publication supported the 1980s Redress Movement and built solidarity across communities of color, including through its coverage of pilgrimages to former incarceration sites.

After looking through printouts of Gidra, students start creating their own pages. — After looking through printouts of *Gidra*, students start creating their own pages.

In the final portion of the workshop, students created their own zine pages on topics that mattered to them—echoing Gidra’s spirit of activism and self-expression. Their creations celebrated friendship and family, called for greater Asian American representation, and voiced frustration with Texas’ recent ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in public schools.

Youth Voices Rising students pose with their finished zine pages alongside staff and presenters at the *Lotus* sculpture in front of Austin’s Asian American Resource Center.

In places like Texas, where ethnic studies courses remain limited or under threat, out-of-school spaces like Youth Voices Rising play a crucial role in helping youth of color learn their histories, think critically about identity and justice, and develop pride in their racial and cultural identities. By creating their own zines, students not only engaged with history, but also added their perspectives to an ongoing legacy of community storytelling and resistance.

You can read their zine and see how the next generation is carrying their stories forward.

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By Densho Education & Public Programs Manager Courtney Wai.

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