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Welcome to The Historian’s Table, where taking an honest look at history means taking an honest
look at ourselves. 


In season one, The First Asians in the Americas, we’re bringing you a 6-part narrative series
focused on historian Diego Javier Luis. Diego’s recent work complicates our views of the past by
recentering Asian American history away from railroads to the Transpacific voyages of the Manilla
Galleons that started in the 16th century. Each episode explores a thematic parallel between
Diego’s sense of self and specific histories from Diego’s research.

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Co-created by Julian Saporiti, Diego Javier Luis, and Charles Fournier.


Diego Javier Luis teaches in the history department at Johns Hopkins University. 


Charles Fournier is an Award-Winning journalist, podcaster, and teacher. He is the creator and
producer of the podcast Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore.

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Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Wyoming Public Media's Open Spaces -Special Episode: The George Igawa Orchestra: Wyoming’s Best Unknown Swing Band

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"Today's show is broken into 3 parts. We start with Julian Saporiti's own musical experiences in Wyoming to understand how the photo of the George Igawa orchestra inspired him to write the song "The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming." We then explore Julian's research into the orchestra and a few of its members. And finally, Julian's experiences and the history of the George Igawa Orchestra intersect in the production of the song that tells a Wyoming story. A story that doesn't fit the Wyoming myth, but is a part of Wyoming's history nonetheless."

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Written and produced by Charles Fournier

Selected Interviews:​

Sound & Vision (KEXP) - 

No-No Boy's Music Is a Lesson in Asian American History​

The Music Show (ABC Radio National Australia) - 

Music in spaces & places in song: No-No Boy and FUJI||||||||||TA​

Cha-Tea Circle -

Julian Saporiti (No-No Boy) on Singing Asian American History and Buddhism

Here and Now (WBUR/NPR) - 

No-No Boy Julian Saporiti Says Music Is A Trojan Horse For Teaching Asian American History​

World Cafe (WXPN/NPR) - 

N0-No Boy Weaves Family and Other Immigrant Stories into Catchy Folk Songs​

Golden Hour with Charlene Kaye- 

Song About the Missing Chapters of American History​

Soundcheck (WNYC/NPR)- 

Storyteller, Songwriter, and Scholar No-No Boy Finds Place

OPB Music Interview with Jerad Walker- 

Asian-American history comes alive on No-No Boy’s ‘1975’

Think Out Loud (OPB/NPR)- 

New album from Portland artist shines a light on Asian American history

The Evergreen (OPB)- 

‘The Evergreen’: Music across boundaries, music as home: Diaspora Songs at Pickathon

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