Asian Americans Carve a Place in History

Group's Book Aims to Fill a Void in County's Narrative

When Virginia commemorated the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007, Fairfax County took a closer look at its history.

The result was a legacy book, "Fairfax County Stories, 1607-2007," that told the personal stories of inhabitants.

When longtime resident Cora Foley looked at it, she found something missing.

"I said it would be very strange for a book like that to be written without the stories of Asian Americans, since we Asian Americans have been the largest minority group in Fairfax County since 1990," she said.

Asian Americans make up 16 percent of the county's population, nearly four times the national average, according to the 2006 estimates by the Census Bureau. Half the state's Asian American population is in Fairfax.

Foley asked Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) about documenting the stories of this sizable group, and Bulova, who had just finished helping to create a book on the history of Braddock District, agreed.

"We all had an appetite for history after this project," Bulova said. "I thought it would be neat to learn the stories of the Asian Americans who make Fairfax County home."

That led to January's formal launch of the Fairfax County Asian American History Project, with a targeted completion date of May 2010 to compile the stories. Organizers plan to release the book during Asian American Heritage Month in May.

Foley and other volunteers -- the project receives no tax funding -- are gathering stories from Asian Americans of all generations and backgrounds, with an emphasis on individual storytelling.

The Nakamura family, who helped found the Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Burke, are among those Foley profiled. Kennon Nakamura, 62, grew up hearing the stories of his parents, who were interned during World War II but remained active in the Buddhist community. Nakamura and his wife, Nori, worked to help establish the temple 27 years ago, in part to help educate their children.

"Because we are a minority, in some respects we learn more about our religion than if you just grew up in it and didn't have to think about it," he said.

Their children, Gregory, 32 ,and Maya Horio, 31, grew up in Fairfax and have embraced their family's traditions.