Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend
August 28th, 2008 | Published in Uncle Gunjiro
A TRUE story of forbidden love between a yellow man and a white woman
A duet for storyteller and acoustic bass, Brenda Wong Aoki is accompanied by award winning composer and musician Mark Izu with a haunting original score, multimedia images of Victorian Japanese photos and original yellow peril journalism
A secret family shame is unraveled to reveal an incredible tale of forbidden love. In 1909, Brenda Wong Aoki’s great uncle Gunjiro, son of a legendary samurai, fell in love with Helen Gladys Emery, the daughter of the Archdeacon of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. Their announced engagement triggered a media blitz of yellow peril headlines, provoked public outrage, death threats and culminated in the loss of Ms. Emery’s citizenship. Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend tells the tale of their epic love and its impact on descendants three generations later.
View video clip from “Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend”
View video clip about Gunjiro Aoki from “San Francisco in the ’20’s”
