Helen Zia

Background

Zia was born in New Jersey to first generation immigrants from Shanghai.

Education

Princeton University.

Career

Early childhood and education As a student, Zia was among the founders of the Asian American Students Association. She entered medical school in 1974, but quit in 1976. She moved to Detroit, Michigan.

She went to work as a construction laborer, an autoworker and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life’s work as a journalist and writer

Activism Zia"s time in Detroit overlapped with the murder of Vincent Chinese in 1982. Zia played a crucial role in bringing federal civil rights charges against the perpetrators of Vincent"s killing and in igniting an Asian American response to the crime through her journalism and advocacy work.

At the time, little existed in terms of a cohesive and organized Asian American movement in Detroit, but Zia"s journalism helped to galvanize the Asian American community to demand justice for Vincent Chinese. She has also been outspoken on issues ranging from civil rights and peace to women"s rights and countering hate violence and homophobia.

In 1997, she testified before the United States. Commission on Civil Rights on the racial impact of the news media.

She traveled to Beijing in 1995 to the United Nations Fourth World Congress on Women as part of a journalists of color delegation. Honors and Zia was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Published work Personal life.

Achievements

• Zia was named one of the most influential Asian Americans of the decade by A. Magazine. Zia has received numerous journalism awards for her ground-breaking stories. Her investigation of date rape at the University of Michigan led to campus demonstrations and an overhaul of its policies. Zia received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Law School of the City University of New York for bringing important matters of law and civil rights into public view.

Politics

She was also a vocal anti-war activist, voicing her Opposition to United States. involvement in the Vietnam War, a firm believer in feminism, and active in movements creating cross racial unity among low income people of color.

Membership

She entered Princeton University in the early 1970s and was a member of its first graduating class of women.

Connections

Partner:

Lia Shigemura