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Corky Lee

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Corky Lee
Born
Young Kwok Lee

1947
Queens, New York City, U.S.
Died (aged 73)
Queens, New York City, U.S.
OccupationPhotographer

Corky Lee (born as Young Kwok Lee; 1947 – January 27, 2021) was an American journalistic photographer. His work chronicled and explored the diversity and nuances of Asian American culture overlooked by mainstream media and made sure Asian American history was included as a part of American history.[1]

Early life

Lee was born in 1947 in Queens, New York City.[2] He was the second child of Lee Yin Chuck and Jung See Lee, both of whom immigrated to the United States from China.[3] His father was employed as a laundryman; his mother worked as a seamstress.[4] He had an older sister (Ellen) and a younger brother (John).[3] Lee attended Jamaica High School, before going on to study American history at Queens College in 1965.[5][6]

Lee taught himself photography,[4] and borrowed cameras to practice because he was unable to afford his own.[5] He said his work was inspired by an 1869 photo he saw in his social studies text that celebrated the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. Its construction had involved thousands of Chinese workers, but the photo depicting representative laborers showed none of them.[4]

Photographic work

Lee's work has documented key events in Asian American political history. He took a picture in 1975 of a Chinese American man that was hurt by members of the New York City Police Department and was being hauled by the police officers. His picture was posted in the front page of the New York Post diary. The day that the picture was published 20,000 people marched from Chinatown to City Hall protesting against police brutality.[7]

Lee also photographed the protests that took place after the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin in Michigan.[8] Chin was a young Chinese American man living in Detroit and was killed by Ronald Ebens, a superintendent at Chrysler Motors, and his stepson. The perpetrators attacked Chin, of Chinese descent, after mistaking him for being from Japan, as Japanese companies were blamed for the loss of American auto industry jobs.[9]

Lee humorously referred to himself as the "undisputed unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate." His photographs documented the daily lives of Asian Americans as well as various historical moments in American history.[10]

Later life

David Dinkins, the mayor of New York City at the time, proclaimed May 5, 1988, to be "Corky Lee Day", recognizing Lee's work as an important contribution to New York City communities.[11] He regularly supplied his photographs to the weekly local newspapers Downtown Express and The Villager during the 1990s and 2000s. His wife died of cancer at around the turn of the 3rd millennium.[3]

Lee died on January 27, 2021, at the Long Island Jewish Hospital in Forest Hills. He was 73, and suffered from complications of COVID-19 in the time leading up to his death.[3][6]

Awards

References

  1. ^ Kaowthumrong, Patricia (March 1, 2014). "Spotlight: Corky Lee, Asian American photographer". Asian Avenue Magazine. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Corky Lee". Light Work Collection. Light Work. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d "ART/PHOTOGRAPHY; legendary Chinatown photographer, dies from COVID". Village Sun. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Corky Lee (2002–3)". Asian/Pacific/American Institute. New York University. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Corky Lee". AlumNYC. New York City Department of Education. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Chang, Richard (January 27, 2021). "Corky Lee, 'unofficial Asian American photographer laureate,' dies from COVID-19". Reuters. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  7. ^ "ART/ARCHITECTURE; Getting Asian-Americans into the Picture". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  8. ^ Boxer, Sarah (August 4, 2002). "Getting Asian Americans into the Picture". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Wu, Frank H. (June 22, 2012). "Why Vincent Chin Matters". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  10. ^ Lipson, Karin (March 15, 2013). "Making a Sometimes Invisible Minority Visible". The New York Times. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  11. ^ Chang, Lia. "Pictures at an Exhibition: Asian America's Premier Photographer Makes American History." Asianweek. 17. (August 7, 1997). Retrieved from ProQuest
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