20 Facts About Helen Zia

Helen Zia was born on 1952 and is a Chinese-American journalist and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ rights.

Helen Zia is considered a key figure in the Asian American movement.

Helen Zia entered Princeton University in the early 1970s as a student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

Helen Zia was a member of its first graduating class of women.

Helen Zia was a vocal antiwar activist, voicing her Opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War, a firm believer in feminism, and active in movements creating cross racial unity among low income people of color.

Helen Zia entered medical school at Tufts University in 1974, but quit in 1976.

Helen Zia eventually moved to Detroit, Michigan, working as a construction laborer, an autoworker and a community organizer, after which she discovered her life's work as a journalist and writer.

Helen 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 Helen Zia's journalism helped to galvanize the Asian American community to demand justice for Vincent Chin.

Helen Zia co-founded the group American Citizens for Justice, a Detroit-based Asian American civil rights group.

In 1983, Helen Zia was the president of the American Citizens for Justice.

Helen Zia has been outspoken on issues ranging from civil rights and peace to women's rights and countering hate violence and homophobia.

Helen Zia traveled to Beijing in 1995 to the United Nations Fourth World Congress on Women as part of journalists of color delegation.

Helen Zia has received numerous journalism awards for her ground-breaking stories.

Helen Zia received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the Law School of the City University of New York for bringing important matters of law and civil rights into public view.

Helen Zia received it alongside activist Cecilia Chung, businessman Ryan Patel, and youth advocate Symington W Smith.

In January 2000, Helen Zia authored Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People, a finalist for the prestigious Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.

Helen Zia contributed the piece Reclaiming the Past, Redefining the Future: Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.

Magazine 1989 to 1992 Helen Zia serves on the board of directors for Women's Media Center.

In June 2008, Helen Zia married her partner Lia Shigemura in San Francisco, making them one of the first same-sex couples to legally marry in the state of California.