Loni Ding

Isadora Quanehia Ding Welsh (June 8, 1931 – February 20, 2010), known professionally as Loni Ding, She is known for her work exploring the experiences of Asian Americans. Notably, two of her films played a critical role in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which granted reparations to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II.

Early life Ding grew up in San Francisco, initially living Chinatown where her parents ran an herb shop. According to Ding, at this time, she would notice the differences between Asian Americans and white individuals living in San Francisco, and she would think about how she navigated between those different spaces, sparking her interest in Asian American issues and studying the Asian American experience. She taught as a lecturer in the university's sociology department between 1958 and 1967.

Between 1980 and 2009, she taught film and media analysis in the Asian American Studies Program at the Ethnic Studies Department of the University of California, Berkeley. an American Film Institute Directors Fellowship in 1983, and a Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video Fellowship in 1994.

In 2011, the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) in association with the Asian American Journalists Association established the Loni Ding Award In Social Issue Documentary award "in memory of Loni Ding’s spirit and vision for creating media about the Asian American experience."

Awards

Rockefeller Foundation, Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, 1994 Award of Honor, San Francisco Arts Commission, 1987 Asian Cultural Council, US/Japan Fellow, NY, 1986 Association of Asian Pacific American Artists Media Award, LA, 1985 Steven Tatsukawa Memorial Fund Award, LA, 1985 American Film Institute Director's Fellowship, LA, 1983 University Plaque of Honor, Syracuse University, 1983 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 1982 San Francisco State University, Broadcast Preceptor Award, 1981 Corporation for Public Broadcasting Senior Producer's Fellowship, 1980