Vicki remained connected to San Francisco. She helped advocate for the Filipino Education Center in South of Market during the second wave of Filipino immigration in the 1960s. In 2005, a park at the location of her old elementary school was named after her.
Vicki & her husband moved to Southern California to raise their children. Together, they ran a swimming and diving school, and Vicki occasionally performed with touring water shows.
After her win, she visited the Philippines for the first time, touring the newly independent nation for 29 days. She performed public diving exhibitions and visited her fatherβs family.
She competed in the 1948 London Olympics as Vicki Manalo Draves, where she won gold medals in both Springboard diving and the 10-meter platform. This made her the first Asian American to win Olympic Gold and the first American woman to win gold in both events.
In 1944 she met Lyle Draves, who became her coach. Two years later, he also became her husband. The two made an excellent team. Vicki won four national titles from 1946 to 1948 and qualified for the US Olympic Team.
But the coach of a hotel swim club saw her potential, and he formed a swimming & diving school just for her. Vicki also reluctantly agreed to use her English motherβs maiden name instead of her Filipino surname, competing as Vicki Taylor to be allowed to participate.
Vickiβs family couldnβt afford swimming classes until she was 10 years old. As a person of color, Vicki was only allowed to practice in public pools once a week or once a month, on the day before the pools were drained and cleaned.
Vicki Manalo Draves was born to a working-class Filipino white family in South of Market, San Francisco.
She faced many barriers to becoming an Olympic swimmer. Read her story below!
Emma Nakuina also wrote and published a book on Hawaiian myths and legends. While it was meant as a guide for tourists, her writing did not hide her disdain for foreign influence on the islands. It is unsurprising the territorial tourism organization did not distribute her book.
After the coup, she continued to work as commissioner, and remained responsible for water rights under the evolving US territorial government until 1907 when the circuit courts took her role. Emma Nakuina never held the official title, but she is widely regarded as Hawaii's first female judge.
Her mother's family came from kaukau aliΚ»i, lower-ranked chiefs who served the Hawaiian Monarchy. Her father was a businessman. In 1892, she was appointed as a Commissioner for Private Ways and Water Rights. The next year, the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a United States-backed coup.
Emma KaΚ»ilikapuolono Metcalf Beckley Nakuinawas born in 1847 and served as a commissioner for water rights under both the Hawaiian Monarchy and the US territorial government. She is widely regarded as Hawaiiβs first female judge.
The message is clear: a substantial majority of AAPI women across ethnicities support abortion & reproductive care access that is safe, equitable, and without shame. Check out the whole report at napawf.org/resources/be...
78% agree and 51% STRONGLY agree that punishing pregnant people takes away peopleβs rights to make their own personal decisions about their pregnancy.
79% agree and 54% STRONGLY agree that people need the freedom to make personal decisions about their pregnancy, including whether to use fertility care to become pregnant, use birth control to prevent pregnancy, or abortion to end a pregnancy, without the government intruding.
82% agree and 55% STRONGLY agree that the health and well-being of a pregnant person should be the number one priority, ahead of a politicianβs personal religious views.
78% agree and 54% STRONGLY agree that when someone decides to have an abortion, it should be safe, affordable, and free from punishment or shame.
83% of AAPI women agree and 56% of AAPI women STRONGLY agree everyone should have access to the reproductive care they need in the place they call home.
When asked to assess statements about states punishing people who seek or provide abortion care, majorities of AAPI women expressed strong agreement with values-based frames centered on health care access, personal autonomy, freedom from punishment, & prioritizing the well-being of pregnant people.
Our recent report, βBeyond the Labels,β explores AAPI womenβs thoughts & attitudes on abortion care. Check out some of the highlights below & read the full report at napawf.org/resources/be...
This is a landmark study from @napawf.org on AAPI women's views on abortion. Key findings - high support for people having the right to abortion in all 50 states. And 76% agree that no one should face jail time for trying to get an abortion.
βWhat we found is that abortion was not seen as a βpolitical issue.' So it was really about your ability to make a decision for yourself.β
Read more about our latest research, Beyond the Labels: AAPI Women on Abortion Care, Dignity, and Criminalization in AsAm News: asamnews.com/2026/03/03/a...
We're looking for a research partner for our State of AAPI Women+ National Survey! The deadline to apply is March 12. Access the full Request for Proposals doc with instructions on how to apply on our website:
napawf.org/wp-content/u...
π£New from NAPAWF! Weβve just released βBeyond the Labels,β the largest national, multilingual, & disaggregated study about AAPI womenβs views on abortion. napawf.org/resources/be...
AAPI families deserve protection and support as ICE terrorizes our communities. Read more in our new op-ed from NAPAWF Founding Sister KaYing Yang & our Executive Director Christina Baal-Owens at
The text February 19, Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War 2, Never Again Means Never Again is shown cutting into an abstract chain link fence.
Today is Japanese American Day of Remembrance. Never again means never again. Immigrant families deserve safety, dignity, and the ability to care for their families in peace.
This week, Christina Baal-Owens, Executive Director of @napawf.org, talks with us about recent NAPAWF research showing the most pervasive barriers to abortion access for the AAPI community and AAPI immigrants in the U.S., including abortion criminalization and ICE terror. #podcast
Fear is one of the most powerful barriers to repro care, especially as ICE terrorizes our communities.
On RePROs Fight Back, our ED, Christina Baal-Owens, outlines why abortion access, community safety, & immigration justice are all intertwined. Listen now π§ www.reprosfightback.com/episodes-blo...
