Randolph-Macon College’s Asian Studies Department will host Emma Ito, the Director of Education at Virginia Humanities, as the keynote speaker for the annual J. Earl Moreland Lecture on Asia on Thursday, April 16, 2026. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Dollar Tree Room in Brock Commons and is free and open to the public.

Her lecture, entitled “Between Roots & Rivers: Asian American Journeys in Virginia,” will explore layered histories, migrations, and lived experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in Virginia across generations. Blending archival photographs, primary documents, timelines, and narrative snapshots, Ito will highlight both well-known and lesser-told stories, from early Asian immigrants and Civil War-era figures to landmark legal cases and local community histories of Japanese American incarceration in Norfolk and beyond. Emphasizing themes of citizenship, labor, identity, resilience, and belonging, Ito will expand on how AAPI experiences are deeply intertwined with Virginia’s past and present.

At Virginia Humanities, Ito is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of educational resources for K-12 students, college students, teachers, and lifelong learners. Prior to working at Virginia Humanities, Ito worked at the Library of Virginia, where she led an initiative to research and share Asian American history. She is an adjunct professor in the Virginia Commonwealth University Honors College and previously served as an adjunct at in VCU’s Global Education Department. She received her B.A. and M.A. in History at VCU, where her master’s thesis was on the experiences of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans in Virginia, with a focus on the time periods of Jim Crow and World War II.

Each spring, the J. Earl Moreland Lecture on Asia brings a distinguished expert to the Randolph-Macon campus for a public lecture. The lecture was established through the generous donation of the late Dr. Lik Kiu Ding ’49 to commemorate J. Earl Moreland, president of Randolph-Macon College from 1939 to 1967. The event aims to create greater student understanding and interest in Asian affairs by connecting students directly with distinguished scholars and prominent professionals.

Ito will also lead a conversation with the RMC Book Club on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:30 p.m. The event will be hosted in the Dalton Family Dining Room on the second floor of Birdsong Hall and include a dessert reception and an option for virtual attendance. Ito will be discussing Mỹ Documents by Kevin Nguyen, which follows a Vietnamese American family whose lives are upended when a government policy forces Vietnamese Americans into internment camps. While a work of fiction, the novel draws on real historical events, from Japanese American internment during World War II to the Vietnam War and present-day immigrant detention. RSVP by April 8 to attend in person, or by April 13 to attend virtually.