Taiwanese Association of America Pittsburgh (匹茲堡)
Identity Snapshot
- English: Taiwanese Association of America Pittsburgh
- Chinese: 匹茲堡
- Era: Contemporary
- Geography: Taiwanese American community
- Core roles: Community organization (TAH directory)
The Taiwanese Association of America Pittsburgh (TAAP) is a chapter of the Taiwanese Association of America (TAA, 全美台灣同鄉會), the national umbrella organization for Taiwanese American community associations in the United States. The chapter serves the Taiwanese American community in the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
Role in the Community
Chapter history absorbed from 胡民祥’s documentary study (292. 早年匹茲堡台灣同鄉會簡介與歷屆會長考證 (ZH, 胡民祥) / 292 (EN)，2017-06-12, band A):
- Founded 1969 by 羅福全 (economics PhD Penn 1968, moved to Pittsburgh 1968-11), 黃東昇, 柯耀宗, 柯炯輝 and other young families, to look after Taiwanese students in the city. 羅福全’s Penn Avenue house was the chapter’s de-facto activity centre until he left for UN service in early 1973 — it hosted member events including the wedding reception of 蔡正隆 and 葉明霞. Earliest documented presidents per the 考證 table: 吳明基 (1971), 蔡振水 (1973).
- HOLD: conflict — 胡民祥’s 考證 dates the chapter’s founding to 1969, while the 許和瑞 memoir (Our Journeys 76, above) counts Pittsburgh among 9 chapters added during his second national presidency; founding and national affiliation may simply differ in date, not auto-merged.
- Chapter life: Mid-Autumn welcome gatherings, Spring Festival dinners, dumpling parties, table-tennis and bridge tournaments, autumn leaf tours, and talks by visiting Taiwan figures 黃信介, 呂秀蓮, 李喬, 楊青矗, 黃春明, 高俊明; frequent inter-city friendlies (as far as the Toronto chapter in Canada) built around softball — the Pittsburgh softball team was renowned, with 蔡正隆 a long-serving captain.
- 1979-12-15 — five days after the 美麗島 crackdown, the chapter held a packed symposium at the University of Pittsburgh’s Lawrence Hall drawing the whole spectrum of the community; after 陳文成 was found dead the following year, the chapter joined the street demonstration at the Oakland campus district against campus surveillance.
- 2025 — a Taiwan Justice re-post lists 匹茲堡台灣同鄉會 among the organizers of the online 紀念陳文成博士 activity: record.
- The chapter has its own TAH Foundation record page: Taiwanese Association of America – Pittsburgh Chapter 台灣同鄉會匹玆堡分會 (2015-11-12), and a chapter history is held as Pittsburgh Chapter 匹茲堡台灣同鄉會簡介 (2017-10-27).
- 1981 — After 陳文成 (Chen Wen-Chen)‘s murder, the main organizers of the nationwide donation campaign were 許永華 (Yung Hwa Hsu) in Ann Arbor and 賴金德 (Chin-teh Lai) in Pittsburgh; the 陳文成教授紀念基金會’s first public fund-drive (1981-08-12) was launched with the Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor, Lanshing and Detroit 台灣人權協會 as initiating units — recorded in Our Journeys 8 (memoir, EN) and Our Journeys 321 (memoir). (Pittsburgh-area memoirs also: Our Journeys 76.)
- 2016-08-11 — The chapter supported a youth baseball team from New Taipei City at the 2016 Pony League World Series in Washington, PA: 31. Pittsburgh Chapter support youth baseball team (2016 Pony League World Series).
- The national body counts a Pittsburgh chapter among the 9 added during 許和瑞’s second presidency of 全美會 (per memoir Our Journeys 76, which names 黃東昇 for Pittsburgh) — see parent org 全美台灣同鄉會 (TAA).
- Per the same memoir (Our Journeys 76): Pittsburgh’s 柯炯輝 served as vice president under 許和瑞’s second national presidency and wrote the retrospective of that term; 黃東昇 (Pittsburgh) was among the organizers of the first 美東台灣同鄉會夏令會 (1973-07-19–22, Camp Taconic, NY), the seed of the regional summer conferences that became TAA’s main recurring activity.