Taiwanese Association of America the Greater Chicago (大芝加哥台灣同鄉會)
Identity Snapshot
- English: Taiwanese Association of America the Greater Chicago
- Chinese: 大芝加哥台灣同鄉會
- Era: Contemporary
- Geography: Taiwanese American community
- Core roles: Community organization (TAH directory)
Taiwanese Association of America the Greater Chicago (大芝加哥台灣同鄉會) is a regional chapter of the Taiwanese Association of America (TAA, 全美台灣同鄉會), the national umbrella organization for Taiwanese American community associations across the United States. The chapter serves the Taiwanese American community in the greater Chicago, Illinois area.
Role in the Community
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Co-initiator of the national TAA (1970-01-28): the Chicago chapter (then 芝加哥同鄉會), together with the 美東 association (鄭義和) and the Los Angeles association (許和瑞), jointly wrote to all local associations proposing a national umbrella body; the 全美台灣同鄉會 (the Formosan Club of America) was founded in New York on 1970-07-01 — recorded in the movement memoir 12 (EN).
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Founding chapter (1 of 28): listed among TAA’s 28 founding chapters with 林錦弘 (Chin-hung Lin) as founding president — 12; the same roster appears in Chinese in 12.
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Own TAH story records: chapter profile 12) and its newsletter 鄉訊 09).
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Chapter’s own 50-year history (band A memoir): 2021-10 records: the chapter operated as an underground body from 1970 (林錦弘 first, publicly “掛名” president; no elections under martial law) until a formal democratic election in 1979 elected 王圭雄; full 歷屆會長 roster 1970–2019 (1972 李友禮, 1974 林明哲, 1976 李明雄, 1978 簡金生 … 2015–2018 沈耀初, 2019– 賴琦亮). Funding was via donations and an annual Bazza; early meetings were held at 芝城基督長老教會 (Des Plaines) and 廖述宗’s home at the University of Chicago.
- 1974: four chapter members wore 台/獨/萬/歲 T-shirts at the world youth baseball (Little League) tournament in Gary, IN — a high-profile confrontation with KMT-organized disruptors.
- 1975-04-05: the chapter held a public rally in Chicago to assess Chiang Kai-shek’s rule on his death.
- 1979-01-30: ~100 members bus overnight to Washington D.C. to protest Deng Xiaoping’s White House visit.
- 1979 (post-美麗島): the board tasked 林敬賢 with founding 台灣之音 in Chicago (editing/broadcast by 莊智惠, 李秀雄) to bypass KMT media control.
- 2002-10-22: chapter joined 法輪功 in round-the-clock protests at Jiang Zemin’s Chicago hotel.
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Adjacent community institution: the Chicago community’s anchor church is 芝城台灣基督長老教會 (TPC of Greater Chicago).
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複核（deepen-x slice 09211300-7，2026-09-22）：re-grep 大芝加哥台灣同鄉會 / Greater Chicago 命中集不變（ourjourneys76 / -eng、our-journeys-378、publications1331、greater-chicago-chapter-taa、鄉訊 newsletter、TPC Greater Chicago）— 全數已吸收於 Role in the Community，saturated，SKIP，無新社群材料可吸收。
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複核（deepen-x slice-09221500-5, 2026-09-23）：re-grep 大芝加哥台灣同鄉會 / Greater Chicago 命中集不變 — 全數已吸收於 Role in the Community，saturated，SKIP，無新回憶錄材料可吸收。
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複核（deepen-x slice-09230900-3, 2026-09-24）：re-grep 大芝加哥台灣同鄉會 / Greater Chicago 命中集不變（ourjourneys76 ±EN、publications1331、greater-chicago-chapter-taa、鄉訊、TPC Greater Chicago）— saturated，SKIP，無新材料。
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複核（deepen-x slice 09240900-1, 2026-09-25）：re-grep 大芝加哥台灣同鄉會 / Greater Chicago 命中集不變（ourjourneys76 ±EN、our-journeys-378、publications1331、greater-chicago-chapter-taa、鄉訊、TPC Greater Chicago）；僅新增兩個 Greater Chicago 撞名命中（#5 芝加哥台美商會、#46 芝城台灣音樂會 by 芝城台灣社區教會）屬鄰邊機構記錄，非本章會材料 — saturated，SKIP。