Corky Lee, was an award-winning photographer who captured the everyday lives and political activism of the Asian American community.
Lee was born to two Chinese immigrants in Queens, New York. Dubbed the “Unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate,” he documented Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in vivid, intimate detail over his 50-year career.
His photography began in junior high, when he saw a famous 1869 photograph commemorating the completion of the transcontinental railroad, according to the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University. But the photo, purportedly showing railroad workers, contained no Chinese workers despite there being an estimated 15,000 Chinese laborers contributing to its construction.

The photo’s apparent erasure of Chinese workers inspired Lee’s future work: a lifetime of photographing Asian Americans and cementing their representation in history. In one of his most famous works, he gathered a group of Chinese Americans and descendants of Chinese railroad laborers to recreate the 1868 photograph in the same original location.
Corky also captured other historic moments of social and political upheaval; his photos covered antiwar protests, fair housing issues, the gentrification of Chinatown, Islamophobia after 9/11, and more.
What caused the death of Corky Lee?
Lee first began experiencing Covid-19 symptoms on January 3 and was hospitalized on January 7, according to the report. He was moved to the ICU on January 11, 2021.
The Obituary of Corky Lee
The family of Corky Lee took to Facebook to announce the passing on of CorKy Lee.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Corky (Young Kwok) Lee,” said a statement from Lee’s family on Wednesday evening. “Corky, as he was known to the Asian American community, was everywhere. He always had a camera around his neck, documenting a community event, capturing a social injustice for the record and even correcting the social injustice of an historical event that took place well over a century ago. He did what he loved and we loved him for it.
“(Corky) had a very unique lens. His passion was to rediscover, document, and champion through his images the plight of all Americans but most especially that of Asian and Pacific Islanders,” the statement added. “He has left us with what is likely to be the single largest repository of the photographic history of Asian Americans of the past half-century.”
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