The first Asian residents of North Carolina were a world-famous pair of conjoined twin brothers. And they later became quite possibly the country’s first Asian American citizens. This week, we tell the almost unbelievable story of Chang and Eng Bunker and explore the complicated legacy they left behind in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Featuring:

• Joe Orser, author of The Lives of Chang and Eng: Siam's Twins in Nineteenth-Century America
• Eli Chen, digital news producer at WUNC News

Links:

• From Now On from the musical Chang and Eng
• The Siamese Twins Museum in Mount Airy, NC

Cover photo: From the National Portrait Gallery and The Frederick Hill Meserve Collection, Chang and Eng Bunker and children circa 1860.

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