Southern Fried Rice, John Jung, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, 2006

8/9/2019 Southern Fried Rice, John Jung, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, 2006.

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Being ChineseWhere Everyone Else

is Black or White

San Diego Chinese History MuseumSan Diego Chinese History Museum

Dec. 2, 2006Dec. 2, 2006


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The Historical Questions

How Did I Come to Be In the South?

How Did My Parents Come To Be In theSouth?

How Did the First Chinese In the SouthCome to Be There?


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First, A Bit ofThe Historical

Before 1848Trade with China desired and promoted

Curiosity about Chinese and their customs

Americans impressed with Chinese culture 1849 and afterwards

Gold rush brought Chinese to California, Canada,Yukon, etc.

Thousands of Chinese hired as cheap labor for railroad

building


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The Cantonese Mother Lode


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Chinese Must Go Movement,

c.1870


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1870s: Chinese move across U. S.

Replace blackCotton Workers

Replace Mass.

Shoe makers

Replace N. J.

Laundry Strikers

Build Augusta Canal

Finish trans-c

railroad, May, 1869,

Promontory Pt.,

Utah


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Few Chinese in South, 1920 -1930

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Men Women Men Women

Georgia Mississippi

1920

1930


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Chain Migration and Chinese Laundries in the Deep South


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Kwok Fui


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Jew Shui Dun


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Macon, The Center of Georgia

White 34,482 35.46%

Black Afr American 60,740 62.45%

Hispanic/Latino 1,166 1.2%American Indian/Alaska Native

188 0.19%

AsianAsian 628628 0.65%0.65%

Asian Indian 178 0.18%

Chinese 88 0.09%

Filipino 73 0.08%Japanese 43 0.04%

Korean 60 0.06%

Vietnamese 36 0.04%

Population in 1950: ~55,000 vs. in 2000: 97,255


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Sam Lee Laundry

1906Sam LeeLaundry 1953


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Southern Segregation, pre 1955

Whites And Blacks: Separate BUTUnequalWaiting to be served in stores

Black take-out food windows

The Jackie Robinson boycottWhere Did Chinese Fit?Where Did Chinese Fit?My drinking fountain mistake

Disapproval of my Black playmate


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Where We Were White

Public facilities (fountains, toilets)

Picture Shows (i.e. movies), restaurants

Buses and trainsSchools,libraries


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How Macon Saw Chinese people


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A Chinese Alien Denied Entry

To A White School in 1910


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Chinese As Objects of Curiosity


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White View of Chinese

New Year Festivities


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Our OddEdibles


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Why I Knew I Was Chinese

Home Factors

Our language

Our food

Our lifestyle

Parental warnings

Societal Factors

Treatment by Blacks and Whites

Negative Media images


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Chop Chop,My Only Chinese

Media Role Model


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Chinese

AsBuffoons


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Chinese Women As Sinister :

The Dragon Lady


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Importance for me of Chinese in Atlanta

Uncle Joe

Other Chinese laundrymen


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Social Interactions

With Whites

At School

In the community

In the laundry

With Blacks

Laundry workers

Laundry customers


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What Our Parents Taught Us About Race

and Prejudice

What to expect, and why

Learning of racism and Chinese exclusion

My reactions to my paper son background

How to react to racial confrontations

Pride in Chinas culture and history


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Being Chinese Means Often

Feeling

Odd or strange

Left out and lonelyA target for racist ridicule

Self-doubt

Wishing, at times, to not be Chinese


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We Once Got Special Attention

Just For Being Chinese


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Irony: Honored in 1943, But Denied

Entry To A White School in 1910


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Moving to A Chinese Community

Why We Moved

Learning A New Way of Being Chinese

Being Accepted by San Francisco ChineseAccepting San Francisco Chinese


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Losing My New ChineseChinese Identity:

Back To Black/White Binary Worlds

Evanston, Illinois

Long Beach, Ca.

Toronto, Canada


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Marginal Me

Not Quite White

Not Quite Chinese

Switching to fit the contexte.g. speak Chinese among Chinese and

English among non-Chinese

Trying to be invisible


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Among Whites

How to Be White (passing/assimilating)

Expected to be Chinese (cultural expert)

Ethnic Identity Angst


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Among Chinese

How to Be Chinese (wanted acceptance)

Viewed As White (felt not Chinese enough)

Ethnic Identity Angst


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Conclusions?

To paraphrase Kermit the frog from

Sesame Street:

Its not easy being Chinese

or any other minority very few in

number, in a society where race issues

have up to now been seen only in terms of

black or white.


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Identity is not static, but varies across:

Situation e.g., work vs. play

Audience e.g., in-group vs. out-group

Time e.g., lifespan changes

So, What do we need


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Documents

Southern Fried Rice, John Jung, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, 2006