The population of the Delta Chinese grew all through the first half of the 20th century. But as the econo-my slumped and prejudice remained, the Chinese left the fertile soil of the Delta for greener pastures.BY NATALIE DICKSON

All six of the Chow’s children left the Delta. Like so many around them, they had to leave, Margaret Chow Starner said. “No one stayed in the Delta,” she said. “My parents understood that unless we ran the family store, career opportu-nities for us were very limited in Missis-sippi.” And as Chinese, there was an extra reason, other than the shrinking

economy, why opportunities were lim-ited. “Frankly, while we all left for better opportunities; I am sure opportu-nities were limited due to discrimination in general,” she said. Her family seemed to be pretty accepted in society. They were active in the local Baptist church. The children all attended the white public school. Howev-er, it was only through the efforts of her parents that they could. And when they

built their house in Shelby, they had to buy a lot outside the city limits because they weren’t allowed to buy inside. Starner grew up in Shelby with her two brothers and three sisters, and although her father ran a successful grocery store, earning enough for all to go to college and even five to go out of state, there wasn’t much available to the Chow children to call them back home, she said. “I couldn’t do what I wanted to

The Delta Chinese population began to decrease in the 1960s as families and individuals moved to big cities like Memphis, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. VANISHING POPULATION, 18

Delta Data*

Delta Median Household Income in 2009: $28,853State Median Household Income in 2009: $36,796Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Delta Unemployment in 2000: 10.2%State Unemployment in 2000: 5.8%Source: “The Changing Delta, 1990 to 2000” by Thomas Kersen at Mississippi State University’s social science research center

*Counties used corresponded to counties in Kersen’s “The Changing Delta, 1990 to 2000:” Bolivar, Carroll, Coahoma, Desoto, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Panola, Quit-man, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica, Warren, Washington, Yazoo

do (in Shelby),” she said. Others in the Chinese com-munity felt the same way. The Chinese population has shrunk by half since its peak in 1960. Once almost 1,100 accord-ing to official census numbers, there are now just over 600. Some of those numbers have been replaced by new immigrants, but many of the original Delta Chinese, whose parents and grandparents came in the early 1900s to work and own grocery stores, have left for places like California, Texas and Memphis. As for Starner, she attended Stanford University after she graduated from Shelby High School. After work-ing briefly in California, she eventually moved to Miami. All of her siblings moved to California to either work or retire. The west coast already has a siz-able Chinese population, and many Delta Chinese still had relatives in California, especially the San Francisco Bay area. The Chinese have not been the only ones to leave the Delta, though. Since it’s peak population of 485,060 in 1950, according to the census, the 2000 census reported just 338,648 in 13 Delta counties. The population grew rapidly between 1880 and 1940, but began its decline soon after the advent of the mechanical cotton picker in the 1940s. Peyton Self grew up in Marks. His family lived in five mansions in a compound many call Self Circle. They were well-respected and wealthy in the town as dominant farmers and bankers. Self looks back on his childhood fondly and remembers Marks as a “thriv-ing little economy.” But after farming was mechanized, hundreds of people lost their jobs and moved away. Self now sees the glory days of the Delta as “gone with the wind.” Self stopped farming in 2006 after a four-year drought, then moved to Oxford. He said he considered his life’s calling to stay in the Delta, but now, there’s no reason for anyone to stay. When people ask him why he left Marks, Self replies, “Well, Marks left

first.” Blake Wilson, the president of the Mississippi Economic Council, said there are few jobs left for anyone. “The first blow to our Delta was when farming techniques changed,” Wil-son said. In order to find jobs, many peo-ple had to go to the industrialized North. Those that were left had to find jobs in manufacturing. The jobs weren’t great, but they were enough to earn a living, he said. But as the economy became more international, those jobs moved elsewhere, as well. “When many of those jobs went overseas, you’re left with no other op-tions,” Wilson said. The Chinese suffered, just as ev-eryone else, from the shrinking number of career options in the Delta. However, as a racial minority, they had another impetus to move away. In his book, Mississippi Chinese, published in 1971, James Loewen said, “Probably the most important single rea-son for leaving is the continued discrimi-nation the race still faces in Mississippi.” Bobby Moon grew up in Boyle and Cleveland in the 1950s and remem-bers his childhood fondly. “It was typical apple pie, Chevro-let, baseball,” Moon said, speaking of his

childhood. There was another side to life in Mississippi, though. Although Moon could attend the white public school in Boyle, he had to switch schools in the 6th grade. His two older sisters had decided they did not want their younger brother to sit under the prejudiced 6th grade teacher, he said. So he moved to Cleveland to live with some cousins. He later attended Mississippi State University, where many Delta Chinese went, in 1962. During his years at college, James Meredith became the first black man to enter the University of Mississippi and President John F. Ken-nedy was assassinated. Moon said he still remembers the reactions of some of the white students to these two events. He said white boys from MSU came back after Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss bragging about how they had shot at the national guardsmen. He also remembers some students at Mississippi State celebrating after Kennedy’s assas-sination. “How could anyone shoot at people and brag about it? Mississippians’ brains were out of kilter. I realized then that I couldn’t live in a state like that anymore,” Moon said, quoted in a piece written by Sung Gay Chow called “The Way We Were.” Moon now lives in Houston, Tex. and so do all four of his brothers. They began moving to Houston after an uncle of theirs from Greenwood moved there in 1959. The oldest brother moved in 1963, and Bobby moved in 1967. Mississippi was never an option for him. “We knew, being Chinese, it would be very hard to find jobs,” Moon said. “We knew that with our degree, that was our ticket to get out.” Houston seemed like a good choice because they already had family there, and there was a sizable Chinese population, he said. With the oil industry and the NASA space center, there were plenty of job options. The top place to go for Delta

A Vanishing Population...

Bobby Joe Moon and his family who all live in Texas now. Amanda Jean (left), Laura Anne (right) and wife, Jeannie Lim Mah (center). Courtesy of Bobby Moon

Chinese was southern California, Moon said. But that was too far away and not southern enough for Moon. Apparently, some other Delta Chinese agree. Moon said he knows that almost 50 Delta Chinese lived in Hous-ton at one point. Not all Chinese found life in Mississippi so unwelcoming, though. “I loved Mississippi,” said Luck Wing, who grew up in Jonestown, went to Ole Miss and opened a drug store in Sledge after serving in the military. “I never felt the discrimination.” Wing now lives in Oxford, outside the Delta, but during his time in the Delta, he served as Sledge’s mayor for 12 years. His brother also served as Jonestown’s mayor for a time. The Wings were able to attend the local white school, and at Ole Miss, Wing says he never felt different. His roommate was white, but he said they were more like brothers than anything. He recognizes, though, that his experience doesn’t carry for all Delta Chinese. “The Chinese were treated differ-ent in each small town,” he said. He points out that his late wife had to attend the Chinese school in Greenville for a time because she couldn’t attend the white schools. But although a lot of the Delta Chinese are scattered around the nation, many still manage to keep in touch. Paul Wong came to the United States in 1934 and later moved to Shelby in 1939. He attended the white school there for one year before the school reversed its policies on Chinese students. He then attended the Chinese school in Cleveland for two years. But the Chinese school’s curriculum was not preparing him for college, so he moved to Portland, Ore., with a relative where he finished his schooling. He attended Stanford Univer-sity afterwards. He never considered moving back to the Delta, he said. He does go back to visit, though. He has sisters still in Shelby, Leland and Hollandale. He has visits with the several Delta Chinese who live in the Los

Angeles area, where he and his wife live, as well. A number of years ago, the Delta Chinese began going on the Southern Chinese Reunion cruises every few years. Wong and his wife have been on all six. They’ve had as many as 100 people go on the cruises, which usually visit places around North and South America, but have gone to Southeast Asia, as well.

The next one is in February 2012, and will travel from Singapore to Hong Kong. Cruises to China, like this one, usually have more Delta Chinese come. Wong says he won’t miss it.

VANISHING POPULATION, 19Photo of the over 100 Delta Chinese and family members who went on the 2005 Southern Chinese Reunion Cruise. Courtesy of Paul Wong.