OXFORD, Miss. – Four successful Chinese-Americans will discuss the Mississippi Chinese experience, from early discrimination to academic achievement, Wednesday (April 18) at the University of Mississippi.
The 11 a.m. program, sponsored by the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, is in the Overby Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.
The Chinese experience in Mississippi is one of remarkable success. Some came to this country to work in the cotton fields, on the levees or on the railroads, but quickly moved to small grocery stores, especially in the Delta. At first, they were barred from the all-white public schools, but they quickly assimilated. Soon, in town after town, high school valedictorians were often Chinese.
The panel that will discuss the evolution includes:
– Chat Sue of Austin, Texas, a political science professor and college administrator who was born in China and immigrated to Clarksdale. He was a student at Ole Miss in 1962, when rioting accompanied the enrollment of the university’s first black student, James Meredith.
– Frieda Quon of Olive Branch, a retired library science professor who is working to develop the Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage Museum in Cleveland. A member of the first class of Chinese-American students allowed in the Greenville public schools in 1948, she was also at Ole Miss during the Meredith crisis.
– Ruby Joe, a retired internist from Canton, who was valedictorian at Hernando High School in 1967, long after overt discrimination against the Chinese had ceased. A graduate of the UM Medical School, she is married to David Joe, a physician and chemical engineer.
– Martin F. Jue of Starkville, a worldwide manufacturer of ham radio equipment and electronics, who grew up in the back of a small grocery store in Hollandale, one of the few towns to allow Chinese to attend white public schools. His great grandfather helped build the Transcontinental Railroad across America in the late 1860s.
“It’s entirely appropriate that in a year in which the university observes the 50th anniversary of James Meredith’s enrollment, these prominent Chinese-Americans from Mississippi will be here to talk about their own experiences with discrimination,” said Overby fellow Bill Rose, who will serve as moderator for the panel.
For more information or for assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-1716.