The story of how a few Chinese immigrants found their way to the Mississippi River Delta in the late 1870s and earned their liVietnameseng with small family operated grocery stores in neighborhoods where mostly black cotton plantation workers lived. What was their status in the segregated black and white world of that time and place? How did this small group preserve their culture and ethnic identity? "Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton"is a social history of the lives of these pioneering families and the unique and valuable role they played in their communities for over a century.
This memoir describes the discoveries, many unexpected, when a Chinese American psychology professor retires and reinvents himself as a public historian of Chinese in America. Author of four books on the social history of Chinese family-run businesses, he has given dozens of lectures around the country. A Chinese American Odyssey provides a fascinating and insightful behind-the-scenes look at the processes involved in researching, writing, publishing, and promoting books. Writers of books on any topic will find useful information.
A social history of the role of the Chinese laundry on the survival of early Chinese immigrants in the U.S.during the Chinese Exclusion law period, 1882-1943, and in Canada during the years of the Head Tax, 1885-1923, and exclusion law, 1923-1947. Why and how Chinese got into the laundry business and how they had to fight discriminatory laws and competition from white-owned laundries to survive. Description of their lives, work demands, and living conditions. Reflections by a sample of children who grew up living in the backs of their laundries provide vivid first-person glimpses of the difficult lives of Chinese laundrymen and their families.
This memoir conveys the experiences of our family, the only Chinese in Macon, Georgia from 1928 to 1956. It describes our isolation running a laundry, enduring loneliness as well as racial prejudice, explains why we moved to San Francisco's Chinese community, and how we adjusted to new challenges and opportunities. This edition adds an afterword describing the book's impact on readers and audiences at book talks and how it led to my writing four more books on Chinese American history. Some Review Excerpts "..fascinating and insightful account of Chinese-American family life...charming and information..." Paul Rosenblatt, U. of Minnesota "..woven with genuine scholarship...masterful bit of storytelling..."Ronald Gallimore, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UCLA "...a unique view of ethnic identity.. fascinating insights...what it means to be Chinese when there is no Chinese community... and the way subsequent experiences in__and out__ of a Chinese community futher shape this process." Jean Phinney, Author, Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure. ...an intriguing and unique perspective on American immigration. Based on his experience as a child in the only Chinese family in Macon, Georgia in the mid-20th century, Jung's story is a fascinating account of the negotiation of personal and ethnic identity in a foreign environment. His narrative highlights many of the features of the larger society, including both government policy and situational practice, that shape the lives of immigrants, both then and now." Kay Deaux, City University of N.Y. Grad Center, Author, "To Be An Immigrant" ... delightful book opens a window providing a glimpse into the lives of one family born to Chinese immigrants in a small town in the South in the 1930s and 1940s. Being the only Chinese in town in a segregated society, their lives were certainly not mint julep and magnolias... Sylvia Sun Minnick, Samfow, The San Joaquin Chinese Experience Reader Comments ... It has a beautiful flow to it and an enriching quality that is easier to feel than it is to describe. Couched in humor, it deals with the painful and serious matter of day-to-day struggles of existence of a couple who came here with hardly anything more than faith in their hearts and steel in their spines. K. Saxena, Kensington, Ca Your book is the one that I had promised myself that I would write one day, but you went ahead and wrote it. You did a wonderful job Henry Tom, Frederick, MD. Thank you for telling your story in such an engaging manner. ...While your story is personal it is also universal because of its working class foundation laced with layers of Chinese ethnicity, family structure and dynamics, and the specificity of the South. Flo Oy Wong, Sunnyvale, CA. Enjoyed very much reading your family history revealing a unique experience yet sharing many of the same problems of families in Chinese laundries. ...Yours is one of the few written accounts of the many family-run laundries in the U. S. Thank you for the careful documentation of this history, which would be otherwise forgotten. Tunney Lee, Boston, Mass. ... gave me insight into the lives of Chinese in the South, especially those living where there were no other Chinese... Your move to San Francisco must have been as much of a cultural shock for you as it was for me, an African American moving to the Bay Area from Memphis. Leatha Ruppert, Cotati, CA. I thoroughly enjoyed this book I learned much that will hopefully give me some leads in searching for information on my paternal grandfather... your book has allowed me to gain some insight into what his life might have been life, what he might have experienced as the only Chinese in St. Augustine, FL. C. M. "Riveting - couldn't put the book down until it was finished - it mirrored many of my own childhood experiences growing up in New Zealand in the 50s. The Chinese immigrant experience must have been the same the world over." Helen Wong, Auckland, New Ze
This memoir describes the discoveries, many unexpected, when a Chinese American psychology professor retires and reinvents himself as a public historian of Chinese in America... a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the processes involved in researching, writing, publishing, and promoting books. Writers of books on any topic will find useful information. Academic ReviewsJohn Jung is a phenomenon: a career academic turned "outsider" scholar, he has managed to reshape our understanding of the Chinese American experience by his novel historical studies.. Part memoir, part how-to book, it provides a detailed engaging study of Jung's transformation from a psychologist into a historianGreg Robinson, Professor of History, University of Quebec. A fascinating book about a retirement journey that started with the author's memoir about growing up in a laundry in Macon, GA., where his family were the only Chinese. He next published three more rich and important books about Chinese immigrants in North America. ... documents Jung's fascinating metamorphosis as he retired from psychology to enter and become an important voice in Chinese American history. And John's richly contextualized tales of his unique experiences as a Chinese makes the book an insightful cultural biography. Yong Chen, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine. ...Jung's books have been the epitome of good scholarship: his writing informs the reader and compels us to want more beauty and take more time for reflection in our own lives. He has mastered humanizing the Chinese American experience by placing it in a Southern context and, in doing so, humanizes us all by complicating the South we think we know. ...Jung demonstrates the intellectual power of creative scholarship and his generous spirit offers practical guidance for those who want to move ahead with telling their own story.Stephanie Y. Evans, Chair, African American Studies, Africana Women's Studies, and History Clark Atlanta UniversityJohn Jung has done it again. His quirky memoir is a kaleidoscopic view of Chinese American history from inside out and outside in.Mel Brown, Chinese Heart of Texas: The San Antonio Community 1875-1975. John Jung is the epitome of a retiree who never fades away. He just changed his academic focus to expand his horizons into the field of Chinese American social history, and expose the struggles and triumphs of the second and third generations of laundry operators and restaurateurs -Sylvia Sun Minnick, SAMFOW: The San Joaquin Chinese Legacy. Reader ReviewsEnjoyable, Informative, and a Pleasure to ExploreBy E. Kanell Considering writing a memoir or a collection of memories? Treat yourself to A CHINESE AMERICAN ODYSSEY before you start. Not only does Jung give the back-story of his earlier books (Southern Fried Rice; Sweet and Sour), but he also provides insight into the research, writing, and publishing process for independent authors in particular. And he shows how a deep interest in a topic and a willingness to gather others' experiences can lead to fresh insight in contemporary history. This book is helpful if you want to learn how to self-publish and promote a book, change careers or learn about Chinese-American history.John Jung's writing style is folksy, with a lot of humor. He tells how he retired from his job as a psychology professor and became an author of four books about Chinese American history (this is his fifth). His Odyssey Is My Journey On Gold Mountain.By Raymond D. Chong on February 17, 2015 Dr. John Jung's "A Chinese American Odyssey" is wonderful work of our Chinese American experience in Gold Mountain. He offers many historical and ancestral gems of the Chinese in America. His writing style is folksy as well as intimate. His memoir truly reflects my similar journey as a Bamboo on Gold Mountain. Another literary masterpiece by Dr. John Jung, a true giant.
