This is Week 34 of AsianWeek’s salute to Chinese American heroes, in strategic partnership with Chinese American Heroes, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to documenting the contributions of Chinese Americans to America and the world.
This week want to recognize and honor a distinguished and accomplished lady, Dr. Betty Lee Sung, who has made major discoveries in Chinese American history, and is well known on the East Coast. With such major West Coast historians like Him Mark Lai, Philip Choy, and Thomas Chinn chronicling the Chinese gold miners and the construction of the Transcontinental Railway, the accomplishments of the Chinese on the East Coast have oftentimes been overlooked.
Dr. Sung’s research proved that Chinese had also immigrated to the East Coast. In fact, Chinese were there years before arriving in California as sailors and merchants starting in the late 18th Century. There wasn’t much of a population on the West Coast and little reason for anyone to go there until the middle of the 19th Century with the California Gold Rush. Dr. Sung’s research revealed many records in US Government immigration files which she meticulously recorded and catalogued. The database and her other extensive historical work are now displayed in the “Betty Sung Lee Collection” of the Asian American Section of the Library of Congress. Her first book, “Mountain of Gold” in 1967 led directly to calls for the establishment of an Asian American Studies program at City College of New York (CCNY.) Sung was appointed by CCNY as the first teacher of the subject, then promoted to professor, and finally became department head before her retirement in 1992. Sung is the author of seven books, including the 1976 award winning “Chinese American Manpower and Employment.” During her college teaching career, along with her progressively greater responsibilities, she not only managed to earn a doctorate from the City University of New York in 1983, but also raised eight accomplished children.
For information about Chinese American heroes, please visit the Chinese American Heroes website at www.chineseamericanheroes.org.
