Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers

By John Jung

The story of how a few Chinese immigrants found their way to the Mississippi River Delta in the late 1870s and earned their living 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yin and Yang Press
• Release date: Mar 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386309383

John Jung

 John Jung is a retired psychology professor whose memoir, Southern Fried Rice: Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South described the lives of his immigrant parents and his siblings, the sole Chinese family in Macon, Georgia, where they operated a laundry from the 1920s to 1950s during the pre-civil rights era . Three additional books explore how Chinese immigrants from the late 1800s through the middle of the 20th century overcame harsh societal prejudices and laws against them to succeed in running family businesses such as laundries, grocery stores and restaurants.The goal of these books is to inspire, educate, and preserve the history of the many contributions of the Chinese to American society. His latest book, A Chinese American Odyssey: How a Retired Psychologist Makes a Hit as an Historian, describes the process and experience of a decade of research, writing, and speaking about Chinese American history.

Book preview

Foreword, 2018

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CHINESE HAVE A TRADITION of talk-story.  When my father, Chuck Kun Hong, wanted to make a point from his life experience or Chinese tradition and mythology, he would begin with Let me tell you a story... This was an informal way for him and my mother, Mamie Wy Hong, to guide my siblings and me as we grew up in our corner grocery store, Fok Chong Co., in Greenville, Mississippi.  Much like Aesop did with his fables, my dad has left us with a legacy of unforgettable life lessons.

Dr. John Jung’s Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton, is the talk-story of Chinese who immigrated from China’s Guangdong province to the Mississippi Delta as early as 1870, the generations who survived the exclusion law and Jim Crow periods, and their present day descendants.  Through scholarly research of primary resources such as Sanborn maps, census records, ship manifests, historic photographs, oral histories, and poignant interviews with fourth and fifth generation descendants, Dr. Jung skillfully weaves these strands into a tapestry of a living American story.  The reader will be enthralled and inspired by a unique story of determined achievement over extreme physical and emotional adversity.

Dr. Jung describes the young sojourners who traveled from a China suffering from flood, famine, and economic and political instability of Guangdong Province, China to Gum Saan, the Gold Mountain.  Lured by the tales of streets paved with gold, large numbers of men came to California to mine for gold to send money back home to their families. When gold petered out, they performed jobs in construction, agriculture, manufacturing, fishing, lumbering, and even as servants – any jobs that many avoided. Many created businesses in laundries and restaurants. 

The Chinese built the western section of the Transcontinental Railroad and other railroads from California into the Rocky Mountain West, the Southwest, and the South. Once these railroads were completed and the nation was still paying for the disastrous, divisive Civil War, newspapers and politicians began to target the Chinese as a yellow peril that must go.

Municipalities, states, and the federal government passed increasingly repressive legislation that restricted their livelihood, travel, and land ownership.  Family members, particularly wives, were restricted from joining them. They could not own property, vote, testify in court, or become naturalized.  The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act totally barred Chinese labor immigration until it was repealed in 1943.

The rising tide of anti-Chinese sentiment and violence drove Chinese laborers from urban Chinatowns on the West Coast and East Coast, forcing the sojourners to seek work in less threatening communities in the American frontier and the South, including Mississippi and Arkansas.

Dr. Jung, a renowned historian, and a chorus of interviewees answer the questions: How and why did the Chinese settle in Mississippi, the Land of Cotton? Why did Chinese open small grocery stores in the mostly black neighborhoods in small towns along the Mississippi River Delta of Mississippi and Arkansas? How did Chinese who looked different and spoke little English earn a living and not only survive but also eventually thrive, in a social system in which they were neither black nor white? How did they build family networks? How did they survive the Chinese Exclusion Act that separated families, denied naturalization and property rights and a plethora of basic human rights?  How were families established?  How did the children achieve a path to education?  How did they become American while retaining their culture and traditions? What have they contributed to American society?

Chopsticks relates how each generation, with patience, resilience, and perseverance, has made gradual progress by standing on the shoulders of each previous generation.  The folks from the 1900s who were learning about Southern customs and language stood on the shoulders of the grocer who, not being fluent in English, had to save a sample of the products to show the wholesaler what he needed to reorder.  The children, who had to attend the one-room mission school or move out of state to get an education, admire the courage of Jeu Gong and Katherine Lum to challenge Mississippi school segregation all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court even though they did not win the battle.  Men and women, who volunteered to fight for a country that would not give them citizenship, demonstrated their patriotic loyalty. The state lost valuable human resources when teachers, artists, and engineers left the state to find employment.  In many instances, these scientists and engineers have contributed to America’s progress in defense, space programs, and medical advances.

Gratitude is offered to those who remained in the state, raised their children in the family stores through the difficult years of civil rights activism, and continue to make and preserve history in the state.  Those who relocated to other states took the lessons learned in Delta grocery stores to make valuable contributions in their new communities. Almost all continue to take pride in their Mississippi Delta Chinese American heritage and maintain the friendships developed in the Delta.

Thankfully, legislated discrimination is a thing of the past and Chinese Americans can pursue unimagined careers that match their talents and ambition.  Through their commitment to education, Chinese Americans embrace and defend our nation, overcome racial and social obstacles, and contribute to the legal, educational, social, and economic fabric not only the Delta, but also the nation.

Dr. Jung’s book reminds us that the lessons learned from the Mississippi Chinese experience are relevant today.  Most immigrants want a way to make a living, an education for their children, and an opportunity to add their chapter to the American story.

Carolyn Hong Chan

Past National President

Chinese American Citizens Alliance

Albuquerque, New Mexico

February 22, 2018

Foreword, 2008

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HISTORIAN JAMES COBB describes the Mississippi River Delta as the most southern place on earth. It is an apt label for the alluvial plain created by the Mississippi River that covers the northwest portion of Mississippi and southeast Arkansas. But what makes the Delta unique is not its geography, but rather its social and cultural history.

The Mississippi River Delta has always been a land of contrasts. For late nineteenth-century and much of the twentieth century, large farms with antebellum-like homes dotted the Delta landscape. In their shadow were farm workers and sharecroppers eking out subsistence living. Apart from the farms, the small Delta towns relied on unspoken borders, usually railroads tracks to designate living space. There was a place for black and white and for the haves and the have-nots. There were social codes in place to ensure that borders of race and class were not violated. All knew their place, or so it seemed.

What no one could anticipate was that this seemingly intractable social order would be challenged, not by disenfranchised black citizens not yet to ready to embrace the modern civil rights struggle, but by a small group of Chinese who decided to make the Mississippi River Delta their home.

The labor conditions in the plantation south after the Civil War were unsettled. Would former slaves, now free blacks, remain and work in the fields? If so, at what price, both economically and socially? In the face of these questions, alternative labor seemed a viable solution for Delta landowners. One failed experiment was the recruitment of Chinese in small numbers to work on the farms. The Chinese found the arrangement unsatisfactory. They quickly turned away from farm labor to become merchants, an economic livelihood that better served their background and skills. They were joined by Chinese from other parts of the country who viewed a merchant life in the rural south as preferable to the prejudice and oppression they encountered in urban areas.

Thus was born the Chinese grocery store-a cultural icon that would dominate Delta towns throughout much of the twentieth century. The Chinese grocery store was almost always located in black neighborhoods, a strategic, but necessary decision. Blacks no longer relied on the plantation commissaries for goods, so the stores afforded an economic niche. Moreover, the establishment of such stores in white neighborhoods was socially unacceptable. The stores also served as living quarters for Chinese families, as they lived in the back/upstairs of the store. The decision to live in the stores made economic sense, but also reflected the total devotion of the Chinese to their stores. 

The grocery stores afforded Chinese some economic success, and with it, the need to find their place in the Delta’s dualistic social structure. The struggles they encountered in doing so and the eventual success they would achieve are a unique story. John Jung tells that story in Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton.

Two earlier books specifically on the Delta Chinese, The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White by James Loewen, and Lotus Among the Magnolias: The Mississippi Chinese by Robert Seto Quan, although valuable, reflected an academic research approach. Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton offers a different view, relying largely on the personal and poignant stories of the Chinese who faced the struggles of life and work in the Mississippi River Delta.

The challenges Chinese in the Delta faced were a microcosm of a national agenda dominated by prejudice and nativism.  The apex of those movements is best reflected in passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, legislation that placed the severest restrictions on Chinese migration. That such legislation was the first of its kind in the history of the country offers insight into the political landscape faced by Chinese in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

That political climate also extended to the Delta. Prejudice was a way of life in the south. Yet Delta Chinese faced a very different set of circumstances. There were no Chinese enclaves to offer sanctuary as existed in the large cities.  Delta Chinese lived in their stores or in black neighborhoods and were small in number. They worked long hours in the stores and had no time for a life outside of work. Moreover, the racial ambiguity of being between black and white made important decisions of life such as education, church, medical services, marriage, and family life, continual struggles for Chinese.

The challenges the Delta Chinese faced and more importantly, the success they achieved in the face of those challenges is at the heart of Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton.  Jung weaves together the narratives to tell their story.

Jung starts with the migration story. How did Chinese end up in a remote, rural area in the Deep South? What role did extended family and connections play in their arrival and their subsequent expansion? How much of a presence were they?  How were they able to overcome the migration barriers put in place by the government? The book describes those multiple journeys ranging from the Guangdong Province in China, the gold mountains in California, and the sugarcane fields of Cuba and Louisiana.

Once settled in the Delta, the Chinese, many initially sojourners, decided to make it their permanent home. The cornerstone of their daily life was the grocery store where they live, worked, and raised a family. That life was characterized by total devotion to the success of the stores and the involvement of the entire family in the effort. Jung’s chapter Life in Chinese Grocery Stores is a fascinating account of those efforts. Not only do readers have an opportunity to better understand the complexities of managing the stores, they can also appreciate the ancillary advantages that evolved out of those stores-the strong devotion to family that comes from a shared common goal and the ability to parent children who live and work in them.

Perhaps none of the challenges Delta Chinese faced were more daunting than schooling. Coming out of a Confucian tradition that acknowledged the hallowed importance of education, the Chinese families found the Delta an unfriendly place when it came to educating their children. The Mississippi Constitution mandated separate schools for black and white children. It failed to address a place for Chinese. Being neither black nor white, the question of where their children would attend school confronted families across the Delta. The black schools were grossly underfunded and inferior and the white schools were inaccessible.  How Chinese dealt with this dilemma is troublesome given the inequities that existed, but also fascinating given the creativity the Chinese displayed in dealing with the decision. Jung’s treatment of this challenge is insightful and once again displays the resiliency of the Chinese in responding to the myriad of problems they encountered as Delta citizens.

Jung also writes about similar access issues related to church attendance. Interestingly the schools proved to be a conduit to church. The white churches of the Delta saw the Chinese as a target for mission work and were anxious to find ways to partner toward that end. The evolution of residential schools for Chinese children was a response to the educational needs of the Chinese and the mission goals of the white churches. The Chinese also had an interest in social mobility within the white community and the church seemed a window to meet that objective. Jung’s description of the events that led to a church solution is an excellent example of the ability of the Delta Chinese to find a merger of self interests in spite of a social power structure that was at cross purposes with their objectives.

Any analysis of southern history and politics addresses race. For the Delta Chinese, race relations were, as described by Jung, a delicate situation. The Chinese lived and worked within the black community but wanted the favor of the white community. How that balancing act was achieved is explored by Jung through accounts of experiences by Delta Chinese who faced the complexities of race first-hand. The Chinese experienced such across a broad range of social areas such as school sports, hiring, and housing.  Inevitably they found themselves confronted with racism, but also ever resilient in overcoming it.  Jung’s chapter on matters of segregation and race is especially poignant as it recounts incidents that remind the readers of the behavior of whites during this shameful era.

Jung’s final chapters focus on the Chinese identity-what it means to be Chinese in the Delta-the most southern place on earth.  Two elements stand out among many.  First, the Chinese encountered enormous obstacles in their quest for economic and social legitimacy in the Delta.  Second, they overcame those obstacles.  Their legacy of accomplishment and achievement in the face of adversity is a model for all.  Thanks to John Jung and his book Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton for sharing the powerful story of the Delta Chinese.  The recognition is well deserved.

John Thornell

Rocky Mount, North Carolina

November, 2008

Preface

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ATTRACTED BY THE PROSPECT of finding gold, Chinese immigrants from the impoverished Guangdong province of southeast China began to come to the United States and Canada in large numbers starting around the middle of the 19th century.  Few succeeded in striking it rich, and most ended up engaged in backbreaking labor including railroad and levee construction, farming, fishing, and laundry work.  Fueled by the threat of large supplies of cheap Chinese labor, white workers agitated for an end to their further entry, leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.

Most Chinese entered from either coast, especially the Pacific, so it is somewhat surprising that a few settled in Arkansas and Mississippi along the Mississippi River.  When outsiders think of Mississippi, they may think of cotton plantations, magnolias, slavery, or catfish but the thought of Chinese immigrants and their descendants would be an unlikely association. How did this incongruous combination of chopsticks and cotton come to be?  Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton is the story of how these hardy immigrants found an economic niche in the racially segregated Delta.  A distinct numerical minority, caught in the social structure of white supremacy and subjugated blacks, Chinese somehow found a way to survive economically while preserving their own ethnic identity.

The Delta afforded the Chinese immigrants of the late 1800s an opportunity to earn a living with more safety than in other regions where they were literally driven out.  But, unlike their compatriots who settled on either coast near Chinatowns, Delta Chinese did not have access to the social and economic life of a densely populated Chinese community.  Delta Chinese, very few in number, were scattered over many small towns where almost all of them operated small grocery stores and markets in neighborhoods where poor black cotton plantation workers lived.  Chopsticks first examines the factors that led the Chinese to assume this occupation, describes their working and living conditions, and analyzes how they countered the racial prejudices of the time and place.  Of primary interest in the second half of the book is the story of the impact of their experiences in the grocery business on the lives of several cohorts of children, most U. S.-born, that came of age in the Delta during the mid- 20th century.

Understanding history is not unlike solving a mystery.  We want to discover truths, about the past.  Who did what?  When and where did it take place?  Why, and how, did it happen?  Since we were not present to witness these events, we have to rely on available evidence.  However, many records of the past are absent, inaccurate, or incomplete.  Personal testimonies and reminiscences, written or oral, can be vague, distorted, or inconsistent and difficult to corroborate or validate.  Different observers may have made conflicting accounts for many reasons.  Their own preconceptions and expectations may have affected what they saw and how they interpreted it.  They may have examined different evidence or spoken to different people, some that embellished or suppressed memories and feelings.  Gathering accurate and comprehensive historical data and making sense out of it is fraught with difficulty.  It is small wonder that history is periodically rewritten or reinterpreted as perspectives change in the light of new evidence or subsequent events.

Roland Chow stimulated my initial interest in Delta Chinese history, encouraged me to pursue this project, and persuaded numerous contacts from the region to share memories with me.  Bobby Joe Moon continually and promptly provided family history information, personal contacts, and strong conviction in the value of this work.  Paul and Helen Wong graciously shared details of the history of their family ties with the venerable Joe Gow Nue Grocery in Greenville.  Reverend Ted Shepherd, for many years a revered pastor at the Chinese Baptist Church in Greenville, kindly shared historical information and photographs about their church school.  Henry Wong supplied details of the interconnections among several related families that led them to open grocery stores on the Arkansas side of the Delta.  Gow Joe Low and Don Chu were also helpful.  Emily Weaver, of the Oral History Archives at Delta State University provided access to valuable documents collected in 2000 from a score or more Delta Chinese that provided first-hand accounts of the experience of growing up in grocery stores.

Thanks for invaluable assistance are also due to many Delta Chinese who shared details from their personal experiences: Sung Gay Chow, Robert Chow, Bonnie Lew, Sam Sue, Frieda Quon, Audrey Sidney, C. W. Sidney May Jee, Peter Joe, Bobby Jue, Shirley Kwan, Sally and Gilroy Chow, Jack Joe, Dicksun Joe, Dickmun Joe, Hoover Lee, Leland Gion, Arthur Hsu, Sherman Hong, Luck Wing, Blanche Yee, Bill Yee, Raymond Wong, Randy Kwan, Richard Long, Jefferson Davis Hong, Leslie Bow, Sue Mae Bow, Doris Lee, Cedric Chinn, and James Wing.

I received genuine and gracious Southern hospitality during a visit to the Delta that allowed me to tour several towns, visit a few of the remaining stores, and talk with merchants about the grocery store life.  These experiences enhanced my understanding and appreciation of the arduous lives of Chinese grocery merchants and their families.  Frieda Quon at Delta State University and Blanche Yee, President of the Mississippi Lodge of the Chinese American Citizen’s Alliance, were prime movers in