Mississippi Delta Chinese and School
midsections of the country. When
Segregation: Gong Lum v. Rice, 1924.
Chinese in Mississippi began to have
By John Jung
families, parents sent their children to
‘Separate schools shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races.’ Mississippi State Constitution, 1890, Section 207.
white public schools despite school segregation because they had better funding than colored schools. White
Mississippi made no specific
opposition was minimal as Chinese were
provision for schooling of Chinese
successful merchants and held higher
children because it defined anyone who
social standing relative to blacks in their
was not a member of the white or
communities.1
Caucasian race as belonging to the
In 1924, however, school authorities
colored race. In 1890, when Mississippi
in Rosedale denied admission of two
established segregated schools, Chinese
Chinese sisters, Berda and Martha Lum,
children were largely unaffected simply
to the local white high school on the
because there were few, if any, Chinese
grounds that Chinese were not members
children in the state then, largely due to
of the white or Caucasian race.2
the restrictions on Chinese immigration
Gong Lum, their father, was a
to the United States under the 1882
successful grocery store owner who was
Chinese Exclusion Act.
well-respected in the community. A
However, over time, more Chinese
local law firm acted on a pro bono basis
already in the U. S., especially those in
to file a writ of mandamus on behalf of
western states, sought to escape the
Martha Lum, the younger sister, to the
violence they suffered by moving to the
local court to demand that the school
board allow her to attend the white
petition that Martha Lum was not
school. They argued that as the district
colored, and not of ‘mixed blood,’ but
did not provide schools specifically for
‘pure Chinese,’ was an attempt to
Chinese, the white school was the only
reassure white concerns on this issue.
one in the district available for her. To
The lower court granted the
require her to attend the colored school,
petition, which required that the Board
which was inferior to the white school,
of Trustees admit Martha Lum to the
would deny her rights under the Equal
white school. However, in 1925 the
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed
Amendment.
the lower court's decision on the grounds
An unstated reason for white opposition to Chinese attending white
that Martha Lum was not white or of the Caucasian race.3
schools was probably the concern that some Chinese children were of mixed Chinese and black parentage. It was a widely believed that due to the earlier lack of Chinese women in the Delta, some Chinese men had fathered children with colored women. Thus, if children of mixed Chinese and black racial blood attended white schools, they would have, in effect, “desegregated” the public schools. The emphatic declaration in the
Gong Lum then appealed the Mississippi Supreme Court's ruling to
the Supreme Court of the United States,
Determined to obtain better
but without success. In 1927, Chief
schooling for his children, Gong Lum
Justice William Howard Taft wrote the
moved his family across the river to
opinion that affirmed the Mississippi
Arkansas where Chinese could attend
Supreme Court's ruling. It maintained
white schools. Other Chinese rejected
that Martha Lum was entitled to have, in
colored schools and sent their children to
its words, “the benefit of the colored
other states, hired tutors, or sent them to
public schools in her district.”
private schools.5
Otherwise, “she may go to a private school but not at state expense.” 4
The adverse ruling was more honored in the breach than in the observance as many local communities had favorable attitudes toward the Chinese and readily accepted their children into white public schools.
The U. S. Supreme Court maintained that it was within the discretion of Mississippi to regulate its public schools, and that excluding Chinese from white schools did not conflict with the Equal Protection of the Law Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Impact on Chinese-Colored Interactions The school ruling against the Chinese had other effects than where their children received their education. One long-term consequence involved Chinese attitudes toward blacks. Chinese realized that negative views of whites toward them stemmed in part from the cordial relations that many Chinese had
with blacks, the customers for many of
Starting in Rosedale in 1928, they
their grocery stores. Consequently, the
reached out to the Chinese by first
Chinese believed that better acceptance
offering English instruction and then
by whites would have to come at the cost
Bible classes. During the 1930s mission
of clearer separation from blacks.
schools were opened to provide
They made stringent efforts to
education to Chinese children so they
distance themselves socially from
would not have to attend colored
blacks, ostracizing any Chinese who did
schools.
not comply. Those with mixed Chinese
By the early 1940s, white attitudes
and black parentage were shunned by
toward Chinese improved considerably.
Chinese as well as by blacks.6
Church schools for Chinese closed as
Chinese Begin to Embrace Christianity
gradually white public schools in many
A second important effect of school segregation was that it increased Chinese
towns no longer excluded Chinese. 7 By then, Baptist churches had filled
involvement and acceptance of the
the gap with Chinese mission schools for
Christian religion. Prior to immigrating,
over a decade that gave them the
most Chinese were not deeply involved
education was unavailable to them in
in religious practices, especially
public schools. In return, Baptist
Christian ones. In the wake of school
churches reaped the benefits of gaining
segregation against Chinese, Baptist
many converts and devout adherents to
churches in several larger Delta towns
Christianity including Chinese from the
saw an opportunity for attracting
older generation as well as their children
Chinese to attend their religious services.
and future generations.
Conclusion It would not be for another decade
References Lim de Sanchez, S. “Crafting A Delta
before school segregation against blacks
Chinese Community: Education and
was outlawed by the landmark ruling of
Acculturation in Twentieth-Century
Brown v Board of Education by the U.
Southern Baptist Mission Schools,”
S. Supreme Court in 1954 that “separate
History of Education Quarterly, 2003,
but equal schools” were inherently
43, 74-90.
unequal.8
Loewen, J. W. The Mississippi Chinese:
Gong Lum v Rice did not directly
Between Black and White, Cambridge
challenge the legitimacy of school
MA.: Harvard University Press, 1971.
segregation. It ignored that issue, one
McCunn, R. L. “Arlee Hen and Black
that was too firmly entrenched to be
Chinese.” Chinese American Portraits,
successfully challenged in that era by
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988,
anyone, let alone by a group with little
pp. 78-87.
political power as the Chinese. Their
O’Brien, R. W. “Status of Chinese in the
case dealt only with the validity of the
Mississippi Delta.” Social Forces, 1943,
classification of Chinese as colored.
19, 386-390.
Even though they lost their case, it was,
Rhee, J. “In Black and White: Chinese in
however, part of the groundwork that led
the Mississippi Delta,” 1994 Journal of
to the eventual overturning of school
Supreme Court History, 117-132.
segregation in America.
1
O’Brien, 1943 “Status of Chinese,”. Rhee, 1994, “In Black and White,” p. 122 suggested that the impending accreditation for the Rosedale school may have prompted officials to enforce school segregation.
2
3
Rice v. Gong Lum, 139 Miss. 760, 104 So. 105. Gong Lum v Rice, 275 U.S. 78 (1927) 5 Loewen, “The Mississippi Chinese,” p. 68; Rhee, “In Black and White,” p. 126. 6 McCunn, “Chinese American Portaits.” p. 87 noted that Arlee Hen, a daughter of a Chinese grocer and black mother, could not be buried in the Chinese cemetery. 7 Lim de Sanchez, Crafting A Delta Chinese Community, p. 81-87. 8 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954). 4