Spreading Stories That Need To Be Heard

Our October speaker, Shimon Tanaka, teaches several classes at Stanford (fiction writing, non-fiction writing, screenplay writing.) But what captured our curiosity was a 20-week course he does with colleague Scott Hutchins on the Graphic Novel. This class was started in 2008 by Pulitzer-Prize winning author (The Orphan Master’s Son) and Stanford Professor, Adam Johnson. During the class, students choose a subject or story, do research, write the script, add the art, and create their own graphic novel.

“It’s like a book-length comic book,” said Tanaka.

In past years, they’ve written about the first women in space, Africa’s oldest national park, a young girl living in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, the trafficking of South Korean women to San Francisco, and the miraculous life of a man who endured both atomic bombs during WWII. This year, they chose to research the story of the first Chinese-American activist. For their research, they found great information in Scott Seligman’s Book, The First Chinese American, which interestingly enough was recently reviewed by member Dr. George Koo. 

 Wong Chin Foo was born in Shandong Province in 1847. When he was twenty, an American missionary sponsored him to come to the US to study, assuming that after he was properly educated, Wong would return to China and spread the gospel. Wong went to the University of Lewisburg, PA (known today as Bucknell), only lasting a year before he went back to China to get married. Yet, something about his upbringing and education and travels had changed him. So when he saw corruption and mismanagement while working in the Customs House in China, he organized an anti-government campaign. The government immediately went after him, and Wong had to flee for the U.S., leaving his wife and infant son behind.

Wong noticed on his journey to San Francisco that there was a whole load of young women enslaved on the boat, having been tricked by a Chinese Tong. So, as soon as the ship landed, he reported the issue to authorities. This endeared Wong to the women, but not the Tongs.  (In fact in his lifetime, he survived numerous assassination attempts.)

Wong began touring the U.S. to introduce Chinese culture to Americans. He brought Chinese theater to New York, established a language school, and opened a Confucian temple. He also was the first to coin the term, “Chinese-American.”

At the time, there was a Labor Leader in San Francisco named Denis Kearny who ended all of his speeches with, “Whatever happens, the Chinese must go.”  Wong challenged Kearney to a public debate, and Kearny eventually backed down. Despite this, public opinion and legislation swayed against the Chinese.

In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. In 1892, Congressman Thomas Geary extended the Exclusion Act, adding more restrictions. A Chinese person had to have two white witnesses to testify to his/her (mostly his) immigration status. He had to always carry his certificate of residence or risked being thrown out of the country. Wong Chin Foo thought this was wrong. He established the Chinese Equal Rights League, as well as a newspaper to discuss such issues.  He debated Geary on the topic. Unfortunately, he not only lost the debate, but more importantly the issue. As our membership pointed out, he was just one person fighting the U.S. (The Chinese Exclusion Act wasn’t dismantled til 1943.) Despite his “failures“ and mis-steps, throughout his life Wong forged ahead, trying to explain Chinese culture to Americans, and fighting for all Chinese to be recognized, “according to principles of common humanity.”  

As an aside, Tanaka said that, although Geary St is not named after Thomas Geary—but a relative—it is still a happy irony that today this street in San Francisco is filled with Chinese.

The Stanford students who researched Wong’s life, worked together to create dialogue, drew the art, and revised, revised, revised. The result was the graphic novel, “American Heathen.

Tanaka brought each USCPFA member a complimentary copy.  For those who didn’t get a copy, it is available online as a free download.  The Stanford students also sent one copy back to China, via author Scott Seligman, to Wong Chin Foo’s great-great-great grandson.

“Thank you,” the man said. “Thank you very much.”