The Wongs of Beloit, Wisconsin / Beatrice McKenzie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McKenzie, Beatrice, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese American families--Wisconsin--Beloit.

Chinese American families.

Immigrant families--Wisconsin--Beloit.

Immigrant families.

Wong family.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (215 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2022]

Summary:

Through family interviews, original photographs, and national records, Beatrice Loftus McKenzie traces the many lives of a resilient multigenerational family whose experiences parallel the complicated relationship between America and China in the twentieth century. In the early 1900s, Charles Wong moved from Guangdong Province to the United States and opened the Nan King Lo Restaurant in Beloit, Wisconsin. Soon after, his wife Yee Shee joined him to build the "Chop House" into a local institution and start a family. When the Great Depression hit, the Wongs shared what they had with their neighbors. In 1938, Charles's tragic murder left Yee Shee to raise their seven children-ages one through fourteen-on her own. Rather than return to family property in Hong Kong, she and her children stayed in Beloit, buoyed by the friendships they had forged during the worst parts of the 1930s.The Wongs thrived in Beloit despite facing racism and classism, embracing wartime opportunities, education, love, and careers within the U. S. McKenzie's collaboration with descendent Mary Wong Palmer reveals a poignant story of Chinese immigrant life in the Upper Midwest that adds a much-needed Wisconsin perspective to existing literature by and about Asian Americans.

Contents:

Transnational migration in the exclusion era: Grandfather Wong Doo Set

Immigration and settlement in Beloit, Wisconsin: Charles Wong

Surviving and thriving in Beloit: Yee Shee

Family, work, and wartime service: Gim, Fung, and George

Part of a national community: Helen, Harry, Frank, and Mary

Family reunions: legacies and advice for the next generations

Epilogue: return to Mong Dee: Mary Wong Palmer.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: McKenzie, Beatrice The Wongs of Beloit, Wisconsin

ISBN:

9780299335939

OCLC:

1289869980