Asian American History in the Delta: Lum v. Rice

Carolyn Sacco

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Warm Up

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When you think about Southern culture, what are some of the first things that come to mind?

What do you think?

Photos by Emanuel Hahn and Andrew Kung for the Mississippi Delta Chinese Audiovisual Narrative Project

https://www.thedeltachinese.com/about

New Concepts and Terms from the Time Article

General Timeline

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882

Chinese men and some families recruited to work on plantations

Early 1900s

Lum v. Rice ruling solidifies states’ power to segregate schools

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1927

Brown v. Board rules that school segregation is unconstitutional

1954

1943

Exclusion comes to an end with a small quota of Asians allowed to enter per year

Thinking about Lum v. Rice

1. Why is this particular case against segregation complicated, and even problematic?
2. Where did Asian people fit within a system in America that is heavily focused on black and white?
3. What do you think is the impact of Lum v. Rice on the way we think about the relationship between black Americans and Asian Americans today?

In the final Supreme Court decision, the judges used Plessy v. Ferguson—a case which argued that facilities like schools could be “separate but equal”—in order to make the case that the choice to make Martha Lum attend the “colored school” was fair. After all of these attempts to separate Chinese people from “colored” people, they ended up being subject to the same discriminatory laws. What does that show you about race in America?

Activity!!

1. Write your argument for Martha Lum as Earl Brewer using a different strategy.
2. Plan a community meeting (in the 1920s) that involves both Black and Chinese parents, keeping in mind how they might organize together for better conditions.

How has discussing this history changed your views about relationships between black and Asian people in your community? Have they stayed the same?