Milly Lee grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown. As well as working as a school librarian, she was the Sonoma County Office of Education Librarian until she retired. She is the author of three books, Nim and the War Effort, Earthquake and Landed, winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Club's California Book Award in Juvenile Literature. She was the recipient of the 2003 Reading the World Award.


" Learning about the lives of those who came before us is important so that we can acknowledge them, then move on to live the lives they couldn’t," - these were my words at the Commonwealth Club when my book Landed received their 2007 Award in Juvenile Literature.

At that time, I believed that since we have had several decades of culturally diverse books, it was time for us to “move on” from books about the hardships of immigrants finding their way in America. We should be reading about an America which includes the stories of all groups of immigrants as part of life in America. I still believe there will be a time when we will no longer need to use ”hyphenated American” to define a group. But we are not quite there yet.

When I visited a local school recently, I found that the school’s 80% Asian American students came from China, Japan, Viet Nam, Korea, and Cambodia. Some were recent arrivals, some were second generation, and many were from families that have been here for more than two generations. When I asked if they knew about the stories of Asians in San Francisco, they replied: “No.”  When asked if they knew anything about San Francisco’s Chinatown, most did not know and most had not been there. They had never heard the term “Paper Sons” until they read Landed, and they didn’t know the stories of other Asians coming  to America.  Likewise, many of the Asian American parents and teachers attending the presentation were unaware of our common heritage.

 We have had waves of immigration bringing people from Asia to America, from the 1850’s to the present. Their levels of acculturation differ, depending on when they arrived, and where they lived upon arrival and finally where they have settled their families.

I am troubled to know that still little is known to them about the history we shared. We really cannot move on to the “next step” without knowing about how and why our ancestors came to this country.  We need to know about the countries and cultures they left, and we need to know their stories in this country as well.

I am privileged to have had the honor of introducing author Jean Fritz (Homesick) at a conference. In her remarks, the award-winning author, who has written a number of books of historical fiction and biographies of historical figures, said: “to have a sense of history is to have a sense of one’s own humanity. The writer of history can help readers appreciate the past as an account of human experience. The past is not just a series of events, it is people doing things.” In other words, the past can be neither understood nor assimilated until it becomes “alive with people.”

I was raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, where my family lived for three generations. We lived in close quarters within the twelve square blocks that defined our community. It was a segregated community then, within a city which now includes Asians in every part of its boundaries. It was a bitter experience for many; but it wasn’t all awful: we grew up sharing a time and place that sheltered and nurtured us as well. 

After many years living in the suburbs, my husband and I  moved back to San Francisco in 2007. We reconnected with many relatives, friends, and former schoolmates. We shared a community sixty years ago, and the bonds remain.  It was like growing up in a small town, where everyone knew everyone else and their families.  We have been greeted on the streets by former classmates and friends, who said “welcome home.” Indeed we felt like we had come home.  There’s comfort in being just another Asian in an area filled with them. We were very visible in the suburbs because there were few of us.

I wrote about my World War II childhood in Nim and the War Effort. Earthquake was my mother’s story of a horrific event which made it possible for her to step outside of Chinatown for the first time. Landed was the story of my husband’s family coming to America when incarceration on Angel Island was required for those seeking entry.  These stories are about my family’s history, they serve to inform others of people’s lives at a time when being Chinese set us apart from other Americans.

Similarly, other Asian Americans have written stories of immigrant experiences in America: Yangsook Choi, Cynthia Chin Lee, Ken Mochizuki, Lensey Namioka, Linda Sue Park, Yoshida Uchida, Laurence Yep and Ed Young, to name a few. They wrote about their  ancestral countries as well as stories of Asians in America. The children’s books from this diverse group of Asian American writers included more than folktales: there were biographies, historical fiction, poetry, mysteries, contemporary fiction and nonfiction as well.  Their books told of individual struggles, hardships, sacrifices, and how they prevailed against racism, discrimination, and injustices.  In recognizing and revealing the complexity of Asian American experiences, they affirmed the common core values that enabled us to come together as a people of similar backgrounds.

My grandchildren have opportunities I never thought possible. They are living the life I couldn’t.  Together we have talked about the institutional racism of the past, which limited my visions. We have talked about our people’s past. They are prepared and eager to pursue their lives, knowing that those of us who came before them had some part in helping them realize their dreams. That, to me, is the meaning of, the promise of, the American immigrant experience.

Posted May 2008