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Film: Black Jamaican Reconnects Her Chinese Roots

Madison’s mother, Nell Vera Lowe Williams (right) on 145th Street in Harlem with some of her in-laws. Source: Finding Samuel Lowe website (press photos)

This is not a new story. Truth be told, it is a very old story that begins in the late 1905. That’s when a Chinese laborer named Samuel Lowe arrived in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica. He met a black Jamaican woman and they had a daughter, Nell Vera.

Fast forward a century. Their granddaughter, Paula Williams Madison embarked on a search for Samuel, who had been separated from their family since her mother was three years old.

“My mother always looked sad because she was away from her family,” Madison told CNN in a 2016 interview. “I’ve known for my whole life that my grandfather is Chinese. I thought helping my mother find her family would make her happy.”

Madison is a former Hollywood studio executive; she retired from NBCUniversal in 2011 to research her family history full time. She used her creative background to produce Finding Samuel Lowe, a 2014 documentary film about her search, which culminated in a journey to China where she and 20 of her Black Chinese relatives met over 300 of their Chinese relatives for the first time.

Black and Chinese cousins

Paula Madison with her Chinese cousin Kim Yuet Lau. source: Finding Samuel Lowe website (press photos)

Finding Samuel Lowe shines a light on a connection between African and Chinese history that is not widely known outside of Jamaica. Samuel Lowe, Madison’s grandfather, was among the 5,000 Chinese indentured workers who came to Jamaica to work the fields after African slavery was outlawed. (Indentured workers also showed up in Cuba, which has the largest population of Chinese in the Caribbean – nearly four times the number in Jamaica.)

Chinese women were not allowed entry at first, so many of the men formed relationships and families with black Jamaican women. Eventually, Chinese women were allowed to enter the country, and the Lowe family sent a Chinese woman for Lowe to marry instead of Nell Vera’s mom. Samuel Lowe finished his contract at the sugar plantation and stayed in Jamaica to run a successful business until 1933, when he returned to China with part of his family.

Nearly all of Jamaica’s indentured Chinese workers came from the Hakka people of northern China. When Madison attended a Hakka festival in Canada, she met a Chinese researcher with her same last name.

“I said, ‘Oh my god, you’re the only Chinese Jamaican I’ve met with the same last name as my grandfather’,” Madison told CNN.

This connection led her to one of her uncles. The rest is not only history, but it is the basis for her book and film.

The film can be rented on YouTube for $3.99 or downloaded on iTunes for $12.99. The video section of FindingSamuelLowe.com has over a dozen free clips, including many interviews with Madison and a Chinese-language news segment.

This hour-long special about Madison’s family is not listed on the site, but it’s also worth watching. So is this 35-minute sequel on the website for The Africa Channel, a network for which Madison and her brothers own majority shares.

#Because of Them We Can

Tommie & JohnOn October 16, 1968, Sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gave this iconic salute during the medal ceremony at the Olympics in Mexico City.

After Smith won the gold medal and Carlos won the bronze medal in the 200 meter-dash, both took to the podium barefoot in protest and proudly raised their black-gloved fists, while the U.S. National Anthem played. This move allowed Smith and Carlos to take a stand against racial inequality on an international stage, but by the next day, they were forced to return their medals and were thrown out of the Olympic Village.

The third man in the photo, Peter Norman, also stood in solidarity with Smith and Carlos, by wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge during the award ceremony. His actions resulted in his home country, Australia, who enforced the White Australian policy at the time, to deny him for the 1972 Munich Olympics. Although he broke an Australian record that day, Norman’s achievements would go unacknowledged.

Tommie, John and Peter, thank you for using your platform to advocate for racial equality.

PS. When Peter died in 2006, both Carlos and Smith traveled to Australia to serve as his pallbearers.

‪#‎becauseofthemwecan‬

HBCU Presidents sign MOU with Chinese Government

HBCUs and Chinese universities meet to discuss implementation
of 1,000 scholarships for HBCU students to study in China

repost from Morgan State Newsroom

(BEIJING) – A delegation of presidents and senior administrators from eight American Historically Black Colleges & Universities signed an MOU today with the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), China’s nationwide nonprofit organization conducting international educational exchanges and cooperation on behalf of the Ministry of Education.

The delegation also participated in the HBCUs-Chinese Universities Roundtable where they engaged in dialogue with their Chinese university counterparts to discuss mutually agreed upon processes for implementing the 1,000-scholarship award initiative.

“We’re delighted to be a part of this historic moment in progressive global student exchange and study. This collaboration between the Chinese government and HBCUs provides an excellent opportunity to enable our students to become competent in Chinese history and culture, and will significantly enhance their abilities to be successful global leaders throughout the world,” said Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University and the delegation’s leader. Dr. Wilson signed the MOU on behalf of the delegation.

The MOU formally acknowledges the 1,000 scholarships for HBCU students announced by Vice Premier Liu Yandong at a November 2013 Capitol Hill meeting in Washington, D.C. between leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus and HBCU presidents from Howard University, Morgan State University, Tougaloo College and Xavier University of Louisiana.

The HBCUs meetings in Beijing this week are parallel to the 5th U.S.-China Consultation on People to People Exchange (CPE) being held in Beijing from July 9-11, 2014. The CPE is co-hosted by U.S. Sec. Of State John Kerry and China’s Vice Premier Madam Liu Yandong, China’s highest-ranking government official overseeing education. The CPE is designed to enhance and strengthen ties between the citizens of the United States and the People’s Republic of China in the areas of culture, education, science and technology, sports, and women’s issues. On Wednesday, July 10, the HBCU delegation will attend the closing session of the CPE meetings with Sec. Kerry and Vice Premier Liu.

The HBCU trip to China is the culmination of the collective works of the Chinese government and the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a Hong Kong-based nonprofit organization that encourages and facilitates exchanges among public policy makers, civic leaders, think tanks, academia, and business organizations in the U.S. and China to enhance understanding and mutually beneficial relationships. CUSEF hosted and organized the first meeting of the HBCUs with Vice Premier Liu during the HBCU’s first visit to China in September 2013.

The other HBCU delegates to Beijing are: Dr. Beverly Hogan, president of Tougaloo College, Dr. John S. Wilson, Jr., president of Morehouse College; Dr. Pamela Hammond, provost of Hampton University; Dr. Weldon Jackson, provost of Bowie State University; Dr. Myra Burnett, vice provost of Spelman College; Dr. Barbara Inman, V.P. for Student Affairs, Hampton University; Dr. T. Joan Robinson, V.P. Division of International Affairs, Morgan State University; Dr. Anthony Wutoh, Assistant Provost for International Affairs, Howard University; Dr. Kathleen Kennedy, dean of the School of Pharmacy, Xavier University of Louisiana; Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris, dean of Humanities & Social Sciences, Morehouse College; Dr. Loye Ashton, director of International Studies, Tougaloo College; and Dr. Ruihua Shen, director of Chinese Studies, Morehouse College.

A key goal of the HBCU – Chinese University Collaboration is to encourage and increase international educational study opportunities for diverse students to study in China. The HBCU delegation’s visit from the U.S. side is managed and organized by Julia Wilson, CEO and founder of Wilson Global Communications, an international consultant to the HBCU pilot group, and the liaison representative for the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). In China, the CEAIE is managing logistics on behalf of the Ministry of Education.

Documentary profiles a Chinese activist in the Black Civil Rights Movement

America is about to meet Grace Lee Boggs, a 98-year old Detroit activist and author who’s the subject of a 90-minute documentary airing Monday night on PBS.

Grace Boggs
GRACE LEE BOGGS: An Activist’s Life
Grace with her father and some of her siblings, George, Bob, Eddie and Kay.
“There were seven children in our family…As first-generation Chinese Americans we had to create our own identities. We had no role models.” .

“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” part of the “P.O.V.” (point of view) series, profiles a woman who is “rooted in 75 years of the labor, civil rights and black power movements [and] continually challenges a new generation to throw off old assumptions, think creatively and redefine revolution for our times,” as the network puts it.. (See trailer below.).

The PBS summary adds:

In some ways, the radicalization of Grace Lee Boggs typifies an experience many people shared during America’s turbulent 20th century. Yet she cut an extraordinary path through decades of struggle. As Angela Davis, an icon of the 1960s black power movement, puts it, “Grace has made more contributions to the black struggle than most black people have.”

Actor Danny Glover and numerous Detroit comrades, plus archival footage featuring Bill Moyers, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Boggs’ late husband and fellow radical, James Boggs, all testify to Boggs’ highly unusual position.

James Boggs died in 1993 at age 74. The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, a Detroit charter academy on East Kirby Street, is named for them.

Featured_jimmy_grace300_13196

Grace Lee Boggs of Detroit poses with James Boggs, her husband of 40 years. He died in 1993 at age 74. 

The documentary, showing at 10 p.m. Monday, is by director Grace Lee — a Korean-American living in Los Angeles who isn’t related to her subject.

Featured_grace_lee_boggs_at_packard_13198GRACE LEE BOGGS: An Activist’s Life
Grace Lee Boggs “cut an extraordinary path through decades of struggle.” says a PBS summary of the film.

The filmmaker discusses her project at PBS’ site. Excerpts are here and in a video below:

Unique city: “Going to Detroit was really transformative because Detroit is unlike any other city I’d ever been in in my life.”

Personal connection: “From the moment I met Grace Lee Boggs in 2000, I knew I would have to make a longer film just about her. Over the years, I would return to Detroit, hang out and watch her hold everyone from journalists to renowned activists to high school students in her thrall. I recognized myself in all of them — eager to connect with someone who seemed to embody history itself. . . . What I’ve learned from having these conversations with Grace Lee Boggs is you never know where a conversation is going to take you.”

She “chastises me” on race: “I was kind of taken by the fact that she was this Chinese American woman in essentially a black community, a black movement. And I kept asking her questions about that. What was it like to be a Chinese woman in a black movement? And she kind of chastises me . . . where she says, ‘You keep asking me this question. You’re stuck in this idea of all these categories. I didn’t think of myself as Chinese because the Chinese American movement hadn’t emerged, and I didn’t think of myself as a woman because the women’s movement hadn’t emerged.’ . . .  Here’s somebody who was born in 1915, before women in America had the right to vote, two years before the Bolshevik revolution.”

Activists in love: “One of the things she said to me [after a screening] was she really saw how her and James’s relationship was really an American love story. Part of that was that they both loved America enough to want to change it, which was so nice to hear that, and just a nice reminder of what a love story can be.”

Film’s theme: “On a really basic level it’s an ongoing conversation with Grace Lee Boggs about the evolving nature of revolution, or her evolving idea of what revolution can be — whether that’s in regard to social movements happening within her lifetime or whether it’s evolution that she sees in the city of Detroit or within herself. . . . . It is a conversation about many different things.”

“Might change the world:” “This is not an issue film, nor is it about a celebrity or an urgent injustice that rallies you to take action. It’s about an elderly woman who spends most of her days sitting in her living room thinking and hatching ideas about the next American revolution. But if you catch wind of some of those ideas, they just might change the world.”

Lessons for young viewers: “That knowledge that she has and her ability to evolve through the contradictions of these movements is something that’s really useful. Somebody who embodies history like Grace in a very real way, it’s such a gift to be able to talk to them. Maybe a younger generation could learn that there are probably scores of Grace Lee Boggses that they’re not even aware of. This one happened to write books and be active and have a documentary made about her. But I think that everybody has a story and everybody has something to contribute.”

Boggs’ reaction to film: “When she watched the finished film with an audience, I think she was incredibly moved and appreciative of how people engaged with the film. And I think she was very pleased with how much James Boggs was in the story.”

— Alan Stamm (reposted from Deadline Detroit)

 

Read more:  PBS
Recent

Sugar highlights the parallels of enslaved Africans & Chinese exclusion in US history.

Sugar plantation 1Raising African American children within the Chinese culture provides many strengths but also creates a number of crossroads. One of the most glaring for my family is the continued celebration of Chinese culture at every turn – the classroom, the library, the hallways, the many celebrations. Our school has an incredible library filled with books that celebrate Chinese culture through history, folklore, rituals and food. There is a clear tie to Chinese history, culture and folklore that stands apart from American culture and has, from my perspective, been lost in the Black experience – in my Black experience.

I have made a significant effort to strengthen the ways that the girls are immersed in Black history in a way that is purposeful and  meaningful that helps them to be prideful and excited about their legacy and the journey of our ancestors. In their growing celebration of Black history and Chinese culture it is rare that I find opportunities to highlight the parallel journey and balance the two worlds they live in – Black and Chinese.

Sugar, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to honor the shared history and the parallel process that can be found in both the Chinese American and African American experience. Rhodes’ main character, Sugar, is a 10 year old former enslaved African working on a sugar cane plantation coming of age immediately following Emancipation. Sugar is a strong and fearless young girl that articulates her journey and the era of Emancipation with clarity and curiosity. We’ve been reading it to the girls (ages 5 and 7) at bed time – a few chapters each night. They have become captivated with the story and learned so much about life on a plantation. Sugar’s story is so clearly written and so fascinating that it is not difficult for them to hold on to my every word. It has been a very powerful and POSITIVE experience for them.

Sugar is an easy character to fall in love with. She is spunky, fun and loves the art of story telling. She is playful and sometimes finds herself in trouble. Sugar hates her name. She hates everything to do with sugar. She hates cutting cane. She hates the sleepless nights preparing for Harvest. She hates most of all that she is alone. Initially the girls struggled with comprehending how Sugar could be on the plantation alone, without her mommy and daddy. But as the story unfolds they learn about the power of extended kin and the strong ties that create family regardless of bloodlines. There are many times that Sugar wants to play and she is forced to work. Although she is free she remains “stuck” in River Road with the older enslaved Africans at the plantation where she was born and is unable to leave.

The only other child on the plantation is the son of the owner and they are forbidden to play together. But as children do they often find themselves on great “adventures” that touch the playful heart of the child inside all of us.

What drew me to Rhodes’ Sugar is that the plantation owner brings in a group of Chinese men to replace the enslaved Africans of River Road. The endearing part of this story is how these men too become folded into the family and the way in which they actively seek to become members of this blended family. These foreigners – African and Chinese – form a bond as they realize that they have a shared journey. They are both displaced and attempting to find a home for themselves. They also open Sugar’s eyes to the world that exists off of the plantation. Her excitement and graciousness allows her to become a bridge between the two cultures/groups. As Sugar explores both worlds and is increasingly enchanted with the world outside of River Road the elderly enslaved Africans struggle with what it means to be free and the white Southerners struggle to adapt to change.

There is so much going on in this book that it offers a wonderful lesson plan for Chinese Immersion history teachers covering this period. Sugar looks at things from a different view.The backdrop of Sugar delicately and beautifully outlines the impact of Chinese exclusion – when Sugar’s Chinese friends had no pathway to US Citizenship – and the transition from slavery to Emancipation for African Americans from a child’s perspective. The author highlights the shared history of story telling in her inclusion of Bre’r Rabbit and the dragon stories of China which creates wonderful parallels.

“Sugar is a must read for young fans of historical fiction due to its fine writing, strong characters and perceptive attention to the period. I truly felt Sugar’s frustration with being free and yet not free to be herself. I loved her fondness for stories and her spunk. Her determination and her open hearted attitude towards change led the way for many of the adults in this story, which made me appreciate her all the more. This is an enthusiastic recommend for young readers grade 3 to 7.”

My daughters are younger than the recommended age but we were able to slowly inch into the story with myself or my husband providing age appropriate bridges and modifications where needed to help them embrace the story. This book is definitely a great addition for any family but especially for African American families raising Chinese language learners. Click here for a sample reading. We donated a copy to our school’s library! Please purchase a copy for yourself and/or your school. It is a must read.

Black History Posters for Chinese Immersion Schools!

xample - die cut images

Monday

February 24th,

our on-line store will be available to purchase these and other items.

We are excited about the bilingual posters that we have created to celebrate the contributions of African Americans.

This has been an incredible process and we are excited with all of our designs.

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