An Untold Past: Chinese Americans in the South explores the remarkable American stories told by Dr. John Jung and Baldwin Chiu & Larissa Lam. Dr. Jung, retired CSULB Professor and author of several books including Southern Fried Rice: Life in a Chinese Laundry in the Deep South, will present a brief history of early Chinese migration to the southern states as well as his family’s story and personal memories of being the only Chinese family in Macon, Georgia between 1928 and 1956.

Baldwin Chiu will join the conversation by sharing his journey to discovering his family lineage in Cleveland, Mississippi. Chiu and Larissa Lam are the co-producer of the documentary short film, Finding Cleveland. The film, directed by Lam, follows Chiu and his family on the path to uncover their roots. In An Untold Past, Chiu and Lam will discuss how uncovering his family history led them to learn about the early Chinese American community in the South who persevered through the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and later navigated through the Jim Crow era.

The conversation will conclude with an audience Q&A, moderated by Dr. Laureen D. Hom, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Cal Poly Pomona.

At 4 pm, a screening of the award-winning documentary short film, “Finding Cleveland,” co-produced by Baldwin Chiu & Larissa Lam, will be available for viewing. Length: fifteen (15) minutes.

A Vimeo link to watch the film and the Zoom link to the panel discussion will be sent out the day before the event. As a reminder, the panel discussion starts at 5:00 pm PDT.