Him Mark Lai (; November 1, 1925 – May 21, 2009) was a historian of Chinese American, a leader of the
Chinese-American community, and writer. He helped restore the state of Chinese American historiography. Lai "rescued, collected, catalogued, preserved and shared" historical sources in Chinese and English. He was known as the "Dean of
Chinese American history"
by his academic peers, despite the fact that he was professionally trained as a
mechanical engineer with no advanced training in the academic field of history. The Chronicle of Higher Education named Lai "the scholar who legitimized the study of Chinese America".
Early life
Lai was born in
San Francisco, California on November 1, 1925. At the age of five, Lai attended Chinese school at San Francisco Chinatown's Nom Kue School. Early in his life, Lai showed great aptitude for history. In high school, Lai won first prize at a San Francisco citywide history contest. He attended first in City College of San Francisco for two years and later, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 1947.
In the 1960s, Lai began taking night courses in history at the University of California, Berkeley's extension program. Inspired by his instructor Stanford Lyman, Lai started to pursue research in Chinese American history.
As a community activist, Lai joined the Chinese American Democratic Youth League, or Mun Ching, where he met Laura Jung, whom he eventually married in 1953.
In 1963, Lai joined the Chinese Historical Society of America, and there he began to accumulate research on Chinese American history. Lai has also curated several exhibits, and taught courses in Chinese American history at San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley and City College of San Francisco.
Life
Lai was not satisfied with the ways the Chinese American experience had been depicted in mainstream history writing, and so he collaborated with Thomas Chinn and
Philip Choy Philip P. Choy (December 17, 1926 – March 16, 2017) was an architect and historian of Chinese American studies. He is the author of '' San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History & Architecture'' (2012), ''Canton Footprints: Sacramento’s Chi ...
to publish A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus, in 1969. With Philip Choy, Lai also wrote History of the Chinese in America: An Outline, in 1972. Lai and Choy used this piece as the foundation to co-teach a course at
San Francisco State University in 1969 and also taught the same course at
UC Berkeley's
Ethnic Studies Department in the 1970s. This course became the basis for understanding the Chinese American experience and agenda for pursuing further research.
In 1973, Lai joined the
Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco in order to use his historical knowledge to serve the community. Lai developed an exhibit for the Chinese Culture Center titled Two Centuries of Struggle and Achievement: The Chinese of America 1685- 1980, which eventually traveled to China.
In 1984, Lai retired from his work as a mechanical engineer at the Bechtel Corporation in order to concentrate full-time on his historical research.
Through extensive research of historical sources, Lai was able to create two compilations- Chinese Newspapers Published in North America, 1854- 1975 with Karl Lo (1977) and A History Reclaimed: An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Language Materials on the Chinese of America (1986). These can be accessed in the special Him Mark Lai collection in the Asian American Studies Library of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Beginning in 1987, Lai began publishing a journal series entitled Chinese America: History and Perspectives.
Lai has served on board and three times as President of the Chinese Historical Society of America and on board and chair of the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco.
Him Mark Lai's most well-known work is "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on
Angel Island, 1910–1940", written in conjunction with
Judy Yung and
Genny Lim. These three formed the History of Chinese Detained on Island Project (HOC-DOI) to translate the
Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry ...
found on the walls of the
Angel Island Immigration Station and to collect
oral histories of
detainees on Angel Island, based on the specific restrictions of the
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...
. Their resulting manuscript was independently published in 1980, and published by
University of Washington Press in 1991. Lai joked to a newspaper reporter that "that book is the only one that makes
imany money."
In 1991 Him Mark Lai and Albert Cheng created the
In Search of Roots Program through a partnership with the
Chinese Historical Society of America,
Chinese Culture Foundation
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
, and the
Overseas Chinese Affairs
Overseas may refer to:
* ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio
* Overseas (band), an American indie rock band
* "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump
* "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
Office from
Guangdong Province, China. This year-long program trains a dozen Chinese American youths how to research their family history through
National Archives and Records Administration documents and
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
during the Spring. Each Summer, the students visit their
ancestral villages in the
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...
region of China. Upon their return, the students create a visual display of their
genealogy and display it at the
Chinese Culture Center during
Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or lunisolar calendar.
The Lunar New Year as a celebration is observed by numerous cultures. It is also named " Chinese New Year" becau ...
.
In 2003, the
Ethnic Studies Library at
UC Berkeley announced their "Him Mark Lai Collection," over of Lai's private research material, which he donated to the library for use by other scholars.
In 2004, Lai published a seminal study on key organizations and institutions in Chinese America, entitled Becoming Chinese American: A History of Communities and Institutions.
Lai became an influential leader of the Chinese Historical Society of America by hosting periodical conferences and publishing volumes of collected research.
In 2007, Him Mark Lai was diagnosed with
terminal bladder cancer, yet he continued his research and writing. Lai died at his home on May 21, 2009.
He was 83. The cause was complications of cancer, according to his wife, Laura. After his death his work remained the core of the curriculum for Roots: Him Mark Lai Family History project.
The UCLA Asian American Center Press announced plans to publish his autobiography in 2009 or 2010, co-edited by
Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Ruthanne Lum McCunn () (née Drysdale; born February 21, 1946) is an American novelist and editor of Chinese and Scottish descent.
Early life
Ruthanne Lum McCunn was born as Roxey Drysdale on February 21, 1946, in Chinatown, San Francisco and rai ...
,
Judy Yung, and
Russell C. Leong. In 2010 the
San Francisco Public Library Commission voted to rename its Chinatown branch after Lai.
Organizations
Him Mark Lai was what
Albert Lowe calls a "stealth organizer," who was involved in progressive organizations throughout his life, strategically disguised as an interested researcher and scholar, and did not face the same community popularity or governmental scrutiny as higher profile Asian American activists of his era, such as
Grace Lee Boggs and
Yuri Kochiyama. Nevertheless, he was investigated by the FBI for his activities in Min Qing, as depicted in the 1991 film, The Chinatown Files.
The Chinatown Files
* Chinese League for Peace and Democracy, San Francisco Chapter
* ''
Chung Sai Yat Po'', volunteer (1949)
*Min Qing (Mun Ching), (Chinese American Democratic Youth League/Chinese American Youth Club), President (1951–1959)
*
Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) (1963–2009)
* East/West: The Chinese American weekly (1967)
*
Chinese Culture Center (CCC)
* Chinese for Affirmative Action
* In Search of Roots Program (1991–2009)
Publications
Articles
* "A Historical Survey of Organizations of the Left Among the Chinese in America," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (Fall 1972)
* "Chinese on the Continental U.S.," Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups
* Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas and Huaquiao Huaren baike quanshu
ncyclopedia of Chinese and people of Chinese descent overseas
Manuscripts
* ''A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus'' (1969)
* ''Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940"'' (1980)
* ''A History Reclaimed: An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Language Materials on the Chinese of America'' (1986)
* ''From Overseas Chinese to Chinese American: History of Development of Chinese American Society during the Twentieth Century'' (1992, written in Chinese)
* ''Becoming Chinese American: A History of Communities and Institutions'' (2004)
* ''Autobiography'' (forthcoming)
Editor
*
Amerasia Journal, editorial committee.
* ''Chinese America: History & Perspectives'', Editor (1987–2009)
Education
*Nam Kue School, San Francisco Chinatown
*Commodore Stockton Elementary School
*Francisco Junior High School
*
Galileo High School
*1945 Class valedictorian
City College of San Francisco
*1947 BS in mechanical engineering
UC Berkeley
Filmography
*The Chinatown Files (2001) (http://www.filmakers.com/index.php?a=filmDetail&filmID=1094)
*Him Mark Lai: The People's Historian (2004)
References
External links
*Him Mark Lai Digital Archive Project (http://himmarklai.org), established on October 28, 2007 by the
Chinese Historical Society of America
*Finding Aid to the Him Mark Lai Papers (http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt7r29q3gq/) retrieved 3/24/2008
*Him Mark Lai Heritage Fund (https://archive.today/20130414114435/http://www.c-c-c.org/support/hmlheritagefund/) retrieved 4/12/2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Him Mark.
1925 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American social scientists
Asian-American history
American writers of Chinese descent
City College of San Francisco alumni
Historians of the United States
History of racism in the United States
Social historians
Writers from San Francisco
University of California, Berkeley alumni
City College of San Francisco faculty
American academics of Chinese descent
Deaths from bladder cancer
American Book Award winners
Deaths from cancer in California
Historians from California
American male non-fiction writers