Susan Wu Rathbone
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Susan Wu Rathbone (; October 29, 1921 – November 22, 2019), also known as Wu Shih-san and "Auntie Wu", was a Chinese-born community leader in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She was founder and head of the Chinese Immigrants Service and the Queens Chinese Women's Association, both based in
Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the ...
.


Early life

Wu Shih-san was born in 1921 (some sources give 1922 as the year) in
Hefei Hefei (; ) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census and its built-up ( ...
,
Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
, China, the daughter of Chung Liu and Jin Ban (Gung) Wu. She was a schoolteacher in Chungking as a young woman. She moved to the United States with her new husband in 1946, settling in Flushing, New York. She was believed to be the first "war bride" from China admitted to the United States after the passage of the
War Brides Act The War Brides Act (59 Stat. 659, Act of Dec. 28, 1945) was enacted (on December 28, 1945) to allow alien spouses, natural children, and adopted children of members of the United States Armed Forces, "if admissible," to enter the U.S. as non-quota ...
in 1945.


Career

Rathbone began assisting fellow immigrants from China when she established "Auntie Wu's Hotline", an advice and information service, in the 1940s. She often hosted Chinese students in her New York home, and helped Chinese immigrants begin businesses in the city. In 1984 she was founder and head of the Chinese Immigrants Service, a mutual aid society, and the Queens Chinese Women's Association, both based in Flushing. One of her protegees in the leadership of the Queens Chinese Women's Association was Grace Meng, who became a Congresswoman. Rathbone also started a bilingual magazine, ''Women's Voice'', in 1993. In 1984, Rathbone earned a bachelor's degree from the
City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
. In 1987, she received the Susan B. Anthony Award from the National Organization for Women. In a newspaper story in 2000 on local politics, she was called "Flushing's most influential Chinese activist". In 2001, she won a $5000 Emigrant Award from Emigrant Savings Bank. In 2003, she was honored by Queens borough president Helen Marshall as one of the borough's outstanding women. In 2007, the Center for the Women of New York honored Rathbone at their annual dinner.


Personal life and legacy

Wu Shih-san married American soldier Frank Harold Rathbone Jr. in 1945, in Shanghai. They had two sons, Frank and Edward. She died in 2019, aged 98, at her son's home in Michigan. Her grave is with her husband's, at
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery is an American military cemetery located in St. Louis County, Missouri, just on the banks of the Mississippi River. The cemetery was established after the American Civil War in an attempt to put together a for ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
.


See also

*
Chinese Americans in New York City The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population ...
* National Organization for Women *
War Brides Act The War Brides Act (59 Stat. 659, Act of Dec. 28, 1945) was enacted (on December 28, 1945) to allow alien spouses, natural children, and adopted children of members of the United States Armed Forces, "if admissible," to enter the U.S. as non-quota ...


References


External links


A 1946 news photograph of Susan Wu Rathbone
(Wu Shih-san) and her husband Frank Rathbone, at Getty Images.
A biographical video about Rathbone
in Chinese, from Sinovision. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathbone, Susan Wu 1921 births 2019 deaths People from Hefei People from Flushing, Queens Chinese-American culture in New York City City University of New York alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States