Betty Lee Sung

Betty Lee Sung (born October 3, 1924)[1] is an activist, author, and professor emeritus of City University of New York (CUNY). As a scholar of Asian American studies, her several publications on Asian American race issues have been recognized as an influential force in advancing the rights of Asian Americans and immigrants in the United States[2]. Sung holds an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York Old Westbury.[3]

Betty Lee Sung
Born (1924-10-03) October 3, 1924
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Illinois (1948)
City University of New York (1982)
OccupationActivist, Author, Professor Emeritus of Asian-American Studies
Spouse(s)Hsi Yuan Sung
(1948.02.22－1966, 4 children)
Charles Chung
(1972.07.23－)
Children4
Betty Lee Sung
Chinese宋李瑞芳

Biography

Born in Baltimore, Maryland,[1] Sung's interest in the history of Chinese Americans is shaped by her own experience as a child of Chinese immigrant parents. When Sung was nine, her father briefly took the family back to their hometown, Taishan, but the family returned to Washington D.C. before Guangdong was captured by the Japanese during World War II. While growing up in Washington D.C., Sung and her family faced discrimination as Chinese immigrants. The treatment towards Chinese people in the United States was so severe that Sung recalls how her family largely avoided public areas like the movies or swimming pools.[4]

On February 22, 1948 she married Hsi Yuan Sung, but they divorced in 1966. Her second married to Charles Chung took place on July 23, 1972.[1] He filed a Petition for Dissolution of that marriage in California Superior Court in 2013. She has four children from her first marriage.[1]

Sung moved to New York and worked as a script writer for the Voice of America, where one of her programs was focused on Chinese culture in the United States. While working there, Sung was struck by how American culture held inaccurate and often stereotypical assumptions about Chinese culture. This inspired Sung to write her first book, Mountain of Gold: The Story of the Chinese in America.

After publishing Mountain of Gold, Sung was invited to join the Asian American Studies program at The City College of New York in 1970, where she advanced to the Chair of the Department of Asian Studies. She held this position until her retirement in 1992.[4]

In 1994, Sung completed a database of the Chinese immigrant records in the New York Region National Archives with grants from the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The database was featured by the New York Times, and enables scholars to conduct genealogical research and recreate the early history of Chinese immigrants in New York.[5][6]

In 2001, Sung and Thomas Tam co-founded CUNY's Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), a university-wide scholarly research and resource center on policies and issues that affect Asians and Asian Americans.[7] In 2017, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award[8] from the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS).

Sung is also a member of the Committee of 100, an organization committed to addressing Chinese American issues.[9]

Education

Sung graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois in 1948.[1] In 1968, she earned an MLS from Queens College of the City University of New York.[1] In 1982, she earned a PhD from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.[1]

Publications
  • Mountain of Gold: The Story of the Chinese in America (1967)
  • Chinese American Manpower and Employment (1976)
  • The Chinese in America (1973)
  • Album of Chinese Americans (1977)
  • Statistical Profiles of the Chinese in the United States (1979)
  • Adjustment Experience of Chinese Immigrant Children in New York City (1987)
  • Chinese American Intermarriage (1990)
  • Defiant Second Daughter: My First 90 Years (2015)[10], published by a vanity book publisher, Advantage Media Group, a company the webpage of which proclaims that, using that company, one can "create, publish, and market best selling books in less than 24 hours of your time".[11]
gollark: Just copy Sam Zeloof and make your own silicon.
gollark: Perhaps if you just used relay logic instead.
gollark: Sure, but so is just wiring 292928833 things by hand.
gollark: If you can do it in actual wired logic chips I assume it would be easy to port.
gollark: Instead of uncool discrete gates and logic.

See also

References
  1. "Contemporary Authors Online". Biography in Context. Gale. 2001. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  2. "The Institute on Man and Science; Chinese People in the United States". American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  3. "Betty Lee Sung Bio - Advantage Media Group". Advantage Media Group. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  4. "Asian studies pioneer & author going strong at 80". www.downtownexpress.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  5. "bettyleesung". www.chiamonline.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  6. Hays, Constance L. (1994-07-17). "Archive Yields Rich Details of Era When Chinese Were Barred". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  7. "Thomas Tam". Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  8. aaaricuny (2017-04-17), 2017 AAAS Annual Conference - Lifetime Achievement Award, Betty Lee Sung, retrieved 2018-10-26
  9. "Douglaston Hill and Little Neck Society". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  10. "Defiant Second Daughter: My First 90 Years – Asian American and Asian Research Institute". aaari.info. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  11. http://advantagefamily.com
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