Sue Lee

We at the Chinese Historical Society felt that it was time to set the record straight. and to clarify what had happened 150 years ago, and to begin recovering our stories and to tell the stories through the voices of descendants of actual workers.

It didn't go well at all. 1969 was really important to the Chinese American community. Folks felt that here we are 100 years after the completion of the transcontinental. There's going to be this celebration. We should be there to bring attention to the contributions of Chinese people.

It didn't go well at all. 1969 was really important to the Chinese American community. Folks felt that here we are 100 years after the completion of the transcontinental. There's going to be this celebration. We should be there to bring attention to the contributions of Chinese people.

It didn't go well at all. 1969 was really important to the Chinese American community. Folks felt that here we are 100 years after the completion of the transcontinental. There's going to be this celebration. We should be there to bring attention to the contributions of Chinese people.

The Historical Society worked many months in advance of that celebration, had fundraisers to create memorial plaques to be installed, one at Promontory and one in Sacramento, where the Central Pacific began. And the head of the Historical Society, Phil Choi, was actually invited to present the plaque at Promontory on May 10th.

The Historical Society worked many months in advance of that celebration, had fundraisers to create memorial plaques to be installed, one at Promontory and one in Sacramento, where the Central Pacific began. And the head of the Historical Society, Phil Choi, was actually invited to present the plaque at Promontory on May 10th.

The Historical Society worked many months in advance of that celebration, had fundraisers to create memorial plaques to be installed, one at Promontory and one in Sacramento, where the Central Pacific began. And the head of the Historical Society, Phil Choi, was actually invited to present the plaque at Promontory on May 10th.

And when he got there, the organizers said, Oh, Mr. Choi, we're so sorry, but we don't have time on the agenda for you. And that was because John Wayne was there to promote his new film, True Grit. So it was a real snub of the Chinese community in 1969. And that snub really festered in the kind of communal psyche of the Chinese American, Asian American community.

And when he got there, the organizers said, Oh, Mr. Choi, we're so sorry, but we don't have time on the agenda for you. And that was because John Wayne was there to promote his new film, True Grit. So it was a real snub of the Chinese community in 1969. And that snub really festered in the kind of communal psyche of the Chinese American, Asian American community.

And when he got there, the organizers said, Oh, Mr. Choi, we're so sorry, but we don't have time on the agenda for you. And that was because John Wayne was there to promote his new film, True Grit. So it was a real snub of the Chinese community in 1969. And that snub really festered in the kind of communal psyche of the Chinese American, Asian American community.

And so when 2019 came around and it was time to celebrate the 150th, the Asian community kind of linked arms and began to organize to make sure that the 150th paid due respect and acknowledgement of the Chinese contribution to the transcontinental.

And so when 2019 came around and it was time to celebrate the 150th, the Asian community kind of linked arms and began to organize to make sure that the 150th paid due respect and acknowledgement of the Chinese contribution to the transcontinental.

And so when 2019 came around and it was time to celebrate the 150th, the Asian community kind of linked arms and began to organize to make sure that the 150th paid due respect and acknowledgement of the Chinese contribution to the transcontinental.

Well, we in the community actually didn't have much information about the workers. Like everybody else in America, we go to school and we learn about the transcontinental and we kind of hear that the Chinese worked on the railroad. And that's the end of the story. There are no specifics. There are no details. So about five years before the 2019 celebration, we started organizing everything.

Well, we in the community actually didn't have much information about the workers. Like everybody else in America, we go to school and we learn about the transcontinental and we kind of hear that the Chinese worked on the railroad. And that's the end of the story. There are no specifics. There are no details. So about five years before the 2019 celebration, we started organizing everything.

Well, we in the community actually didn't have much information about the workers. Like everybody else in America, we go to school and we learn about the transcontinental and we kind of hear that the Chinese worked on the railroad. And that's the end of the story. There are no specifics. There are no details. So about five years before the 2019 celebration, we started organizing everything.

And we put out the word to the community for descendants of Chinese railroad workers. And people came forward and said, I'm a member of a family that's been here for four generations, and we have an ancestor who worked on the railroad. We don't really know that much about him, but we know that that's how long we've been here.

And we put out the word to the community for descendants of Chinese railroad workers. And people came forward and said, I'm a member of a family that's been here for four generations, and we have an ancestor who worked on the railroad. We don't really know that much about him, but we know that that's how long we've been here.

And we put out the word to the community for descendants of Chinese railroad workers. And people came forward and said, I'm a member of a family that's been here for four generations, and we have an ancestor who worked on the railroad. We don't really know that much about him, but we know that that's how long we've been here.

We don't have names of Chinese workers because they were not recorded. Chinese were hired in gangs of 30. 30 Chinese names are 30 too many to write on a piece of paper when you're hiring like 5 to 10,000 of them. There are individual names of, let's say, a cook on an individual payroll. So one of the descendant stories in Voices from the Railroad is of Lum Ah Choo.