March 16, 2018 Hello ,
Margaret
Chung triumphed over hardship, tradition and bigotry to become the nation's first female Asian-American medical doctor.
Beyond her career as a surgeon, Dr. Chung became one of the first Chinese American woman to become a mainstream celebrity, popular in Hollywood circles, among politicians in Washington and
American bomber pilots.
Margaret Chung Got Things Done! Margaret's mother had been one of the many
Chinese woman sold into servitude and prostitution in California's early years of statehood.
Her father worked for a time as ranch foreman and later sold fruits and vegetables, but like most Chinese immigrants of the time, the family was poor. Margaret Chung grew up fast.
At age ten, she drove a horse and delivery wagon to help support her family. She later worked in a
Chinese restaurant, but dreamed of becoming a doctor.After finishing high school,
Margaret was determined to study medicine at USC, though she didn't have the money for tuition. She won a scholarship from the Los Angeles Times by selling newspaper subscriptions door to door. In her third year, a Los Angeles Herald article gushed about this "little Chinese
girl, so oddly attractive in her American clothes," who "spoke perfect English." To the reporter's credit he also mentioned Margaret's determination, depth of purpose and cool, matter-of-fact efficiency. Margaret told the reporter she thought she was the first Chinese American woman in California to attend medical school and was proud of the honor.
"Some of the course has been hard, weary, almost impossible. But I have always been spurred on by the great thought of suffering womankind," she said. "There is so much to be done for women—in a medical way—so much that they need, and that only a woman can give them, that I feel I must work very, very
hard.”
After graduating med school in 1916, and serving her residency in Chicago, Dr. Chung returned to Los Angeles to work as a staff surgeon at the the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital. She also built a thriving medical practice treating Hollywood celebrities, including giving Mary Pickford a tonsillectomy.
Margaret did not forget her roots, treating many patients who hadn't the money to pay her. She moved to San Francisco in 1922, and worked as staff physician at the Wiltshire Hotel, in addition to starting one of the first Western medical clinics in Chinatown where most of the residents still patronized traditional Chinese herbalists.
When the Sino-Japanese war broke out ten years later, she petitioned both the American and Chinese governments to let her go to the war zone. She planned to trade her prosperous
career for a field hospital in the trenches of north China.
Margaret was denied permission to go to China, and shortly after that, she was asked to conduct medical exams for seven hard-drinking
crack Navy reserve pilots, an event that would lead, over the years, to some fifteen hundred "flyboys" calling her "Mom."
Dr. Chung's San Francisco home became a popular gathering spot for pilots, soldiers, politicians and movies stars. According to several sources, she served home-cooked meals to some seventy to one hundred men
a week. After dinner, the men did the dishes and mopped the floors.
You may recognize the names of some of her regular guests: Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.; entertainers Sophie Tucker, Helen Hayes, Ronald Reagan, Robert Young and conductor Andre Kostelanetz. After the Japanese attack in December 1941, Dr. Chung gathered emergency medical supplies and sent them to Pearl Harbor. As the war continued she personally wrapped and sent more than four thousand gifts to military men for Christmas.
Using her military and political connections, Dr. Chung lobbied for formation of the WAVES, the women's auxiliary of the U.S. Navy. Despite her popularity and courageous accomplishments, Margaret Chung could not totally overcome the limits of
being a woman and person of color. According to biographer Judy-Chun Wu, "Chung’s economic and social rise depended upon her manipulation of her identity, including strategically performing a projected role of
foreign womanhood. At times, despite her status as a professional woman, Chung played the role of an Oriental mammy."
Margaret Chung was never recognized publicly for her efforts to carve a place for women in the military, and after the war there was speculation she was secretly blacklisted by the government for being gay.
Throughout her years, she sustained the passion and purpose she voiced as a young medical student. "Doctors used to think that women had no place in the medical profession—that we were crowding and Intruding on a field that was for men alone. But there is no field nowadays that is for men alone, especially that of medicine and care of the
body....Do you know that there are hundreds and hundreds of special fields where women doctors will save and better humanity?"
Dr. Margaret Chung had the vision to see things needed to change, and the courage and persistence to be that change. She was loved and
respected by people from all walks of life until her death in 1959.
Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to joined my advanced reader team for Standing Up Against Hate. I'll have details when the advanced reader copies of the book are available.
My Schedule
Pacific Northwest Author Extravaganza If you're in the Tri-Cities area don't miss this! You're sure to meet someone interesting. I'll be there with twenty-four
other authors Come by and say hello! Barnes & Noble Columbia Center Kennewick, WA March 24, 2018
United Association for Labor Education National Conference Seattle Airport Hilton April 6, 2018 Friday, 8:30am-10am Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy
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