Family History Interview

“Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.”

Cormac McCarthy

The history of a society is made by its members, and therefore every single person makes up more than one page of a history book – whether their influence is direct or not. Even those who never appear in public create history by choosing their government, by deciding to defend their rights, by giving preference to some brands over the others, and by raising their children thus giving birth to a new generation. Unwillingly, a child acquires national traditions, superstitions, and moralities proper to their family. Then, establishing their own household, the former child transforms into a role model, forms attitudes and shares experience. In order to make one’s future successful it is quite useful to enquire about the mistakes made by their family members in the past. To discover in full my identity and to observe how the personal family history may be interwoven with the global processes, I have interviewed my grandfather and associated his story with the events of the American past.

Chinese by birth, he immigrated to the US in 1967, almost half a century ago. Originally he lived in Henan province which was not considered the biggest one. The parents invested in his schooling and contributed to his literacy as much as it was possible. The wars and poverty made them understand that the survival rates are higher among cultivated and intelligent people. In fact, before he arrived to the US he could count, learned philosophy, and did his best to study English with minimum sources. He had a book of collected poems among which Animal Tranquility and Decay by William Wordsworth was his favorite. He learned the poems by heart, and even now he still remembers several lines.

Jingfei, his elder sister, had already been living in Los Angeles for twenty years. She managed to immigrate after the World War II being a living consequence of The Magnuson Act adoption on December 17, 1943. According to the Act, the previously existing Acts “relating to the exclusion or deportation of persons of the Chinese race” were repealed (Gold 523). In point of fact, some of the Chinese immigrants had been welcomed before, but they were restricted to merchants, teachers, students and officials (Chen 1). Being illiterate, Jingfei was outside these categories. A young girl, she travelled by ship with her best friend’s family. At the age of fourteen she was very pretty, and the parents hoped for the best letting her go with the people they knew and trusted.

My grandfather explained that The Magnuson Act passage was rather a political decision within the confrontation with Japan, while the racism as such was far from disappearing. Although white population was unfavorably disposed to all the other race representatives, African American and Latino population suffered from intolerance to a greater extent. The constant danger pressed them to organize gangs. In a short time these groups transformed into criminal syndicates (Chardon). For this reason it is not surprising that the grandmother preferred to stay indoors during late hours despite there were a lot of entertainment places in Los Angeles at that time. As her parents predicted, she got married rather quickly thus finding the love of her life and a powerful backing.

Jingfei lived in New Chinatown which was the Chinese community nucleus. Probably because of the apparent difficulties such as unemployment and insecurity the Chinese preferred to stick together and support each other. Amazingly enough, many of them invested in New Chinatown construction. “New Chinatown was the first Chinese enclave in the country to be planned and owned by Chinese Americans” (Cho and The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California 7). Jingtei worked in the Man Jen Low restaurant which was popular among Angelenos, and it was a weighty contribution to the family budget, because the restaurant was one of the busiest in the neighborhood.

Jingtei told my grandfather that on the presidential election in 1960 her husband expected John Kennedy to win, and equally more than 60% of Los Angeles City voters have chosen him that day (Leip). Fortunately for our family, John Kennedy won that day. That gave to the minorities of the country the hope for democracy evolution, and everybody in the community expected for the best.

In 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act was passed. It allowed seven categories of foreigners to immigrate legally to the US. The Act was focused on the so-called “family reunification”, which means that the US citizens of foreign origin could apply for their closest relatives (preferably spouses, siblings and children) to arrive to the US territory legally. There were, of course, other categories of immigrants, but the family reunification was the core element of the Act (Le). In such a way my grandfather’s sister applied and called her brother to Los Angeles City.

My grandfather was 25; he was smart and strong and did not belong to the Communist Party. That much facilitated his integration. As he had relatives in Los Angeles, the first months were not painful. He lived in his sister’s house and had different temporary jobs while looking for a permanent post and learning English.

The social conditions themselves helped a lot: the population growth called forth the extension of the city (Cox), and there was a strong need for lodging. The Americans of the time started gaining more, their incomes rose, which is why they could afford luxurious houses. My grandfather was always observant; that is how he decided to start his real estate career.

Firstly my grandfather worked in partnership with Alexander Cole, an experienced broker, as it was very improbable that he would find the first customers on his own. Although the Chinese were reputed as industrious, punctual and well-mannered people, my grandfather had to prove that they were reliable as well.

He told me that in his dreams he often saw his first house sold. It was a nice 980 square feet house, West Adams, red stairs, wooden kitchen, 46 000$, and a bunch of worries. The house was a little overpriced, he was a beginner, and he did not speak English fluently yet. In a year he terminated the partnership, although they remained in friendly relationships with Alexander.

Three years later my grandfather applied for his wife to come to the US. After my father was born in 1972, they moved to Temple City, Los Angeles County, CA. Initially it was difficult to start the life anew, in a different place. One way or another, the grandfather had a certain experience in the field. He earned enough to let my father enter a private school, but even if he had not, he would have saved money for his son’s decent education.

Recollecting these events my grandfather told me that the place where you live, the occupation you have, the food you eat for dinner are the aspects of little importance. The only value that matters is your family and your community. The hardships and discrimination made the Chinese community work together for the sake of common safety and peaceful future. Even abused they went on supporting each other and this collective strength was a source for their aspirations and deeds. Take a bamboo stick, and you will easily break it; take a bunch of bamboo sticks and you will fail to do the same.

As an interviewer, I have drawn a set of conclusions from this story. First and foremost, children are the best investment, irrespective of whether they will pay generous dividends back. Secondly, accurate planning and observance are the tools which are indispensable to a successful career. Another important issue may be summarized as follows: the advantage of democracy could be formulated as a chance to be evaluated according to the personal capacities and acquired knowledge. And finally, the collective effort proves fruitful even in the most extreme conditions.
I hope this article was interesting and useful, and I am very happy to share this research with my readers, more of my articles you can find on the site buy-essays-papers.org.