Mississippi Delta Chinese

A social history of the Delta Chinese and their lives in operating their small grocery stores that were often located in black neighborhoods close to the cotton pickers who were their primary customers when they first opened in the early part of the last century/

This scholarly book studies the Chinese of the Mississippi Delta. During Reconstruction, white plantation owners imported Chinese sharecroppers in the hope of replacing their black laborers. In the beginning they were classed with blacks. But the Chinese soon moved into the towns and became, almost without exception, owners of small groceries.

A Chinese scholar who lived among the Delta Chinese wrote this ethnography showing how the Chinese, initially classified as "colored," came to be viewed as a people with a separate identity. It shows how they expanded their social and economic standing running small grocery stores throughtout the Delta.

History of the Delta Chinese in Mississippi by John Thornell, 2004

A newspaper article published in the Delta in 2000 commenting on the historic role of the Delta Chinese groceries and their gradual disappearance over time.

Historical analysis by Vivian Wu Wong (1996) of the 'place' that Chinese occupied in a black and white society in the Delta

John Thornell (2008) summary of the history of Chinese settlers in the Mississippi Delta based on research articles and interviews carried out in 2000 as part of an oral history project funded by the Mississippi Humanities Council.

Several older general articles about the history of Delta Chinese.

Prof. Jane Adams and D. Horton discuss race issues in the Delta from the perspective of different groups including Chinese Hoover and Freda Lee from Louise, Ms. ( To see the video interview, go to the link below this one)

The first few minutes of this video features Hoover and Freda Lee, of Louise, Ms. where they had a grocery store. (Be patient as it takes a few secs. for to load)

I was invited in 2008 to visit to speak at Delta State University, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, and Jackson State University and visit Chinese grocery stores throughout the Delta.

New Archive created in 2012 which currently has 21 oral histories of Chinese from the Delta. Additional materials will be continually added.

Oral Histories, some of which are available online, provide rich details of the experiences of earlier life of Delta Chinese as well as other ethnic groups in the region.

John Quon oral history excerpt about growing up in a grocery store in Moorhead, MS.

John Quon describes some of the customs and traditions associated with a traditional Chinese wedding using the ceremony for his marriage to Frieda Seu as an illustration.

A thoughtful reflection by Bobby Joe Moon about growing up Chinese in the Delta

In 2002, the Govenor of Mississippi issued a proclamation to honor a Chinese grocer, Willie Yung, of Rena Lara, for his outstanding contributions as a businessman to his community for 37 years.

A warm reflection about the earlier Chinese grocers on the Arkansas side of the river by an Arkansas News journalist, Rex Nelson. (Scroll down after reading it to view comments from readers)

Background of events that led me to the writing of this account of the lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese grocers and their families.

A 2010 video with Luck Wing describing his father's grocery store in Jonestown, Ms., and what life was like growing up in the Delta for Chinese families back around the 1940s.

Video interview in 2010 of Frieda Quon describing her father's grocery store in Greenville and discussing family life, schooling, and church participation for Chinese in the 1940s.

Video in 2010 with Raymond Wong discussing his father's grocery store in Greenville, Ms. as well as how they left that business for safety reasons during the turbulent civil rights activism days to open a Chinese restaurant, How Joy, that operated until recently.

A moving account of Bobby Joe Moon's search for the roots of his family origin in the Guangdong village from where his father, Joe Guie Moon, and other relatives came from China around the 1920s and 1930s to settle eventually in the Mississippi Delta.

Leslie Bow, born of Chinese grocers in Arkansas, grew up in northern California. Here is an excerpt from her scholarly description of her struggles to understand what their lives had been like in the Delta. "I set foot in the place where my mother grew up only once. Both my parents were raised behind one-room, Chinese-owned grocery stores in the South. Even from my three-year-old perspective, there was nothing particularly exotic about Canton Cash in Helena, Arkansas; in my memory, it hovers between quaint and squalid. Heat rose up from weed-choked lots. Above the store, the living quarters seemed immense, infused with a palpable heaviness, as if the air could grab you around the legs and squeeze. We were delighted when the cracked linoleum stained our bare feet black, awed to find the toilet sitting in the hallway in lieu of a real bathroom. There was also candy, huge bubbled glass jars of it, generously bestowed from behind the counter, There were my grandparents beaming and gesturing for us to "eat, eat" across the generational and linguistic divide, The flies, the heat, my grandparents--my mother must have had mixed feelings about all of these things..."