Tag Archives: Asian American Teachers

Former teacher and acclaimed author Maxine Hong Kingston

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Maxine Hong Kingston

Former teacher and acclaimed author Maxine Hong Kingston

Many people are familiar with the famous author Maxine Hong Kingston. She wrote The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, a critically-acclaimed autobiographical account in which Maxine details the conflicting cultural messags she received as the daughter of Chinese immigrants growing up in America in the 1950s. She also wrote China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, The Fifth Book of Peace, and Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. But did you know that this talented writer is also a teacher?

Maxine was born on October 27, 1940, in Stockton, California. Her parents were first-generation Chinese immigrants. In order to immigrate to the United States, her father had to give up a career as a professional scholar and teacher in his home village of Sun Woi, near Canton. Maxine was the third of the couple’s eight children, and the eldest of the six children born to them in the United States.

Maxine earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1962, and then obtained her teaching credential. She taught high school in the city of Hayward for a year, and then moved to Hawaii where she taught in various positions. From 1970 to 1977 she taught at Mid-Pacific Institute, a private boarding school. In 1990, she was invited to join the faculty of her alma mater, UC Berkeley, as a senior lecturer in the English department.

This remarkable educator has earned many awards. She garnered the Writers Award from the national Endowment for the Arts in 1980 and again in 1982. She was honored by President Bill Clinton with a National Humanities Medal in 1997. She has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Literary Awards (2006), and a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation (2008). In 2013 this former English teacher was honored by President Barack Obama with a National Medal of Arts award.

Teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WWII

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Mary Tsukamoto

Japanese American teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WW II.

At the start of World War II, Mary Tsukamoto was living a quiet life as the wife of a strawberry farmer in a diminuitive Japanese-American community in Florin, Northern California. When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” Mary’s quiet life was suddenly turned upside-down.

Like 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast, most of them American citizens, Mary was forced into a relocation camp by the US government because her loyalty to our country was questioned. Evicted from their home, Mary, her husband, their five-year-old daughter, her elderly in-laws, her teenaged brother and sisters, and other members of her family wound up in a camp in Jerome, Arkansas, where they were incarcerated until authorities were convinced this family of farmers posed no threat to national security.

While detained in the camp, Mary became part of a prisoner-organized effort to provide meaningful educational opportunities for the imprisoned children. Mary taught speech courses for the high school students and English language classes for the elderly. Once she was released from the camp and the war was over, Mary returned to college, completed her degree, and became an elementary schoolteacher, one of the first certificated Japanese American teachers in the United States.

This intrepid teacher’s remarkable story is told in her autobiography, We the People, a volume which unfortunately is now out of print. However, with some effort, it can be found through second-hand book sellers or in some libraries (check WorldCat), and it is well worth the hunt. You can read also read her story in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, available through amazon.com.

Hawaii’s Pat Saiki: History teacher and former member of US House of Representatives

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Many fine educators go on to successful careers in politics. This is certainly true of Patricia Hatsue (Fukuda) Saiki, a history teacher from Hawaii who has served in the both her Hawaii State House of Representatives, Hawaii State Senate, and in the US House of Representatives.

Pat was born on May 28, 1930, in the city of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. She was the oldest of three girls born to Kazuo and Shizue Fukuda. Her father was a tennis coach at Hilo High School and her mother was a seamstress.

Pat graduated from Hilo High School in 1948. Following her high school graduation, she enrolled at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1952. She then became a history teacher at Punahou School, a private co-educational college prep school in Honolulu. She also taught at Kaimuki Intermediate and Kalani High, both public schools in Honolulu. At one point, Pat taught in Toledo, Ohio, where she had moved with her husband, Stanley M. Saiki, so that he could complete his medical school residency.

A talented classroom teacher, Pat originally decided to go into politics when she became dissatisfied with working conditions that she and her fellow teachers in Hawaii faced. With her colleagues, she worked with the Hawaii Government Employees Association to establish a teachers’ chapter. Her colleagues then elected her to be the president of that chapter. In 1968, Pat joined the Republican Party and ran successfully for a seat in the Hawaii State House of Representatives, a post she held until 1974. It was at that time that the former educator was elected to the Hawaii State Senate, where she served her district until 1982. Later, Pat was elected to the US Congress, a post she held from 1987 to 1991. After she left Congress, she was appointed by President George HW Bush to be the Administrator of the Small Business Administration. She served in this capacity from 1991 to 1993.

In 1993, Pat returned to the teaching profession when she became a professor at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Today, Pat devotes her energy to advocate for women, minorities, and the elderly.

To read more about this amazing educator, see the articles about her at Densho Encyclopoedia and at US House of Representatives.

 

Carol Liu: Chalkboard Champion and Former California State Senator

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There are many examples of talented educators who have also served in political office. One such educator is Carol Liu, a secondary school history teacher who served as a California state senator representing District 25 from 2008-2016.

Carol was born September 12, 1941, in Berkeley, California, and raised in Oakland. She earned her bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in 1963. She then attended UC Berkeley to earn her teaching credential and administrative credential.

After completing college, Carol taught history for 14 years at both the junior high and senior high levels in Richmond, California. Her teaching career there spanned from 1964-1978. During this time, she also served as the Executive Director of the Richmond Federation of Teachers (1975-1978). Carol then became a school administrator, a position she held from 1978-1984. Additionally, she was an instructor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

In 1992, Carol decided to get her feet wet in politics. She was elected to the La Canada Flintridge City Council, where she served until 1999. During that time, she was also selected as mayor of the City of La Canada Flintridge, a post she held from 1996-1999. In 2000, Carol was elected to the California State Assembly on the Democratic ticket. She served there until 2006. In 2008 Carol was elected to the California State Senate, where she served until 2016. While in office, the former teacher served as chairperson of the Senate Education Committee. Her efforts included bills to reinvigorate career and technical education at the high school level, lower the costs of college textbooks, protect foster children, and prevent domestic violence. She also worked towards meeting the needs of low-income families, legislated on behalf of seniors and those with disabilities, and promoted environmental issues.

Read more about Carol Liu’s work in the Senate on Ballotpedia or from the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) at Scorecard.

Dr. Kim Lawe: From Her Escape from Communist Viet Nam to Her Work in the Classroom

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Here is the inspirational story of a very amazing educator, Dr. Kim Lawe. I worked with her at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, CA, before I retired last June. In this brief video she shares a little about her family’s escape by boat from Communist Viet Nam following the fall of Saigon, and her work as an educator.