Water tossing boulders How a family of Chinese immigrants led the first fight to desegregate schools in the Jim Crow South

Adrienne Berard

Book - 2016

"A generation before Brown v. Board of Education struck down Americas “separate but equal” doctrine, one Chinese family and an eccentric Mississippi lawyer fought for desegregation in one of the greatest legal battles never told. On September 15, 1924, Martha Lum and her older sister Berda were barred from attending middle school in Rosedale, Mississippi. The girls were Chinese American and considered by the school to be “colored”; the school was for whites. This event would lead to the first US Supreme Court case to challenge the constitutionality of racial segregation in Southern public schools, an astonishing thirty years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. & By confronting the “separate but equal...” doctrine, the Lum family fought for the right to educate Chinese Americans in the white schools of the Jim Crow South. Using their groundbreaking lawsuit as a compass, Berard depicts the complicated condition of racial otherness in rural Southern society. In a sweeping narrative that is both epic and intimate, Water Tossing Boulders evokes a time and place previously defined by black and white, a time and place that, until now, has never been viewed through the eyes of a forgotten third race. In vivid prose, the Mississippi Delta, an empire of cotton and a bastion of slavery, is reimagined to reveal the experiences of a lost immigrant community. Through extensive research in historical documents and family correspondence, Berard illuminates a vital, forgotten chapter of Americas past and uncovers the powerful journey of an oppressed people in their struggle for equality." -- Publisher's website.

Saved in:

2nd Floor Show me where

344.0798/Berard
2 / 2 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 344.0798/Berard Checked In
2nd Floor 344.0798/Berard Checked In
Subjects
Published
Boston, Massachusetts : Beacon Press [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Adrienne Berard (author)
Physical Description
xi, 194 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 178-185) and index.
ISBN
9780807083161
9780807033531
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Thirty years before Brown v. Board of Education struck down segregation in public schools, a Chinese American family in the Mississippi Delta fought to continue their daughter's education. On September 15, 1924, Rosedale School's principal banned nine-and-a-half-year-old, straight-A student Martha Lum and her older sister from school because of their colored Chinese ancestry. The Lum family decided to fight, and their lawsuit became the first U.S. Supreme Court case to challenge the constitutionality of segregation in Southern public schools. Filed by former Mississippi Governor Earl Brewer, the case took on a Southern gothic-like legal cast, ending with twenty-seventh president-turned-chief justice William Taft writing the final decision. Although the writing is a bit uneven, with clumsy attempts at florid language (daughters of an ancient nation called China) and repetition in spite of the book's slim size, Berard's intention to restore Gong Lum v. Rice to its rightful place in history is undeniably noble. And the fact that the school district where the Lums filed suit remains segregated almost a century later is sobering proof of the book's significance.--Hong, Terry Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Berard (Love and War) tells the story of the Lum family, a Chinese American family living in the Jim Crow-era South, from the father's perilous arrival to the United States in the winter of 1904 during a time of anti-immigration sentiment to the 1927 lawsuit Gong Lum v. Rice, the first Supreme Court decision against school segregation. Berard conveys why Jeu Gong Lum wanted better lives-and better schools-for his two daughters, particularly Martha, who was a straight-A student, during a time when segregated black schools often had inadequate facilities. But the book does not go into detail about the poor conditions of black public schools, so when Katherine Lum says, "I don't want my children to attend 'colored' schools" and one of their lawyers argues that "the Mongolian is on the hither side... between the Caucasian and African" as the premise of the case, a current of antiblack sentiment overwhelms a story of an immigrant family simply wanting the best for their children. As a result, this divisive narrative that focuses less on the importance of obtaining freedom and a better education for all U.S. citizens than on how one family fought to secure privilege for their children. Agent: Anna Ghosh, Ghosh Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Berard (Love and War) makes mostly good on her intention to illuminate the lives of the Chinese immigrant Lum family who lodged an early desegregation effort in 1920s Mississippi. In the appeal to allow their daughter to continue her education among the white peers she matriculated with throughout her years at the local school, the family enlisted the help of former governor Earl Brewer. Brewer and the legal machinations of the family's efforts briefly overtake the narrative and readers may lose sight of the Lum family; however, they circle back into the spotlight at the end. Berard makes solid use of research materials, such as city directories, but more information on the Lums would have been helpful in presenting a fuller picture of family ambitions. The volume does provide a fresh perspective on what was left behind when so many African American citizens fled the South as part of the Great Migration. VERDICT -Potentially useful for students of specifically Asian American or Southern history.-Jewell -Anderson, Savannah Country Day Sch. Lib., GA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The story of a family of Chinese immigrants who influenced desegregation in the South.While researching her own family history in the Mississippi Delta, Berard came across the untold story of how a Chinese immigrant family fought the state's school segregation laws. Using newspaper clippings, weather reports, interviews with descendants, census records, maps, photographs, and letters, the author re-creates the early 1900s in the Delta region, an area filled with prejudiced whites, recently freed blacks, and thousands of Chinese who had come to America in search of a better life. One of those families was the Lums, who lived in Rosedale, Mississippi, where they owned and ran a grocery store. The two daughters, Berda and Martha, attended the local school along with the white children of the area. But in 1924, due to pervasive racism, the girls were labeled as colored and barred from returning to school. Berard brings their story and those of the other players to life, giving readers a close look at the social, economic, and cultural environment of the Deep South in the early 20th century. Significant, memorable details include the fields of cotton being picked by hand, the black prison gangs being worked to death building levees, and the KKK murdering innocent black men. Berard gives the background histories of the lawyer, Earl Brewer, who presented the case before the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Klansmen who influenced the situation, and the judges who tried the case and ultimately decided the girls were not permitted in the whites only school. In an engaging bit of social history, Berard rescues a forgotten part of Southern history and brings it to light, offering readers a rare glimpse into Chinese immigrant life and the way segregation affected so many for decades. Flush with telling details and backed by meticulous research, a piece of near-forgotten Chinese-American history is retold. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.