Linda Ann Lee was born into two worlds.

She was both Chinese and American at a time in American history where the racial divide was changing. Although Linda was a 4th generation American, it was only in her childhood that the racial walls began to fall. When Lindas great-grandfather arrived in New York City in 1888, he came as an immigrant whose opportunities were limited. By the time Linda was a young girl, her father had started the first Chinese owned insurance company in Chinatown, New York City. America was changing and Linda was lucky enough to be part of this time. Linda was born on October 17, 1943. It was the height of World War II and despite being too young to support the war efforts, she felt the effect. Her father, Andrew P. Lee, was drafted into the military, but to the surprise of everyone he was not put on the frontline. Instead the American military made use of his fluent Chinese and placed him in Intelligence. Linda remembers being told about the moment We were all really gladIt was much better than him fighting in the jungle. Linda did not see her father until she was two and while her father was away, she grew very close with her mother, Shirley, and her large extended family. During this time, she spent most of her childhood in Chinese neighborhoods in New York City. The family pictures and movies show a very segregated society. While they did typical American activities like watch the Yankees, go to the beach and play in the park, the Chinese kept a to themselves. Yet change was upon them. A picture of Lindas father, Andrew, shows him mixing with his army buddies who were white. This integration would help him build a business that expanded beyond the Chinese and open up a world for Linda

that was multi-cultural. For example, he bought the family its first television in 1947, exposing Linda to technology, entertainment and world news. Although Linda remembers that year as the year her sister was born, the tv was much more exciting. After her mother died when she was twelve, Lindas father moved them to Great Neck, Long Island, a well-off suburb of NYC. While her public school was desegregated, there were few other Asian students or black students at her school. However, racism was not a problem for her. She remembers it as Sometimes little kids pointed at me and said Chinese and I responded yes Chinese, but that only happened only around 10 times and it was only little kids who said it. Although aware that racism was a problem for many others, it did not seem to effect the Chinese as much as African Americans. Linda recalled a story one of her Chinese friends told her, My fried visited Kentucky and was allowed to use the white person water fountain instead of the black person water fountain. But stuff like that never happened to me. Another example of how America was changing was that Linda was able to attend Smith College in Massachusetts, an elite all womens school. At a time when many women did not go to college and many colleges were not even co-ed, Linda was able to pursue a top education, live in a mixed race dorm and make friends from all over the world. Despite this, she only dated men who were Asian and preferably Chinese. Mixed race marriages were not accepted much back then she recalled. It is an American tradition for a poor family of immigrants to build a better life through better opportunities for economic growth and an open education

system. To be an American is to integrate into a diverse society and though hard work and optimism. For Linda, it meant to be one of the first families to get a TV and be one of the first Chinese students into your school. To be an American means knowing how to work hard and overcome the obstacles that stand in your way and have an equal opportunity for advancement. Because America was built by immigrants, a poor Chinese family was able to thrive and provide Linda with opportunities that would not have been available to her if her family had stayed in China. Being an American is to be judged by who you are, not by what you are. Reflection Linda Lee is my grandma who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is married to her college boyfriend Henry Hsiao in 1966 and has had 4 daughters. The second oldest daughter, Beverley, is my mother. Linda stayed home to raise her family as many women of her generation did. She volunteered at their schools and with the Girl Scouts. Currently, she helps my grandfather with his business and bakes a lot of cookies for me at Christmastime. This project made me reflect the challenges that historians have to face. I had to call up my Grandma multiple times to fact check myself so I only can imagine the hardships if your source is no longer alive. Furthermore, picking out the useful information of a story was challenging. My source was an interview that I could easily steer the discussion towards a directions I wanted, but a different source such as diary would make it all the more time consuming. Another additional challenge is getting the whole of the picture of that time period. events during her life did not affect her directly. I only saw the time from one set of eyes for an hour, but there

were billions of eyes and years worth of stories. Although she was not in the center of many of the famous events, most people wont. Despite that she taught my mom and thus me many of the American traits hard work, importance of family, education and being a good citizen. History is not made up by the large things, but by the small tiny pieces.