The History of Tucson’s Chinese Community

It’s quite by accident I became a community historian for Tucson’s Chinese community. In 2015 I had an article published in the Journal of Arizona History on a gentleman named Ah One. After that, I was asked to give a presentation on the history of Tucson’s Chinese community, which I did, and I have continued to do presentations and interviews on various aspects of Tucson’s and Southern Arizona’s Chinese history. In 2018, I led the team that developed the Chinese History Lab in conjunction with the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson and the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. I’ve worked with the Vail Preservation Society on a variety of video projects relating to the Chinese railroad workers in Southern Arizona. I have provided background research for other projects relating to the Tucson and southern Arizona Chinese American communities including the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, the Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum as well as being a representative on the Mapping Racist Covenants project developed at the University of Arizona. In 2023 I won the Friend of the Humanities Award – Juliana Yoder Award from AZ Humanities and the Elisabeth Ruffner Keystone Award for Community Leadership from the Arizona Preservation Foundation. On March 16, 2024, at the annual Silver Spike Railroad Jubilee held at Tucson’s train depot, I won the Benefactor of the Year award from the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum.

This photo of Dennis Tom and I was taken after I won the award at the Silver Spike Railroad Jubilee. He was the first Chinese American who was a descendant-reenactor at the annual Jubilee.  Dennis’s grandfather, Tom Loy, worked on building the railroad through Arizona. Afterwards he had a market on 4th Avenue about 2 blocks north of where we are standing. Source: Sandy Chan

Background

I have a Masters Degree in Library Science, worked as an academic librarian for 25 years and, as of 2024, I have been a member of the American Library Association for 38 years.  I am a former president of the Arizona Genealogical Society. From 2011 until COVID hit in the Spring of 2020, I volunteered one day a week at the Arizona Historical Society’s Library and Archives in Tucson. I have a long-time love of history and have been researching my own family history for years. Both sides of my husband’s family are Tucson Chinese Americans.

You can contact me at: sandy@sandychan.net

Topics That Need More Research

  1. The Chinese of South Tucson – I’ve just scratched the surface on this unique community.
  2. Chinese businesses in the African American and Native American communities.
  3. Chinese on Army forts in territorial Arizona. I know they were at Fort Lowell, Fort Huachuca, and Fort Apache – any others? What jobs did they do? What was their life like?
  4. Except for the relaying of the railroad track in the Cienega Creek in 1888, after 1880 the Chinese were not involved in building or maintaining the railroads in southern Arizona. However, they were employed in the Tucson railyard doing menial jobs. Based on newspaper articles from the time, they were under constant threat of being fired and were a specific focus of discrimination. A history of the Chinese working in the Tucson Southern Pacific rail yard from 1880 to about 1910 would fill in a gap in the history of the Tucson Chinese community.
  5. As of November, 2023, there is a documentary in production, My 58 Uncles, about the Chinese Cadets but, I believe that even more work can be done on the Chinese Nationalist Cadets who trained in in the United States during WWII.
  6. Class structure within the historic Chinese community.
  7. What about Tucson made it more tolerant of the Chinese than in other western towns? This would include overt and subtle forms of discrimination against the Tucson Chinese and how those differed from other towns in the American West.
  8. Sports in the Tucson Chinese American community including Chinese sports teams and sponsorship of teams by the Chinese markets. Women in sports, both playing and teaching, don’t seem to be included until the 1950s when bowling became popular, but they need to be covered too.
  9. Chinese American businesses that were NOT groceries.
  10. An analysis of how the coverage of the Tucson Chinese community was written about in local newspapers starting from about 1875. This analysis should include Charles G. Finney, editor of the Arizona Daily Star from 1930 – 1970 and author of The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935) that was made into the movie 7 Faces of Dr. Lao in 1964. (His papers are held by the University of Arizona, Special Collections.
  11. In depth, documented biographies of Chan Tin Wo, Don Chun Wo, Soleng Tom, Jerry Lee, Esther Tang and, of course, China Mary.

Thank You

Nancy Buchanan, for editing the web pages and for her Spanish translation services.

Ann Richwine, for sharing her research on the Chinese Cadets.

Ladd Keith for permission to use his photos.

Dr. Howard Eng for his input on the Chinese of South Tucson.