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Born October 3, 1924 (age 92) ( 1924-10-03 ) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S Occupation Activist, Author, Professor Emeritus of Asian-American Studies Spouse(s) Hsi Yuan Sung
(1948.02.22－1966, 4 children)
Charles Chung
(1972.07.23－) Residence New York City, New York, United States Books The Chinese in America Alma maters University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (1948), City University of New York (1982) | ||
Betty Lee Sung (born October 3, 1924) is an activist, author, and professor emeritus of City University of New York (CUNY). As a scholar of Asian American studies, her several publications on Asian American race issues have been recognized as an influential force in advancing the rights of Asian Americans and immigrants in the United States. Sung holds an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York Old Westbury.
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Biography
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Sung's interest in the history of Chinese Americans is shaped by her own experience as a child of Chinese immigrant parents. When Sung was nine, her father briefly took the family back to their hometown, Taishan, but the family returned to Washington D.C. before Guangdong was captured by the Japanese during World War II. While growing up in Washington D.C., Sung and her family faced discrimination as Chinese immigrants. The treatment towards Chinese people in the United States was so severe that Sung recalls how her family largely avoided public areas like the movies or swimming pools.
On February 22, 1948 she married Hsi Yuan Sung, but they divorced in 1966. Her second married to Charles Chung took place on July 23, 1972. He filed a Petition for Dissolution of that marriage in California Superior Court in 2013. She has four children from her first marriage. From 1963-1985, Sung and her family lived at 41-08 243rd Street (Orient Avenue) in Douglaston Hill in Queens, New York City. They now reside in Chinatown, Manhattan.
Education
Sung graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois in 1948. In 1968 she earn an MLS from Queens College of the City University of New York. In 1982 she earned a PhD from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.
She then moved to New York and worked as a script writer for the Voice of America, where one of her programs was focused on Chinese culture in the United States. While working there, Sung was struck by how American culture held inaccurate and often stereotypical assumptions about Chinese culture. This inspired Sung decided to write her first book, Mountain of Gold: The Story of the Chinese in America.
After publishing Mountain of Gold, Sung was invited to join Asian American Studies program at CUNY in 1970, where she advanced to the Chair of the Department of Asian Studies. She held this position until her retirement in 1992. At CUNY, Sung founded the Asian American/Asian Research Institute, and also became a member of the Committee of 100, an organization committed to addressing Chinese American issues.
In 1994, Sung completed a database of the Chinese immigrant records in the New York Region National Archives with grants from the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The database was featured by the New York Times, and enables scholars to conduct genealogical research and recreate the early history of Chinese immigrants in New York.