Chinese in the Mississippi Delta

GRADE LEVEL: 3-7
Note: Lower grade levels may require adjustments.

SUGGESTED RUN TIME: 130 min total (or 180-230 min with extended activity)

Chinese people have been in the American South for over 150 years, starting with the first immigrants who arrived in the Mississippi Delta to work on sugarcane and cotton plantations. In this lesson plan, students will explore the history of Chinese in the Mississippi Delta through a variety of media sources and interactive activities. This lesson plan uses content from the book, Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes, which takes place on a sugar plantation during the 1870s Reconstruction era, when Chinese immigrants were brought in to replace Black labor following the emancipation of slavery. Students will focus on themes of migration and racial solidarity as they make historical connections between these stories and the real- life legacies of Chinese immigrants that built communities across the Mississippi Delta. This lesson plan is intended to accompany Little Brown Library's Educator's Guide for Sugar.

this free lesson plan contains:

Customizable slide deck
3 hands-on student activities involving literary analysis
Customizable student worksheets
List of further resources to guide teacher research & preparation

Instructor's Quick Summary

Many Chinese immigrants came to the United States in the mid-1800s for the Gold Rush and to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. They traveled on ships for long voyages, often stopping at many port cities around the world, before reaching their final destination. Most of these laborers immigrated from the south China province of Guangdong. After their attempts at glory in the gold mines and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, many of these laborers sought employment elsewhere.
Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation that ended the American Civil War. However, it took years for word of the Emancipation Proclamation to spread and freedom to be officially enforced. The holiday, Juneteenth, celebrates the day June 19, 1865, when the final enforcement was made in Texas.
Many Black folks who had been enslaved now had the freedom to move from place to place after harvest seasons. Some moved to the North in search of greater freedom and others simply left after working under horrible planters.
Chinese immigrants first entered the Mississippi Delta in the 1860s and 70s, when White, upper-class plantation owners were recruiting Chinese workers as a way to displace Black labor in the wake of emancipation. Chinese immigrants were used to replace the Black labor force and increase the power and wealth of White plantation owners.
This pattern of using Asian Americans as a wedge between White and Black groups is a process known as racial triangulation. Chinese and Black laborers were pitted against each other in sugarcane plantations, but the characters in Sugar rejected these pressures and instead showed racial solidarity.
Once they arrived, the Chinese were put in the middle of a polarized segregation system, where they were classified as neither Black nor White. They were barred from attending White schools and institutions, and were treated with the same attitudes that White plantation owners and residents had used to exploit Black folks. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese people were unable to obtain citizenship or own land.
Reconstruction, the era following the Civil War, was a turbulent time with conflict and labor shortages. Southerners disagreed over slavery and free labor sources. Some people argued that Chinese immigrant labor and indentured servitude were just another form of slavery. Many Chinese laborers were treated just as brutally as enslaved people.
Most of the Chinese laborers were young adult men. Their goal in coming to the United States was to make money to support their families back in China, and later on, accumulate money to start their own businesses. However, they quickly learned that sharecropping would not bring them financial success.
In 1937, the average sharecropping family received approximately $300 for their combined labor during the year, and oftentimes would go most of the year without income. Instead of being paid in cash, plantation owners paid them in furnish, or food seed and other supplies, which were used to purchase goods from the plantation commissaries. This further locked Chinese laborers into having to stay and be dependent upon the plantation owners.
The low pay and harsh working conditions on plantations led Chinese laborers to move away from sharecropping and toward alternative financial ventures. Many Chinese immigrants in the Mississippi Delta opened laundromats and grocery stores. Laundromats were uncommon in the Mississippi Delta because laundry services were not popular in rural areas. However, as plantation-owned commissaries closed across the South, the need for grocery stores for Black customers rose. Unlike White grocers, Chinese grocery stores would extend credit to Black shoppers. This allowed Black customers to have necessary groceries and pay back their credit once they received their paychecks.

Key Understandings for Students

1. Racism and anti-immigrant sentiment tend to spike in times of great emergency, such as labor shortages and political or economic crises. Racial triangulation occurs when various racial and ethnic groups are pitted against one another, such as in competition for jobs and resources. However, this overlooks the conditions that created limited resources for marginalized populations, including slavery and racism.

2. There is a long history of racial and ethnic groups showing solidarity with one another, including collaboratively organizing protests and supporting each other's small businesses. It is important to highlight these examples of solidarity throughout history and in the present-day.

3. Migration can often be traced through histories of transcontinental journeys and communities that persist through political turmoil and discriminatory policies. Alongside migration, the construction of racial groups can change over time and place.

Common Core Standards

Grade 3

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.6
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4

Grade 4

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4

Grade 5

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9

Grade 6

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.9

Grade 7

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.9
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.7
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.9

For more information, please visit www.thecorestandards.org.

Further Readings & Resources

AJ+. "The Untold Story of America's Southern Chinese [Chinese Food: An All-American Cuisine, Pt. 2]." August 16, 2017. Video, 8:20. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2NMrqGHr5zE

Block, Melissa and Nadworny, Elissa. "The Legacy Of The Mississippi Delta Chinese." NPR, March 18, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/03/18/519017287/the-legacy-of-the- mississippi-delta-chinese

Foreman, P. Gabrielle, et al. "Writing About Slavery/Teaching About Slavery: This Might Help." Community-sourced document. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.pgabrielleforeman.com/writing-about-slavery-guide

Ho, Fred and Mullen, Bill V. Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Jung, John. Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers. Yin & Yang Press, 2008.

Jung, Moon-Ho. "Making sugar, making 'coolies': Chinese laborers toiled alongside Black workers on 19th-century Louisiana plantations." The Conversation, January 13, 2022. https://theconversation.com/making-sugar-making-coolies-chinese-laborers-toiled- alongside-black-workers-on-19th-century-louisiana-plantations-173831

Kim, Claire Jean. "The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans." Politics and Society 27, no. 1 (March 1999), https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/6859319.pdf

Lam, Larissa and Chiu, Baldwin. Far East Deep South. Giant Flash Media, 2023. 1 hr, 13 min. https://fareastdeepsouth.com/

Lam, Larissa. "Op-Ed: How African Americans and Chinese immigrants forged a community in the Delta generations ago." Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2021. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-04-04/chinese-immigrants-mississippi- african-americans

Lee, Erika. The Making of Asian America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015.

Mississippi Delta Chinese History Museum. "Chinese History in the Mississippi Delta." Accessed August 8, 2023. https://chineseheritagemuseum.org/

Parker Rhodes, Jewell. Sugar. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

Schlosser, S.E. "Brer Rabbit Falls Down the Well." American Folklore. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.americanfolklore.net/brer-rabbit-falls-down-the-well/

Lesson Plan Components

Full lesson PDF

Pre-Reading Activity:

Students will preview the book, Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes, learn new vocabulary and engage in classroom discussion.

pre-reading activity

materials

Discussion Questions:

List of discussion questions that educators can use for reading comprehension throughout the book, Sugar.

discussion questions

Activity 1:
Mapping Migration

Students will map out and analyze the transcontinental route that many Chinese immigrants took to get to the United States. Can be adapted for grade level.

Go to Activity 1

Activity 2:
Forming Folktales

Students will read the African folktale, "Br'er Rabbit Falls Down the Well," and make connections with Sugar. Can be adapted for grade level.

Go to Activity 2

Activity 3:
Sketching Storyboards

Students will create storyboards speculating what happens to the characters after the book ends. Optional extension activity for grades 6-7.

Go to Activity 3

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