Margaret Chung

Last updated • 7 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Margaret Jessie Chung
Margaret Chung (Los Angeles Herald, 14 Oct 1914) (cropped).png
Margaret "Mom" Chung in 1914
Born(1889-10-02)October 2, 1889
DiedJanuary 5, 1959(1959-01-05) (aged 69)
San Francisco, California
Other names"Mom" Chung
Occupation(s)Surgeon, philanthropist
Years activeBeginning in 1916
Known forFirst Chinese-American female physician; "adopting" 1,500+ servicemen in World War II; helped found the WAVES
Chinese name
Chinese 張瑪珠
Simplified Chinese 张玛珠
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Zhāng Mǎzhū
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping Zoeng1 Maa5 Zyu1

Margaret Jessie Chung (Chinese :張瑪珠, October 2, 1889January 5, 1959), born in Santa Barbara, California, was the first known American-born Chinese female physician. After graduating from the University of Southern California Medical School [1] in 1916 and completing her internship and residency in Illinois, she established one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco's Chinatown in the early 1920s.

Contents

Early life

Chung was born in Santa Barbara, the eldest of eleven children. [2] [3] At the time of her birth, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was at its strongest. Her father, Chung Wong, was the foreman of the Rancho Guadalasca in Ventura County [4] . Her mother, Ah Yane, also emigrated from China to California in the 1870s where she spent time in a mission home before working in agriculture and sometimes as a court interpreter. [4] Her parents were denied form obtaining U.S. citizenship, and faced difficulty finding work. The family moved to Los Angeles by 1902. [2] Chung's father eventually died from injuries sustained in a car accident after being denied care at hospitals. [4] She supported the family and helped to raise her younger siblings from when she was ten, disrupting her schooling. [4] [5]

In 1905, Chung was noted in the Los Angeles Herald as a promising student and for her planned future career as a newspaper reporter. [6] She was noted in the Herald again in 1906 for her poem "Missionary Giving," delivered at the eighteenth anniversary of the Los Angeles Congregational Chinese mission. [7] Chung would write and deliver a paper entitled "Comparisons of Chinese and American Costumes" at the first anniversary of the Pasadena Congregational mission in 1907. [8] By that fall when she was 17, Chung had graduated from the eighth grade at the Seventh Street School [9] and enrolled in the preparatory school at USC, being hailed as a "bright particular star" of the women's gymnasium class. [10] In 1910, Chung won second place in a speech contest. [11]

Women of every nation, every country, should learn medicine, so that they can teach the women of their countries and their races how to care for themselves and their children—how to improve the coming generation.

Margaret Chung, Los Angeles Herald profile, 1914 [12]

Chung won a Los Angeles Times scholarship to study at USC by selling newspaper subscriptions to raise funds for her education and worked her way through college as a waitress, a seller of surgical instruments, and by winning cash prizes in several speech contests. [2] In 1909, Chung graduated from USC. [13] Chung enrolled in the medical school in 1911, according to a 1914 profile that noted her belief that she was "the first Chinese girl to enter a medical school in this state." [12] Chung took on a different identity, going by "Mike" and dressed in a long blazer, shirt, and tie. [4]

Chung was raised Presbyterian. [4]

Professional career

Dr. Chung with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning model and photos of some of her recruits Dr. Margaret Chung, surgeon and physician, who helped men get into the Chinese Air Force, WWII (23126603226).jpg
Dr. Chung with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning model and photos of some of her recruits

After graduating with a medical degree in 1916, she applied to be a medical missionary. Her application was rejected three times. by administrative boards because, despite being born on United States soil, she was considered Chinese and therefore could not secure funds for missionary work. [4] She settled for work as a surgical nurse in Los Angeles, at the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital. [2] After several months, she left for Chicago, interning at the Mary Thompson Women's and Children's Hospital before serving her residency at the nearby Kankakee State Hospital. [2] [14] Chung would serve as the resident assistant in psychiatry for the first Juvenile Psychopathic Institute of the State of Illinois at the Cook County Hospital in 1917; [15] she was later appointed state criminologist for Illinois. [16] After two years in Illinois, Chung resigned from her position with Cook County in November 1918 [17] and returned to Los Angeles following her father's death, accepting a position as a surgeon at Santa Fe Railroad Hospital, [2] [18] where she would go on to treat celebrities, including removing Mary Pickford's tonsils. [5]

Chung moved to San Francisco's Chinatown in 1922 after experiencing the city while accompanying two patients, [5] where she opened a private office. [19] She treated the local Chinese American population as well as celebrities such as Sophie Tucker, Helen Hayes, and Tallulah Bankhead. [2] Her practice was one of the few which would provide Chinese and Chinese Americans with Western medical care during a time when hospitals would often turn them away. [4] In 1925, San Francisco's Chinese Hospital opened. Chung led the gynecology, obstetrics, and pediatrics unit as one of four department heads. [4]

She also treated seven Navy reserve pilots during this time; part of her care was making them meals, and they reportedly soon began calling themselves "Mom Chung's Fair-Haired Bastard Sons" as a tribute to her. [2] An alternative origin story for the "Mom Chung" nickname is that after eight pilots came to her in 1932, volunteering their services for China against Japan, she turned them down and fed them instead because "they looked starved". The pilots "ate everything she gave them, except eggs" because when they were destitute, the only vendor who would lend the pilots food on credit was an egg farmer. [20] Prior to the United States entry into World War II, Chung would give her "adopted son" pilots a jade Buddha to wear around their necks, [21] which would become a token by which the pilots would recognize each other throughout the world. [2] Non-aviation naval officers "adopted" by Chung were called "Golden Dolphins." [2]

When Japan invaded China in 1937, Chung volunteered as a front-line surgeon, [3] [22] but she was secretly assigned instead to recruit pilots for the 1st American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers." [2] During the war, Chung would serve up to 175 people at Thanksgiving at her house and wrapped and addressed 4,000 gifts at Christmas. [23] Her houseguests included high ranking officers and US senators and congressmen; leaning on these connections, she helped establish the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service although she was not permitted to join them, as the government suspected that she was gay. [5] Mom Chung adopted the entire VF-2 squadron, nicknamed "The Rippers" for their logo, which showed a Chinese dragon ripping a flag. [24] VF-2 was assigned to USS Enterprise (CV-6) [25] and would set an American record by shooting down 67 Japanese planes in a single day during the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in June 1944. [24] She also started a social network for pilots and other military personnel, politicians, and celebrities in California where she used her connections to recruit for war efforts and lobby for the creation of a women's naval reserve. [4]

In 1947, 90% of Chung's medical patients were white. [26] She retired from medical practice within ten years after the end of World War II, and her "adopted sons" purchased a house for her in Marin County. [2]

Death

Signing the TBM "Mom Chung" on May 30, 2013 Side of the tunnel boring machine (8903756043).jpg
Signing the TBM "Mom Chung" on May 30, 2013

Chung died of cancer in January 1959 at Franklin Hospital in San Francisco. [23] [20] Among her pallbearers was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, one of her "Golden Dolphins." [2]

Personal relationships

A pioneer in both professional and political realms, Chung led an unconventional personal life. As the only woman in her class, [2] she adopted masculine dress and called herself "Mike," but after having established a professional practice she reverted to conventional dress and her female name.

Based on personal correspondence, she had close and apparently intense relationships with at least two other women, [27] the writer Elsa Gidlow and entertainer Sophie Tucker, that some writers have speculated were romantic. [28] Although she was briefly engaged, she never married.

An advocate of strong Sino-American relations, Chung was a neighbor, friend, and confidante of travel writer Richard Halliburton (1900–1939), [29] who died in an attempt to sail the junk Sea Dragon, as a symbol of the bond of East and West, from Hong Kong to the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.

Military "sons"

Some of the notable "sons" of "Mom" Chung included: [16] [30]

Commemorations

Chung reportedly served as inspiration for the character of Dr. Mary Ling in the 1939 film King of Chinatown , portrayed by Anna May Wong. [2]

At least three Flying Fortresses were named "Mama Chung" in her honor by her "adopted" sons during World War II. [31]

Chung was commemorated with a plaque in the Legacy Walk project on October 11, 2012, [32] an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people. [33]

A tunnel boring machine for the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Central Subway was named "Mom Chung" on March 7, 2013. [34]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Cho</span> American comedian and actress (born 1968)

Margaret Moran Cho is an American stand-up comedian, actress, musician and activist. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and sexuality. She rose to prominence after starring in the ABC sitcom All-American Girl (1994–95), and became an established stand-up comic in the subsequent years.

<i>All-American Girl</i> (TV series) American television sitcom (1994–1995)

All-American Girl is an American television sitcom starring Margaret Cho. The series aired on ABC from September 14, 1994, to March 15, 1995. It was loosely based on Cho's own experiences growing up in a Korean American family in San Francisco. Cho starred as Margaret Kim, the rebellious daughter of Korean emigrants and bookstore owners, whose American attitude often comes into conflict with her more traditional parents. Among her co-stars were BD Wong as Margaret's brother, and Amy Hill as her eccentric grandmother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis D. Wilbur</span> American judge (1867–1954)

Curtis Dwight Wilbur was an American lawyer, California state judge, 43rd United States Secretary of the Navy and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Halliburton</span> American travel writer and adventurer (1900–1939)

Richard Halliburton was an American travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its history—36 cents in 1928. He disappeared at sea while attempting to sail the Chinese junk Sea Dragon across the Pacific Ocean from Hong Kong to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sid Grauman</span> American showman and entrepreneur (1879–1950)

Sidney Patrick Grauman was an American entrepreneur and showman who established two of Hollywood's most recognizable and visited landmarks, the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre.

The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest medical school in California after the UCSF School of Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Cheesman Thompson</span>

Joseph Cheesman Thompson (1874–1943) was a career medical officer in the United States Navy who attained the rank of commander before retirement in 1929. His foes called him 'Crazy Thompson', but to friends he was known as 'Snake', a nickname derived from his expertise in the field of herpetology.

The Suleman octuplets are six male and two female children conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) and subsequently born to Nadya Suleman on January 26, 2009, in Bellflower, California. Residing in Lancaster, California, they are the first known octuplets to survive their infancy. The extremely controversial circumstances of their high-order multiple birth have led to debates in the field of assisted reproductive technology and an investigation by the Medical Board of California of the fertility specialist involved in the case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadya Suleman</span> Mother of octuplets

Natalie Denise Suleman, known as Octomom in the media, is an American media personality who came to international attention when she gave birth to the first surviving octuplets in January 2009. The circumstances of their high-order multiple birth led to controversy in the field of assisted reproductive technology as well as an investigation by the Medical Board of California of the fertility specialist involved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Sui Fun Cheung</span> Aviator

Katherine Sui Fun Cheung was a Chinese aviator. She received one of the first private licenses issued to a Chinese woman and was the first Chinese woman to obtain an international flying license. She became a United States citizen after attaining her licensure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priscilla Chan</span> American pediatrician and philanthropist (born 1985)

Priscilla Chan is an American pediatrician and a philanthropist. She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015 with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

Roberta A. Ballard is recognized for her contributions to neonatal medicine. In 1965, she graduated from the University of Chicago's medical school and has dedicated much of her life to research on newborn prenatal health. Specifically, Dr. Ballard studies ways to treat and prevent chronic lung disease in premature infants. Some of her research includes the collection of data regarding how inhaled Nitric Oxide can help premature infants who are suffering from lung disease and are undergoing medical ventilation. From her studies she was able to find that Nitric Oxide reduced the risk of death and shortened hospitalization time for infants born prematurely who suffer from lung disease. These contributions have helped to prevent chronic lung disease and brain injury harming infants. Hospitals that Dr. Ballard is associated with include the Hospital of the University of Philadelphia, University of PA Medical Center/Presbyterian, Saint Christopher's Hospital for Children, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Ballard also served as a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Currently, she is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. While also being a professor, Dr. Ballard has contributed her knowledge in articles including the New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, Journal of Perinatology, and more. She has served on a number of scientific and medical boards including the American Board of Pediatrics in 1972 and is an author of the book Avery's Diseases of Newborns. The book focuses on the care and treatment of neonates. Dr. Ballard's research and contributions have helped enhance technology and prevent infant death. Her improvements in technology have not only improved the lives of premature infants, but she also seeks to help women who are pregnant to assure they receive proper prenatal attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth A. Follansbee</span> American medical doctor

Elizabeth Ann Follansbee was an American medical doctor, the first woman on the faculty of a medical school in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha G. Thorwick</span> American physician

Martha G. Thorwick was a Norwegian-born American clubwoman and medical doctor based in San Francisco, California, whose personal life was the subject of scandal and headlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothea Rhodes Lummis Moore</span> American physician, writer, and activist (1857–1942)

Dorothea Rhodes Lummis Moore was an American physician, writer, newspaper editor, and activist. Although a successful student of music in the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, she entered the medical school of Boston University in 1881, and graduated with honors in 1884. In 1880, she married Charles Fletcher Lummis, and in 1885, moved to Los Angeles, California, where she began practicing medicine. She worked as dramatic editor, musical editor, and critic at the Los Angeles Times. She was instrumental in the formation of a humane society which was brought about through her observations of the neglect and cruelty to the children of the poor, and Mexican families, visited in her practice; and the establishment of the California system of juvenile courts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beulah Ream Allen</span> American nurse and physician (1897–1989)

Beulah Ream Allen was an American nurse, physician, and civilian physician during World War II. After graduating with a nursing degree in 1922, she worked as a supervising nurse and headed the educational department for the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. She worked as a hospital inspector for the state of Utah until 1928, when she moved to San Francisco to attend medical school. While earning her degree at the University of California, San Francisco, she worked as a nurse in the Bay Area. Upon her graduation in 1932, she moved to the Philippines, where she opened a medical practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Yuin Tsao</span> Chinese physician

Li Yuin Tsao, also seen as Tsao Liyuin, was a Chinese medical doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Fong</span> American actress (1927–2012)

Frances Fong was an American singer and actress whose performing career spanned over fifty years.

Louise M. Harvey Clarke (1859–1934) was a medical doctor and widely known writer, speaker, and clubwoman in Los Angeles and Riverside counties, California.

Ethel Grace Lynn was an American novelist, medical doctor, artist, public speaker, suffragist, socialist activist and political candidate.

References

  1. "Mom Chung". Bamboo Productions. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rasmussen, Cecilia (June 24, 2001). "Chinese American Was 'Mom' to 1,000 Servicemen". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  3. 1 2 McMenamin, William (August 23, 1937). "Chinese Woman Physician Seeks War Zone Service". San Bernardino Sun. United Press. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Chhita, Nina (September 18, 2023). "Overlooked No More: Margaret Chung, Doctor Who Was 'Different From Others'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 3, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Doctor Margaret "Mom" Chung". West Adams Heritage. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  6. "Chinese Girl to Become Reporter". Los Angeles Herald. October 10, 1905. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  7. "Chinese assist in exercises". Los Angeles Herald. March 5, 1906. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  8. "Chinese celebrate first anniversary". Los Angeles Herald. May 8, 1907. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  9. "Graduates from public schools". Los Angeles Herald. February 8, 1907. Retrieved March 10, 2017. [...] essay, "Comparison of American and Chinese Habits and Customs," Margaret Chung [...] Those to be graduated are: Margaret Chung, Berta Miller, Josephine Sayers, Harold Gaston, Glenn Smith, Clarence Wilson.
  10. "Margaret Chung, Edith Romig and Lillian Pressman". Los Angeles Herald. November 24, 1907. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  11. "Chinese girl secures second prize in debate". Los Angeles Herald. March 5, 1910. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Chinese girl here studying medicine". Los Angeles Herald. October 14, 1914. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  13. Smith, Icy (2001). The Lonely Queue: The Forgotten History of The Courageous Chinese Americans in Los Angeles. East West Discovery Press. ISBN   0-9701654-1-2 . Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  14. "Dr. Chung, 69, known as 'mom' to vets, dies". Chicago Tribune. January 6, 1959. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  15. Adler, Herman M. (March 31, 1918). "The Juvenile Psychopathic Institute and the work of the Division of the Criminologist". The Institution Quarterly. IX (1). Department of Public Welfare, State of Illinois: 5–13. Retrieved March 16, 2017. Dr. Margaret J. Chung, a graduate of the University of Southern California Medical School, having taken Dr. Singer's course for assistant physicians at Kankakee, and having passed the civil service examination, has been appointed resident assistant in psychiatry, the Board of County Commissioners of Cook County having granted maintenance for one resident.
  16. 1 2 Morganti, Mary; Otani, Janice; Peterson, Erin (September 2000). "Guide to the Margaret Chung Papers (AAS ARC 2000/3)" (PDF). Online Archive of California. University of California at Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  17. White, Leonard D. (March 1923). "The Status of Scientific Research in Illinois by State Agencies Other than the University of Illinois". Bulletin of the National Research Council. 5 (29). The National Research Council of The National Academy of Sciences: 67. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  18. "Mary Thompson Hospital Bulletin". The Woman's Medical Journal. XXIX (6): 126. June 1919. Retrieved March 16, 2017. Dr. Margaret Chung, who recently gave up the position of assistant psychiatrist to the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute at Chicago in order to go to France, is now in Los Angeles doing work with the Santa Fe Railway.
  19. Alexandra, Rae (August 27, 2021). "The Chinese-American Doctor Who Raised Hell—and 1,500 WW2 Servicemen". KQED. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  20. 1 2 "Dr. 'Mom' Chung death grieved by flyers". Coronado Journal. January 15, 1959. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  21. "Dr. Margaret Chung". Desert Sun. November 7, 1947. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  22. "Sino-Japanese War "Spreads" to the West Coast". Madera Tribune. August 24, 1937. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  23. 1 2 Miller, Johnny (January 4, 2009). "Margaret Chung, a one-woman USO in WWII". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  24. 1 2 "Fliers of Mom Chung Return". Madera Tribune. October 4, 1944. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  25. "The Third Fighting Two". VFA-2. United States Navy. 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  26. Gunther, John (1947). Inside U.S.A. New York, London: Harper & Brothers. p. 46.
  27. "Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History in America" . Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  28. 1 2 Wu, Judy Tzu-Chun (2005). Doctor Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: The Life of a Wartime Celebrity. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0520938922 . Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  29. Max, Gerry (2007). Horizon Chasers: The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 129. ISBN   978-0786426713 . Retrieved March 10, 2017. At the time [Chung] lived at the top of Telegraph Hill, at 1407 Montgomery Street, which offered matchless views of both the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island. Halliburton either lived briefly in the same building or received mail through Dr. Chung.
  30. "Margaret Chung papers, 1933–1958 (bulk 1942–1944), AAS ARC 2000/3". Online Archive of California. University of California at Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library. 1933. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  31. "Dr. Margaret Chung, San Francisco physician, is called "Mother of Aviators"". Madera Tribune. July 22, 1943. Retrieved March 10, 2017. Some of her boys named a Flying Fortress "Mama Chung III," "Mama Chung I" and "Mama Chung II" having been shot down during bombing raids.
  32. Salvo, Victor. "Margaret Chung Plaque Image". The Legacy Project. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  33. Salvo, Victor. "2012 Inductees". The Legacy Project. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  34. "Introducing Big Alma and Mom Chung, the Central Subway's tunnel boring machines". Central Subway (blog) (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency. March 7, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2017.

Bibliography