In Memory Of Dr. Betty Lee Sung: Pioneer in Chinese American Studies

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Betty Lee Sung (1924-2023) on Thursday, January 19, at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 98, a dear friend of the MOCA family and a pioneering scholar of Asian American studies.

A laundryman and paper son’s daughter, Dr. Sung broke ceilings by being one of the few Chinese American women of her generation and with limited means to graduate from college. She went on to develop the first course and program in Asian American Studies on the east coast at City College in 1970. The program grew out of activism and demands for ethnic studies by Chinese American and other students of color, and drew on Dr. Sung’s seminal book on the history of Chinese in America, Mountain of Gold. Published in 1967, this first book on Chinese American history written by a Chinese American filled a knowledge vacuum and was the product of a decade of Dr. Sung’s own research and travels across the country to interview Chinese Americans for a show on Voice of America. At the time, there were few sources from the perspective of Chinese Americans, and the content for both the VOA programming and City College’s program of study had to be researched and built from the ground up.

In addition to conducting more than four decades of sociological research within Chinese American communities, Dr. Sung has been involved in important Asian American archiving efforts. She pushed for the creation of an Asian American Collection within the Library of Congress to ensure that those with the power to legislate could be informed by sources from the community. She has also donated a trove of her personal and academic papers to MOCA, some of which we highlight below.

Dr. Sung, we miss you already and want to say thank you for enriching the lives of everyone you have touched with your grace, dedication, excellence, and commitment to Chinese American communities. Most importantly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Sung family for designating MOCA as a charity for memorial donations.

Read Dr. Betty Lee Sung's Obituary in the New York Times

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