“Well, like you said, it was a long time ago.”
“I expect we will move past that. It’s what families do. Things work out.”
I took a deep breath of the sauce simmering on the stove. The whole house smelled like tomatoes and sunshine and roses! I couldn’t wait to see Mama and Daddy. To show off the garden, tell them about Billy and Willis and even prisspot Melinda. And right that minute, I knew as well as I can tell a ripe tomato from a green one that Grandma Clark would be fine without me. Her foot was healed and so was her arm. Maybe even her heart.
“I’ll wait outside for Mama and Daddy,” I told her.
Opening the back door, I stepped into our garden.
The first thing I did was look way up to the top of the oak tree to be sure Willis wasn’t there to torment me.
Then I grabbed a handful of skinny branches, put my foot on the trunk, and I hoisted myself up in that tree. And I didn’t slip. Not even a little.
One of the things I love most about writing is discovering and sharing both small details and big ideas that might surprise readers. Historical fiction can’t be written without research, and that’s what drew me deep into Billy Wong’s story.
When I began writing this book, I learned about the remarkable archives at Delta State University’s Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage Museum. There, I pored over oral histories, photographs, and artifacts of actual Chinese American grocers.
Even though I’d regularly shopped with my mother and my grandmother at the Modern Store in downtown Cleveland, Mississippi, and at Lee’s Grocery, a store I could walk to on a nice day, I had a lot to learn.
In the Bolivar County Library System, I read that from the 1940s until the late 1960s, there were as many as 250 Chinese grocery stores in the region, just like Lucky Foods. There were close to 50 in Greenville, one of the larger towns in the Mississippi Delta. My own hometown’s 1955 city directory listed 15. Before the arrival of our current-day supermarkets, these groceries sold everything from gardening supplies and feed for farm animals to fresh eggs, produce, and fishing tackle.
My friend and fellow librarian Frieda Seu Quon shared with me her memories of being one of the first Chinese American students in her school system and of growing up in the Min Sang Company, her family’s grocery. Notice the shelves of Mr. Seu’s store, filled with all sorts of wonderful things. And more than enough bananas for Grandma Clark’s baking!
Chinese grocery stores were a fixture in small towns and even larger cities all over the South. The Eng family has owned a store in Houston for many years. Their relatives opened groceries in Arkansas and San Antonio. These businesses were often passed from one generation to the next and remained in the same family for many years.
Mr. George Seu and his family at their Min Sang Company grocery in Greenville, Mississippi, in the late 1940s. This store has likely been in continuous operation longer than any other in the region. Photo courtesy of Frieda Quon.
George Eng at the register of his grocery store, George’s Lucky 7, in Houston, Texas, at about the same time (1948-1958) that Billy works in his great-uncle’s store. Photo courtesy of the Eng family.
How did so many Chinese immigrants come to settle in the South, and especially in the Mississippi Delta region? Shortly after the end of the Civil War, some came to work as farm laborers. They quickly took over the role of the old plantation commissary stores and began operating neighborhood groceries, serving both black and white clientele.
They learned English from their employers, from reading newspapers, and from running their own businesses. They established churches and were consistently excellent students. But in the years before civil rights legislation was passed, the South had segregated schools, restaurants, and many public places. After a 1927 Supreme Court case classified Chinese American students as “colored,” some communities did not allow them to attend the segregated white schools. This led Chinese American parents to educate their children in churches and homes, and even to build boarding schools. Often, families moved to school districts where they were welcome, much as Billy Wong’s parents sent him to live in my fictional town of Paris Junction, Arkansas.
The Chinese Mission School, soon after its opening. Photo courtesy of Delta State University’s Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage Museum.
Although I changed the closing date, I based the high school Billy’s older sister and brother attended on the Cleveland, Mississippi, Chinese Mission School (1937–1951), a boarding school for Chinese American youngsters of all ages. The memories of many of its students were vibrantly brought to life in the book edited by Paul Wong and Doris Ling Lee, Journey Stories from the Chinese Mission School (2011).
By the time I was in school in the 1960s, Chinese American students were part of the public school system and were involved in sports, clubs, and activities. In fact, my friend Bobby Moon and I served together on the staff of our school’s newspaper, the Cleveland Hi-Lite.
One of my favorite quotes about historical fiction comes from another writer. In his book Catch You Later, Traitor, Avi writes, “History is memory researched. Historical fiction is memory brought to life.”
Yes, this is a story I made up. But it’s based on the memories of a lot of us, as well as on my own research. Many smart writers and readers helped me understand the story behind Making Friends with Billy Wong. I hope my book will bring this little-known part of our country’s history to life.
Much as Azalea’s journey started with an invitation, this story began with something I read. My high school friend Bobby Joe Moon published an essay based on his letter to a young family member about growing up in the Mississippi Delta during the 1950s and ’60s. Although his story and Billy’s are not the same, he was quick to answer questions over many, many months. I also consulted Frieda Seu Quon, who has been instrumental in building and growing the Mississippi Delta Chinese Heritage Museum on the campus of Delta State University.
Without Bobby and Frieda and their resources and memories, this story could have quickly become sidetracked onto the road to ruin, much like Azalea fears for her summer.
When this story was a mere idea waiting for inspiration, my friend Julie Eastwick shared gardening and good-manners tips, as well as her best china. Thank you, Julie, for brainstorming over cups of delicious French tea.
A special thanks to Beth Boswell Jacks, the first professional writer who offered my words a home.
My agent, Linda Pratt, pens encouraging thoughts on beautiful notepaper and also gives pep talks. Everyone needs a Linda in her life.
To my SCBWI Tampa Bay critique group, you rock, Skyway Writers. And I will always cherish the early, remarkable advice from my New Jersey writer friends. Please, keep up the cheering.
Making Friends with Billy Wong would still be languishing inside my computer were it not for the good people at Scholastic, especially my editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney, and the amazing publicity and events teams. They are brilliant, supportive, and a whole lot of fun. Thank you! You inspire me more than you can imagine.
Augusta Scattergood is the author of Glory Be, which was a National Public Radio Backseat Book Club selection, a Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee, and hailed by Newbery medalist Richard Peck as the story of a bygone era “beautifully recalled.” Her novel The Way to Stay in Destiny was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month. A children’s book reviewer and former librarian, Ms. Scattergood has devoted her life and career to getting books into the hands of young readers. Her reviews and articles have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Delta Magazine, and other publications. Ms. Scattergood, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, is an avid blogger. To learn more, visit www.augustascattergood.com.
Also by Augusta Scattergood
Glory Be
The Way to Stay in Destiny
Copyright © 2016 by Augusta Scattergood
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First printing 2016
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