Page 169 →Travels Down South

Furman’s activity in Asia, and particularly East Asia, began in the early nineteenth century when Southern Baptists participated in missions abroad. Since the sixteenth century, Europeans have embarked on missions to convert the Chinese to Christianity. However, these initial attempts were short lived, and by the eighteenth century, the Qing government expelled Catholic missionaries from the country. It was not until the following century that Protestant missionaries reached China. Southern Baptists traveled to East Asia by way of opium ships that landed at the Portuguese colony of Macao on China’s southeastern coast, first in 1836.⁹ Over the following decade, two Baptist missionary stations were established in Guangzhou—also referred to by its anglicized name, Canton—and Shanghai.¹⁰ South Carolina missionaries, including those associated with Furman, helped to open up the region to the movement of cultures and people in the nineteenth century.

The first missionary affiliated with Furman to work in China was Issachar Roberts. An 1828 graduate from the Furman Theological Institute of South Carolina and a respected Baptist minister, Roberts journeyed to China in 1837 as an independent missionary with the profits he made from a real estate venture in Mississippi.¹¹ When he arrived in China, Roberts joined two other missionaries, William Dean and John Lewis Shuck, who, shortly before Roberts’s arrival, were appointed to work in China by the Triennial Convention, the first national organization for Baptists in the United States.¹² Together, these men created a Baptist network in East Asia that grew over successive decades. By the early twentieth century, more than six hundred missionaries had conducted religious service in China, and Baptist membership among the Chinese peaked at one hundred twenty-three thousand.¹³ Baptist missionaries continued to work in China until their expulsion by the country’s communist leadership after its takeover in 1949.

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several Furman alumni, faculty, and administrators participated in the transpacific journey to East Asia to spread Christianity across what they perceived to be—according to Gordon Poteat’s account of his 1924 mission—the “strange, weird, and wonderful” land of China.¹⁴ A 1910 graduate of Furman and son of former university president Edwin McNeill Poteat Sr., Gordon and his wife, Heather Anne Carruthers Poteat, set out for China in 1915 after Gordon earned his theological degree. Gordon and Heather Anne spent several years in Kaifeng as missionaries before traveling around the country, Page 172 →eventually relocating to Shanghai in 1921 when Gordon began teaching at the local university.¹⁵ Gordon’s brother, Edwin McNeill Jr., and father, Edwin McNeill Sr., joined Gordon and Heather Anne and also worked as missionaries. During this time, the number of churches sponsored by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society increased ninefold, from eighteen around 1900 to one hundred sixty-four in 1927, the year in which Gordon and his family returned to the United States.¹⁶ In the early twentieth century, strong communities of Chinese Baptists gradually formed in several cities such as Kaifeng, Guangzhou (Canton), and Shanghai. These networks encouraged young men and women from China and elsewhere in East Asia to study and practice Christianity in South Carolina.

In addition to his travel journal, Gordon and his family produced a photo album to document their years in China.¹⁷ Furman University is fortunate to have this album as part of its Special Collections and Archives. The album consists of dozens of small photographs portraying the Poteats, their missionary friends and Chinese-language teachers, their house, and various landmarks and scenes of locals in the streets in China. Together, Gordon’s writing and family photo album craft a mythology about the places and people he and his family encountered, emphasizing the foreign otherworldliness of Chinese culture. Similarly, many of Gordon’s accounts poetically describe the landscape of the different regions he visited, highlighting the varied climates and wildlife he saw. Yet his texts are riddled with biases that juxtapose Euro-American Christian society with that of polytheistic China. During his travels from Shanghai to Beijing, Gordon spent time in Nanjing where “[b]eggars [were] a common sight along the streets, at the gates and temples, at the railroad stations where they cry along the trains […] They say the Orient is the reverse of the Occident and this is another instance.”¹⁸ This passage from Gordon’s writing indicates what American missionaries thought of the Chinese: They created and lived in a backward society.

Over time, as American missionaries converted more Chinese to Christianity, the perceived polarity between these two ethnic groups began to dissipate. In his journal, Gordon dedicated a chapter to celebrating Christmas in Kaifeng. He described the church services that his family and the local Chinese attended, highlighting his admiration for the choir of young children. Witnessing such of moments of shared faith between these two cultures prompted him to write: “I have almost forgotten that the Chinese are of a different race.”¹⁹ Like other missionaries in China, Gordon understood his role as a Baptist savior, who would help an uncultured and spiritually void Asian race grow morally through the adoption of Christianity.

Page 173 →

Page 174 →

Southern Baptists’ characterization of the Chinese they met as the “exotic other” was a common trope applied to the Asian students at Furman in the earlier part of its history. In 1898, Chu Jung came to Furman as the school’s first Asian student. Chu was from Guangzhou (Canton), which, along with Shanghai, was one of the original missionary stations in China. It is likely that Chu’s exposure to Christianity through Baptist missionaries encouraged him to enroll in Furman’s Preparatory School, which readied young men to matriculate as undergraduate students after two years of course-work in math, English, and civil government. In an article published by The Baptist Courier from November 1898, Chu was called “the offspring of the Celestial Kingdom,” a common epithet for China that alluded to the Qing emperor’s status as the “Son of Heaven.”²⁰ The author commended Chu for his command of English, stating, “I am sure it would take me some years to Page 175 →learn as much of the impossible language of his fathers as he has learned of ours.”²¹ By referring to Cantonese as an “impossible language,” the author emphasizes not only the differences between American and Chinese culture but also implies a complexity and peculiarity about Chu, perpetuating the Orientalist ideology of characterizing cultures in and individuals from the “East” as inferior to those of Europe and the United States.²²

A little more than two decades after Chu studied at Furman University, the first degree-seeking Asian student attended the university. Charles Kilord Athen Wang from Kaifeng, China, enrolled at Furman in 1921 and graduated three years later.²³ In the 1924 Furman yearbook, each member of the graduating class received a brief biography to accompany their individual portraits. Charles’s biography portrays him as the ethnic outlier on campus, stating that he came “from the far away land of shrines and temples … [and] desired the educational training of the western world.”²⁴ Once again, Chinese culture is portrayed as exotic and perhaps inferior to American culture. Although singled out among his peers for his Chinese heritage, Charles’s engagement at Furman matched that of his American classmates. His involvement in extracurricular activities and the leadership roles he held in various clubs, including secretary of the Tennis Club and vice president of the Student Volunteer Band, counter some popular assumptions about the social isolation that nonwhite students experienced at American colleges, especially in the early twentieth century.

It would be nearly three decades after Charles’s arrival to Furman before the first female Asian undergraduate studied at the university. Gilda Cheng from Guangzhou (Canton) moved to Greenville in 1950. Although other Asian women would later join Gilda at Furman, she was the only Asian female student on campus during her initial year. Gilda had an active student life, participating in various organizations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association and Chapel Choir. In 1953, she became the first Asian woman to graduate from Furman, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In her senior yearbook, Gilda’s biography alludes to her good and selfless character, as well as also having a more humorous side to her personality.²⁵ These remarks suggest that, over time, Furman students began to recognize their Chinese peers as individuals rather than representations of the exotic.

By the mid-1960s, shortly after Gilda’s time at Furman, Furman faculty approved a series of “non-Western” seminars in an effort to diversify the university’s curriculum. The content of these courses initially focused on Communist China and were designed to shed light on the Asian Cold War. Then, in 1968, Furman added an Asian–African studies program to the general Page 176 →education curriculum with the goal of exposing students to cultures and histories outside of Europe and North America. During that same year, Furman hired its first Asian faculty member. The chemist, Dr. Paul Bien, traveled to Furman in January of 1968 to attend a seminar. Impressed by the caliber of faculty and students, who had “the proper curiosity blended with an inquisitive and critical mind,” he joined the faculty later that year.²⁶ Although it may have been an easy decision for Bien to accept the offer to teach at Furman, his move from China was especially challenging. He escaped Shanghai just one week before Mao Zedong’s troops took over the region. He came to the United States by way of Hong Kong when two of his close friends from his graduate career at Brown University helped him obtain a postdoctoral position at Indiana University.²⁷ Thanks to the Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals program, as Bien was an American-educated, Chinese-born person, his move to the United States was not included in the yearly quota established by the Asian Exclusion Act, which limited the number of Chinese immigrants to the country to one hundred.²⁸ After taking different posts in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee, Bien began his three-year teaching position at Furman in the Chemistry Department in the fall of 1968.²⁹

A few years after Bien’s start at Furman, the first Asian teacher with an academic specialization in Asian studies joined Furman’s faculty. Dr. Lin Chen from China began his career in 1973 as an assistant professor of political science with an expertise in Asian politics. Chen’s hire coincided with Furman’s inaugural international study programs in Asia. Although study-abroad opportunities through Furman began in 1969 with a semester in England, by 1973, these learning experiences expanded to include countries outside of Europe, particularly Japan.³⁰ Alongside other faculty and administrators who were interested in creating study-abroad opportunities elsewhere in Asia, Chen developed a program in China. Because China was the second largest exporter of cotton textiles to the United States, Chen believed that American students in Greenville, a historic mill town, would benefit from studying the cultural, social, and economic relations between the two countries.”³¹

Even though Furman continued to diversify its curricular offerings and faculty in the late twentieth century, its initial attention almost exclusively focused on East Asia, leaving out a number of other Asian cultures. It was not until the 1990s when Furman employed its first faculty member from South Asia. Dr. Kailash Khandke grew up in Mumbai, India. After receiving his doctorate, he taught at Santa Clara University and Middlebury College before joining Furman’s economics department in 1995. Although initially Page 177 →apprehensive about moving to the American South because of the region’s racial history, Khandke felt welcomed by his new communities at Furman and in Greenville.³² Not long after he started teaching at Furman, Khandke helped to organize and then led Furman’s first study-abroad program in India during the early 2000s. He later became the dean for Study Away and International Education, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. His personal and scholarly contributions as both a professor and leader of Furman’s diversity efforts have since paved the way for the campus community to promote and prioritize intellectual curiosity about the world and inclusivity among its diverse members.

Furman University’s growing commitment to creating a welcoming campus climate for its international population did not go unnoticed by its Asian undergraduates. In an interview, Su-Min Oon, who studied chemistry at Furman from 1975 to 1979, spoke fondly of his American college experience, recalling how his peers were willing to help him practice English and become accustomed to life in South Carolina.³³ Su-Min was born and raised in Malaya (now known as Peninsular Malaysia) and was the fourth member of his family to receive a degree from Furman: His father, Cheng Nan Wen; aunt, Beng Cheng Oon; and uncle, Seng Kok Oon, all studied at Furman in the early 1950s.³⁴ Cheng Nan first heard about Furman while attending St. John’s University, a Jesuit institution in Shanghai. There, he met Baptist missionaries, who encouraged him to transfer to the South Carolina university. When Cheng Nan enrolled at St. John’s after World War II, the Communist Party had recently secured control over China, creating an authoritarian state under Chairman Mao Zedong. This change in political power provided the impetus for Cheng Nan to return to Malaya. From there, he took a steamship to New York City before enrolling as a junior at Furman in 1950. A year later, Cheng Nan’s younger sister, Beng Cheng, and brother, Seng Kok, came to Furman. As Su-Min explained, in the 1950s, it was very unusual for an Asian family to send their daughter to the United States for college, so Seng Kok accompanied his sister as a chaperone for their remaining years at Furman after their older brother graduated in 1952.

After finishing college, all three Oon siblings remained in the United States to pursue graduate studies. Beng Cheng and Seng Kok started their families abroad. Cheng Nan returned to Malaya where he later married Su-Min’s mother. When he was growing up, Su-Min had no interest in attending college in America like his father. In fact, he had no plans to continue his postsecondary education and hoped to become an airplane mechanic. However, these professional ambitions changed when Su-Min saw his classmates Page 178 →applying to college abroad, mainly in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Su-Min followed suit and applied to universities in Taiwan and the United States, including Furman. Hearing about his relatives’ successful educational careers in the states, he ultimately chose to accept his offer to one of South Carolina’s premier liberal arts universities.

In the late 1970s, when Su-Min arrived at Furman, he was among very few students of color. He recalled that there were a handful of Black football players, two female students from Hong Kong, and a male student from Japan. Despite being part of a small demographic of nonwhite students, Su-Min did not feel alienated because of his nationality or race. Having arrived at Furman just after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, Su-Min was grateful that he neither witnessed nor was the victim of disparaging remarks toward Asians. He attributed his positive college experience to the welcoming attitude of his American peers and his supportive mentors in the chemistry department, particularly Dr. Donald Kubler, who helped him find a purpose and passion while at Furman. Su-Min’s and his relatives’ time at Furman represent one experience for Asian students at a Baptist PWI in the South during the twentieth century. It is worth emphasizing that not all Asian or Asian-American students at the university felt support and inclusivity from their white peers.

While Furman has made notable strides in growing its international students and staff and expanding multicultural appreciation, as Su-Min’s story attests, the increase in ethnic and racial diversity on campus did not entirely overcome prejudice. For example, 1982 alumnus Henry Ho spoke about the racial profiling he experienced while at Furman.³⁵ As a Chinese American, Henry noticed how he was perceived to be part of a racial collective rather than an individual student. He recounted experiences on campus when he was mistaken for another non-Chinese Asian student solely on the basis of his appearance. In our conversations, Henry also emphasized that other students at Furman also experienced harmful biases. When Henry received his acceptance to Furman, he was excited to attend college with many of his friends from The Stony Brook School in New York, some of whom were Black. However, after arriving to Furman, the dynamic between the different racial groups on campus left him feeling torn, as he felt forced to choose to engage with either his Black or white peers.³⁶ Although Furman had been desegregated since 1965, racism, especially toward Black individuals, was prevalent. According to Henry, it was much easier for light-skinned Asian students to assimilate into to the predominately white student body. He felt comfortable participating in campus activities, such as the cheer team.³⁷ Page 179 →Black students, on the other hand, were more hesitant to be part of campus life. Henry recounted feeling upset that he and his Black peers from high school were growing apart because of social pressure.

Not only students of color but also staff faced discrimination while at Furman and in Greenville. Dr. Shusuke Yagi, one of the founding members of the Asian studies department and professor of Japanese, anthropology, and film studies, recalled receiving threatening phone calls during his early years at Furman from students who interrogated him about his immigration status. Moreover, he remembered being followed and nearly hit by a van while walking in Greenville, seemingly targeted because of his race.³⁸ In spite of these challenges, Yagi has shared his knowledge of Japanese language and culture with Furman students, in Greenville and abroad, for more than three decades. When he joined the Furman faculty in 1989, he was hired as the university’s first Japanese-language professor. Later, Yagi would go on to help establish the study-abroad exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, which began in 2013.

Exploring the experiences of Asian and Asian-American students, faculty and staff at Furman have revealed the way in which that community served as a microcosm of the surrounding region, not only in terms of local Asian immigration trends but also in terms of race relations and attitudes toward foreigners. According to the most recent census data, South Carolina’s Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population has seen rapid growth over the past decades, increasing in size by approximately one hundred fifty percent.³⁹ Although there are many contributing factors for Asian immigration to the United States and the steady growth of the AAPI population in South Carolina, the impact of Southern Baptists in cultivating a place of belonging for Asian families in the region is undeniable.⁴⁰ The Baptist missionaries who arrived in East Asia in the nineteenth century initiated a network that enabled the movement of goods, culture, and people between Asia and North America over the next two centuries. Just as Furman’s first Asian students were motivated to attend because of their Baptist connections, so too did others learn from missionaries about South Carolina as a place where they could achieve both spiritual and financial well-being.

The economic possibilities in the American Southeast also made the prospect of living abroad attractive, and starting in the second half of the nineteenth century, Asian immigrants made their transoceanic journeys. Page 180 →At first, many of the jobs available to the immigrant workforce were in agriculture. During Reconstruction (1863–1877), southern plantations experienced upheaval when their formerly enslaved Black laborers left in search of better living conditions. This, in turn, created a labor shortage, prompting white southerners to hire Chinese workers.⁴¹ In time, other types of work became available. The Chinese Immigration Convention held in Memphis in 1869 agreed to bring several thousand Chinese workers to the South for employment in railroad construction, sugar refining, and the production of cotton.⁴² The arrival of Chinese laborers to the South at the mid-nineteenth century eventually led to other, nonindentured, Chinese to journey to the Atlantic coast in search of employment. In fact, some of the earliest Chinese immigrants to relocate to Charleston were entrepreneurs wanting to start family businesses, such as hand laundries, grocery stores, and produce markets.⁴³ The Chinese in Charleston found a particular niche in the laundry industry, and they continued to capitalize on this growing sector elsewhere in the state.

In the early twentieth century, more Asian immigrants transitioned from manual labor to entrepreneurship, as we see in the Upstate. Popularly dubbed the “textile center of the world,” Greenville was home to lucrative mills that supplied textile products to the region and abroad. The first cotton manufactory in Greenville County opened in the early decades of the nineteenth century.⁴⁴ With the value of cotton at a historical high after the Civil War (1861–1865), cotton manufacturing became the principal method of restoring the economy in America’s New South, ushering in the mill-building boom in the South Carolina Upstate.⁴⁵ Greenville’s most profitable textile manufacturers drew acclaim from around the globe for their innovations in machinery and quality of product. In 1915, the Southern Textile Association held its first textile trade show in Greenville. The event was such a success that the association decided that Greenville would serve as the permanent site for the recurring exposition. As the number of exhibitors at the Greenville exposition increased, so did the number of attendees who traveled from around the world to witness the best of Greenville’s textile industry. At the 1920 exposition, a group of Chinese financiers and manufacturers agreed to buy fifty million dollars’ worth of machinery for factories in Shanghai.⁴⁶ Throughout the twentieth century, Greenville’s reputation as a leader in the global textile industry continued to attract businesspeople from Asia.

Although the newly established Asian communities across South Carolina may have originally ventured to the United States in search of financial Page 181 →prosperity, what kept generations of Asian immigrants and their Asian-American descendants in the region was the perceived religious tolerance of Southern Baptists in the area. According to theological historian, Timothy Tseng, during the twentieth century, Southern Baptists were committed to growing and fostering new congregations. The institutional funds and support for establishing new churches appealed to Asian Christians and served as the catalyst for the formation of Asian-American congregations across the state.⁴⁷ As more and more Asian Christian immigrants moved to the United States, they found acceptance in the teachings and values of Southern Baptist churches. As Tseng explains, this was especially true for Chinese Christians who emigrated from Hong Kong.⁴⁸ With the closure of mainland China to Protestant missionaries at the mid-twentieth century, Hong Kong transitioned into a prominent Baptist missionary center.⁴⁹ The exposure of Hong Kong residents to Southern Baptist ideals undoubtedly inspired individuals and families to make personal and professional connections with Americans, which aided in their moving abroad.

Vivian and Thomas Wong, who came to South Carolina from Hong Kong in the mid-twentieth century, embody the Asian immigrant success story. The newlywed couple was working at a Hong Kong hotel when they learned of the opportunity to move to South Carolina. Greenville businessman and inventor of the first commercial rotisserie oven, Robert G. Wilson, sponsored the Wongs, who relocated to South Carolina in 1963, and hired them to staff his restaurant, Barbecue King. While working for Barbecue King, the couple dreamed of owning their own hotel in America, but they knew that starting their own restaurant was more feasible. In January of 1970, the Wongs opened Dragon Den, a Chinese restaurant located on Augusta Street. The success of Dragon Den led to the Wongs creating five other restaurants under the same franchise.⁵⁰

While living and working in Greenville, Vivian and Thomas have defined what it means to be self-made entrepreneurs and philanthropists. After establishing their Chinese restaurant chain, they went on to run a silk flower business, became real estate investors, and donated to local charities and institutions, including Greenville Technical College and Prisma Health Children’s Hospital.⁵¹ In recognition of her outstanding service and philanthropy to the Greenville community, in 2002, Vivian received the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor that a South Carolinian can receive. In 2005, Vivian was also recognized as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the Carolinas. For her success in business and investment in her local community, Vivian was also appointed as South Carolina’s honorary trade Page 182 →ambassador by former governor Nikki Haley. These honors have earned Vivian the title of one of the fifty most influential people in the region by Greenville Business Magazine in 2018.⁵² Over eight thousand miles away from their native Hong Kong, Vivian and Thomas Wong established a home in Greenville, which embraced their entrepreneurial spirit and altruistic attitude toward serving those around them.

Alongside the Wongs, other East Asian families immigrated to the United States at the mid-twentieth century in search of economic opportunities.⁵³ The Tsuzuki family from Nagoya, Japan, began their life in the Upstate in the late 1960s when Kiyohiro and his wife, Chigusa, moved to South Carolina to start their business, TNS (Tsuzuki New Spinning) Mills, a local supplier to the textile industry that produced cotton and synthetic fiber yarns. Greenville’s long-standing reputation as a prosperous mill town encouraged the Tsuzukis to grow their company in South Carolina.⁵⁴ In addition to modernizing the textile industry in the region, the Tsuzukis have revitalized Greenville through their love of arts and culture. Among the family’s most notable contributions to local civic life are donations to the Peace Center for the Performing Arts and the founding of Nippon Yagoto, the former Japanese cultural center in Greenville.

Since moving to Greenville, the Tsuzukis have shared their Japanese heritage and culture with their neighboring community. This desire ultimately inspired the family to donate their private Buddhist temple to Furman University. Now dubbed the Place of Peace, the reconstituted temple, which is now used as a secular space for teaching and independent reflection, is the first of its kind to be dismantled in Japan and subsequently reconstructed in the United States. Originally built in 1984, the intergenerational temple (Hei-Sei-Ji in Japanese) used to honor family milestones like births and funerals was once located on the Tsuzukis’ property in Nagoya. However, by the early 2000s, the declining textile industry in Greenville prompted the Tsuzukis to sell some of their properties, including their home in Nagoya and give their former temple to Furman.⁵⁵

The Place of Peace testifies to the Tsuzukis’ gratitude to the Greenville community for its support of their family and serves as an invitation to teach locals about Japanese culture. Seiji Tsuzuki, son of Kiyohiro and Chigusa Tsuzuki, explains why his family gifted their temple to the city: “Greenville welcomed our family and gave us a sense of belonging. That is why it is so special to both my sister and me to have brought a piece of our Japanese heritage to Greenville.”⁵⁶ Seiji has followed in his parent’s footsteps and now works as president of Industria Textil Tsuzuki, a textile company based in Page 183 →Sao Paulo, Brazil, which specializes in producing fabrics, yarns, and protective apparel for agrotextile businesses. Seiji’s sister, Yuri, still lives in Greenville where she is an internationally recognized artist, best known for her steel sculptures.⁵⁷ Both Seiji and Yuri credit their multicultural identity and interests to their upbringing in Japan and South Carolina.

Although many Asian immigrants in the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries came to the American Southeast for employment, increasing US military intervention in Asia, which culminated in the Vietnam War, forced refugees from that part of the globe to flee in search of a safe haven abroad. Many of the men and women who held posts in the South Vietnamese government during the war were subsequently persecuted by the Communist regime after it gained control of the country. After the fall of Saigon in April 1975, Chi Tran, a former officer in the South Vietnamese army, was shipped off to a “re-education camp” in Hanoi where he spent five years imprisoned under brutal conditions. Chi and his wife, four sons, and one daughter were forced to work at a communal farm. The labor conditions were so horrific that his fifteen year-old daughter died at the camp. To escape Page 184 →their country’s authoritarian government, the Tran family was among nearly forty thousand Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the United States in 1995 in pursuit of civil and religious freedom.⁵⁸

For most Vietnamese, including the Trans, their journey to North America began by boat across the Pacific Ocean from Southeast Asia to the US West Coast. From there, many moved to large metropolitan cities across the country. However, the Tran family settled in Greenville because they heard they could find steady work there.⁵⁹ In Travelers Rest, a city that borders Greenville to the north, several businesses were willing to hire these refugees. According to Joe Nettles, then-manager of Designer Ensembles in Travelers Rest, approximately eighty percent of the four hundred eighty employees at the plant were Vietnamese. One member on the staff was Chan Nguyen, who worked as a product manager. Chan escaped Vietnam in 1980 in a fourteen-foot wooden boat with sixty-five other refugees. He came to Greenville by way of Portland, Oregon, where he earned a degree in industrial drafting. Hearing from a Vietnamese friend already in Greenville that Designer Ensembles had hired a number of immigrants, Chan made his way to the Southeast in search of a more financially secure future. He began his employment at Designer Ensembles as a machine operator, but after quickly impressing his supervisors with his work ethic, he was promoted to product manager. According to Nettles, the Vietnamese employees at the plant had a higher production rate than other staff, and therefore, typically earned more than the average wage of seven dollars and fifty cents per hour.⁶⁰

In addition to finding steady employment in Greenville, the Vietnamese who moved to the South Carolina Upstate cultivated a community in which they could openly practice their faith. Religious persecution in Communist Vietnam led to the closure of Christian churches and the imprisonment of numerous Christian priests and other practitioners.⁶¹ Among them was Thai Nguyen, who received an eight-year prison sentence for his service as a chaplain in the South Vietnamese army during the war. When finally released from prison, Thai knew he had to leave Vietnam if he was to continue to practice Christianity, and thus, he joined the exodus of Vietnamese Christians to the United States. In the 1990s, Thai Nguyen served as one of three Vietnamese clerics at various Greenville churches and was responsible for ministering to the growing Vietnamese population in the area. As a church cleric, Thai has helped as many as one thousand Vietnamese in Greenville find work and a place to worship in their native language.⁶² There are still several Vietnamese congregations across Greenville that are associated with different Christian denominations, including Vietnamese Blessing Baptist Church on Poinsett Highway, Vietnamese Alliance Church on Rutherford Road, Greenville Vietnamese Baptist Church on Eisenhower Drive, and Faith Church on Ivydale Drive.

Page 185 →

We live in a polarized society where our different social identities can make us targets of violence, racism, and other forms of systemic bias. In recent Page 186 →years, anti-Asian hate crimes have reached unprecedented levels, increasing over three hundred percent since 2020.⁶³ To combat such prejudices, we need ways to connect with one another, emphasizing our shared interests, values, and ways of life. This study offers readers stories of struggle, hope, and resilience to inspire compassion and a greater commitment to inclusive belonging. It also reminds us that we still have a long journey ahead to achieve a just and equitable society.

The authors of this article are all connected to Furman—a recent alumna, graduating senior, and professor—and they worked to uncover the Asian and Asian-American stories and experiences at their institution as a means to rewrite the university’s narrative, which otherwise largely celebrates the efforts and accomplishments of white students, staff, faculty, and administrators. It is through this project that we aim not only to provide an opportunity for the Furman and Greenville communities to expand their appreciation and awareness of Asian and Asian-American experiences in white spaces but also to advance ongoing discourse about cultural and regional identity. Our reframed understandings of Greenville and Furman’s respective ties to Asian people force us simultaneously to reconstruct both local and national histories to allow for more inclusive and comprehensive reflections of the past. Without the work of projects such as these, which center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities, the loss of such memories and stories would be truly devastating.

It is our sincere hope that our work will inform and instruct students, scholars, and others interested in learning about the history and relationship between Asia and the South Carolina Upstate. Furthermore, we anticipate that this project will not simply end where we left it but will be continued by others in the coming years.

Kylie Fisher is assistant professor of art history at Furman University. A supporter of the public humanities and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility work, Kylie is enthusiastic about engaging diverse audiences in reflection on cultural heritage and history. Kylie’s work on this article has allowed her to combine her fascination with travel accounts, all types of printed archival matter, and objects of various media with her goal of amplifying the stories of underrepresented peoples and cultures. As an educator of mixed heritage, including Japanese American, Kylie is proud to have authored this article in collaboration with her students.

Page 187 →Eli Kibler is a Charlotte, North Carolina, native who has spent most of his undergraduate career at Furman University examining various facets of literature, media, philosophy, history, and culture. These interests intersected through his majors in English and Asian studies and minor in film studies. With summer work experience in both academic archival research and professional, community-based journalism, Eli has always enjoyed using his skills as a writer and investigator to chronicle the ideas and narratives of others into a form that is cohesive, compelling, and accessible for readers. He finds great value in studying and discussing the important stories, both factual and fictitious, past, present, or future, that we as humans gravitate toward and identify with, a passion that he plans to follow into his professional career postgraduation.

Eva Kiser graduated from Furman University in 2023 with a double major in anthropology and Asian studies. As a student, she pursued academic and social projects that challenged and expanded people’s perspectives on culture and world politics, and she became known in her department for both her research and leadership skills. She speaks openly about the importance of portraying culture authentically, and she is passionate about connecting different histories and telling stories through digital humanities and cultural heritage. Postgraduation, Eva now works as an archaeologist in the southeastern United States and hopes to continue finding ways to bring academic projects to accessible spaces.

This article derives, in part, from our work on the digital humanities project, Untold Journeys, which began in summer 2022. Over the past two years, our work has been generously supported by multiple individuals and entities at Furman University. We conducted much of our research at Furman’s Special Collections and Archives and are grateful to Julia Cowart, Jeffrey Makala, and Nashieli Marcano for making the university’s archival records and Asian Artifacts Collections available to us. Research for this project also took place at the Greenville Public Library, and we appreciate the staff at the South Carolina Room for assisting us with gaining access to their holdings. We also thank a number of Furman colleagues, including Sarah Archino, Terri Bright, Alex Francis-Ratte, Sarah Gebbie, Lane Harris, Nadia Kanagawa, Kevin Kao, Kate Kaup, Kailash Khandke, Lisa Knight, Marta Lanier, Jim Leavell, Michael May, Ross McClain, Savita Nair, Katie Shamblin, David Shaner, Michele Speitz, and Shusuke Yagi, in addition to Furman alumni Henry Ho and Su-Min Oon. This project would not have been possible without generous grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research, Furman Humanities Center, and the Asian studies department. Last, we thank the editorial board of Carolina Currents and the reviewers for their Page 188 →insightful feedback and assistance with publishing this article. Eli dedicates this article to his family: Georgia, Ginger, and Chris Kibler. Eva dedicates this article to all Asian Furman University students, professors, and alumni/ae/x. Kylie dedicates this article to her obachan, Aiko Fisher. Together, the authors dedicate this article in memoriam to Dr. Savita Nair.

1. 1. Jim Leavell, interview by Eli Kibler and Eva Kiser, July 25, 2022. Leavell explains that Furman’s Asian-African graduation requirement in 1968 developed because of concerns over the Vietnam War and the growing anti-war movement. Moreover, an article published in Furman Magazine from June 1962 references the war’s impact on curriculum development about Asia: “[W]e Americans until very recently have never given any serious thought to the study of Asia. Until a few years ago the cultures of Asia had no place in our public school system…. Our colleges and universities were equally remiss.” See Dr. Paul H. Clyde, “Questions and Answers,” Furman Magazine 11, no. 2 (1962): 7.
2. 2. For additional information, see the digital humanities project, Untold Journeys: Exploring Greenville and Furman’s Connections with Asia, produced by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, Untold Journeys. Furman University, July 29, 2022 (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4844f5d2a6a24ab497a01a465ce5e9c8).
3. 3. The US Census Bureau defines the American South as the following: Texas; Oklahoma; Louisiana; Arkansas; Alabama; Kentucky; Tennessee; Mississippi; Delaware; Maryland; Washington, DC; Florida; Georgia; North Carolina; South Carolina; West Virginia; and Virginia. See US Census Bureau, “Geographic Terms,” census.gov, 2021 (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/about/glossary/geo-terms.html).
4. 4. See Raymond A. Mohl, John E. Van Sant, and Chizuru Saeki, editors, Far East, Down South: Asians in the American South (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016).
5. 5. See, especially, Khyati Y Joshi and Jigna Desai, “Introduction,” in Asian Americans in Dixie: Race and Migration in the South (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013), 1–30.
6. 6. To learn more about oral histories as a research methodology, especially for topics concerning marginalized identity groups, see Thalia M. Mulvihill and Raji Swaminathan, editors, Oral History and Qualitative Methodologies: Educational Research for Social Justice (New York: Routledge, 2022), 3–17. See also Patricia Leavy, Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2011), 3–25.
7. 7. Jigna Desai and Khyati Y. Joshi describe the common understanding of the terms “Asian” and “Asian American” in their work. See Desai and Joshi, “Introduction,” in Asian Americans in Dixie, 14.
8. 8. For an examination about how United States census categories impact the ability to track racial and ethnic inequality, see Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl, Brandon A. Jackson, and Steve Garner, “Race Counts: Racial and Ethnic Data on the U.S. Census and the Implications for Tracking Inequality,” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 4, no. 1 (2018): 1–13.
9. 9. Albert W. Wardin, ed., Baptists Around the World: A Comprehensive Handbook (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 91.
10. 10. Page 189 →See Li Li, “Diversifying the Operation: Southern Baptist Missions in China at the Turn of the Century 1890–1910.” Baptist History and Heritage 34, no. 2 (1999): 167–68.
11. 11. Yuan Chung Teng, “Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts and the Taiping Rebellion,” The Journal of Asian Studies 23, no. 1 (1963): 55–67.” During his mission in China, Roberts became famous for introducing Christianity to Hong Xiuquan, the so-called “Heavenly King” and leader of the Taiping Rebellion, a civil war fought between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Hakka, an ethnic subgroup of indigenous Han Chinese.
12. 12. Wardin, Baptists Around the World, 91 and 99. For a lengthy study on Shuck and Roberts’s missionary work in China, see Margaret M. Coughlin, “Strangers in the House: J. Lewis Shuck and Issachar Roberts, First American Baptist Missionaries to China” (PhD diss., University of Virginia, 1972). https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/sj1392079.
13. 13. A total of 123,000 Baptist Chinese converts represented a tiny fraction of the population when considering that there were approximately five hundred forty million people in the country at midcentury. See A. J. Jowett, “The Growth of China’s Population, 1949–1982,” The Geographical Journal 150, no. 2 (1984): 1 56.
14. 14. Gordon Poteat, Home Letters from China: The Story of How a Missionary Found and Began His Life Work in the Heart of China. New York: G. H. Doran, 1924, 9.
15. 15. “Biographical Sketch,” Special Collections and Archives: The Poteat Family Papers, Furman University (https://libguides.furman.edu/special-collections/poteat-family-papers/biography).
16. 16. Wardin, Baptists Around the World, 92.
17. 17. It is not certain when this photo album was compiled, or which members of the family compiled it.
18. 18. Poteat, Home Letters, 14.
19. 19. Poteat, Home Letters, 98.
20. 20. “Class-Room Life at Furman,” The Baptist Courier, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1898 (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82004649/1898–11–17/ed-1/seq-6/).
21. 21. “Class-Room Life at Furman.”
22. 22. Edward Said coined the concept “Orientalism” to describe the Euro-American perception of the inferiority of countries and cultures that constitute the “East”; namely, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. In his seminal text, Orientalism, Said argued how academic and cultural narratives about the “Orient” have been inextricably associated with imperial activity. See Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978).
23. 23. Charles is listed as a student (“Wang Chas”) in the Greenville City Directory from 1921. See “Greenville, S.C. City and Suburban Dictionary,” Greenville (S.C.) City Directories XII (1921): 547 (https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll26/id/546/rec/1).
24. 24. Furman University, Bonhomie Yearbook (1924), 65.
25. 25. Furman University, Bonhomie Yearbook (1953), 31.
26. 26. Page 190 →“Foreign Professors Join Faculty,” The Furman Paladin, October 4, 1968, 6, Furman University Student Newspapers Archives (https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll21/id/27290/rec/160).
27. 27. Claire Bien, Hearing Voices, Living Fully (Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016), 29–30.
28. 28. Madeline Y. Hsu, “Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, Inc. and the Political Uses of Humanitarian Relief, 1952–1962,” Journal of Chinese Overseas 10 (2014): 137–64.”
29. 29. Bien, Hearing Voices, 30–32.
30. 30. Today, Furman offers three exchange programs in Japan through Waseda University, Kansai Gaidai University, and Seinan Gakuin University. These programs allow Furman students to spend a semester or year studying in Japan and Japanese college students to experience a year at Furman.
31. 31. Robin Young, “Chen to Start China Studies,” The Furman Paladin 65, no. 1 (1980): 5.
32. 32. Kailash Khandke, “Kailash Khandke Oral History,” interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, Furman University Oral Histories, Furman University, January 1, 2023 (https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/oral-histories/51/).
33. 33. Kailash Khandke, interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, June 6, 2023. https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/oral-histories/51.
34. 34. Eula Barton, “They Represent Nine Foreign Countries,” Furman Magazine, 1, no. 1 (1951): 7, South Carolina Digital Library (https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll5/id/27/rec/1).
35. 35. Henry Ho, interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, November 28, 2022.
36. 36. Raymond Mohl, John Van Sant, and Chizuru Saeki acknowledge how many Asians living in the American South were often characterized as “a third race,” because they were neither Black nor white and did not fit into the traditional racial binary of the region. See Mohl, Van Sant, and Saeki, “Preface,” in Far East, Down South, xiii.
37. 37. University records suggest that Henry was the first Asian cheerleader at Furman.
38. 38. Shusuke Yagi, “Shusuke Yagi Oral History,” interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kisner, and Kylie Fisher, Furman University Oral Histories, Furman University, January 1, 2023 (https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/oral-histories/49/).
39. 39. Robert P. Fenton, “Asian American and Pacific Islanders in South Carolina: Diversity and Geographical Dispersion,” South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs 1, no. 3 (2022): 1–2.
40. 40. See Timothy Tseng, “Polity, Theology, and Ethnicity: Three Factors in the History of Asian-American Baptists in Twentieth-Century America,” In Baptist History Celebration—2007: A Symposium on Our History, Theology, and Hymnody, ed. Gary W. Long (Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, 2008), 489–96.”
41. 41. Mohl, “Asian Immigration to Florida,” in Far East, Down South, 74–79; and Desai and Joshi, “Introduction,” in Asian Americans in Dixie, 8–9.
42. 42. Jian Li, “A History of the Chinese in Charleston,” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 99, no. 1 (1998): 36–37; and Peter Kung, “The Story of Asian Southern Baptists,” Baptist History and Heritage 18, no. 3 (July 1983): 49.
43. 43. Page 191 →In Charleston from the 1880s to the 1940s, Chinese families held a monopoly over hand laundries in the city. See Li, “A History of the Chinese in Charleston,” 37 and 40–46.
44. 44. Ray Belcher, Greenville County, South Carolina: From Cotton Fields to Textile Center of the World (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006), 15.
45. 45. Belcher, Greenville County, 23.
46. 46. Belcher, Greenville County, 63–65 and 73.
47. 47. Tseng, “Polity, Theology, and Ethnicity,” 493–95.
48. 48. Tseng, “Polity, Theology, and Ethnicity,” 494.
49. 49. Wardin, Baptists Around the World, 90 and 99–100.
50. 50. Abe Hardesty, “Thomas & Vivian Wong: Greenville fulfilled their dreams, so the Wongs are happy to return the favor.” City People, February 23, 2000.
51. 51. “Greenville entrepreneur Vivian Wong teams with Cérélia Group to donate one hundred thousand dollars to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital,” Prisma Health, September 15, 2021 (https://prismahealth.org/patients-and-guests/news/greenville-entrepreneur-vivian-wong-teams-with-cerelia-group-to-donate-$100,000-to-prisma-health-chi).
52. 52. Kathleen Maris, “50 Most Influential People of 2018,” Greenville Business Magazine, December 28, 2018 (https://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/2018/12/28/186169/50-most-influential-people-of-2018).
53. 53. Mohl, Van Sant, and Saeki, “Preface,” in Far East, Down South, xii–xiii.
54. 54. “Kiyohiro Tsuzuki,” Spartanburg Herald-Journal, January 19, 2005, https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2005/01/19/kiyohiro-tsuzuki/29745031007/.
55. 55. Scott Carlson, “A Southern University Embraces a Sacred Japanese Tradition,” The Chronicle of Higher Education 54, no. 49 (2008): 612.
56. 56. Leigh Gauthier Savage, “Place of Peace,” Furman Magazine 51, no. 2 (2008): 6.
57. 57. Yuri Tsuzuki, “About Me,” https://www.yuritsuzuki.com/aboutme.
58. 58. Ron Barnett, “Vietnamese find freedom in Greenville,” The Greenville News, January 22, 1995, 1A.
59. 59. Barnett, “Vietnamese find freedom,” 1A.
60. 60. Barnett, “Vietnamese find freedom,” 3b.
61. 61. See Peter C. Phan, “Vietnamese Catholics in the United States: Christian Identity between the Old and the New,” U.S. Catholic Historian 18, no. 1 (2000): 19–35, especially 19–22; and Carl L. Bankston III, “Vietnamese-American Catholicism: Transplanted and Flourishing,” U.S. Catholic Historian 18, no. 1 (2001): 36–53, especially 36 and 39–42.
62. 62. Ron Barnett, “Vietnamese Refugee Escapes Communists, Leads local Church Group Now,” The Greenville News, January 22, 1995, 3B.
63. 63. Kimmy Yam, “Anti-Asian Hate Crimes increased 339 percent nationwide last year, report says,” NBC News, January 31, 2022 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwide-last-year-repo-rcna14282).

• Bankston, Carl L. III. “Vietnamese-American Catholicism: Transplanted and Flourishing.” U.S. Catholic Historian 18, no. 1 (2001): 36–53.
• Barton, Eula. “They Represent Nine Foreign Countries.” Furman Magazine 1, no. 1 (1951): 7, https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll5/id/27/rec/1.
• Belcher, Ray. Greenville County, South Carolina: From Cotton Fields to Textile Center of the World. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006.
• Bien, Claire. Hearing Voices, Living Fully. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016.
• “Biographical Sketch.” Furman University Special Collections and Archives: Poteat Family Papers. Greenville, SC: Furman University, 2023. https://libguides.furman.edu/special-collections/poteat-family-papers/biography.
• Carlson, Scott. “A Southern University Embraces a Sacred Japanese Tradition,” The Chronicle of Higher Education 54, no. 49 (2008): 612.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Geographic Division or Region.” Atlanta: Author, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/sources-definitions/geographic-region.htm#Figure.
• “Class-Room Life at Furman.” The Baptist Courier. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1898. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82004649/1898–11–17/ed-1/seq-6/.
• Clyde, Paul H. “Questions and Answers,” Furman Magazine 11, no. 2 (1962): 7.
• Coughlin, Margaret M. “Strangers in the House: J. Lewis Shuck and Issachar Roberts, First American Baptist Missionaries to China.” PhD dissertation, University of Virginia, 1972. https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/sj1392079.
• Fenton, Robert P. “Asian American and Pacific Islanders in South Carolina: Diversity and Geographical Dispersion.” South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs 1, no. 3 (2022): 1–2.
• “Foreign Professors Join Faculty,” The Furman Paladin, October 4, 1968, 6. Furman University Student Newspapers Archives. https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll21/id/27290/rec/160
• Furman University. “Bonhomie Yearbook,” Greenville, SC: South Carolina Digital Library, 1924, 31. https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll4/id/11259/rec/54.
• Furman University. “Bonhomie Yearbook,” Greenville, SC: South Carolina Digital Library, 1924, 65. https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll4/id/4133/rec/41.
• “Greenville entrepreneur Vivian Wong teams with Cérélia Group to donate $100,000 to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital.” Prisma Health, September 15, 2021. https://prismahealth.org/patients-and-guests/news/greenville-entrepreneur-vivian-wong-teams-with-cerelia-group-to-donate-$100,000-to-prisma-health-chi.
• “Greenville, S.C. City and Suburban Dictionary.” Greenville (S.C.) City Directories XII (1921): 547. https://cdm16821.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16821coll26/id/546/rec/1.
• Page 193 →Hardesty, Abe. “Thomas & Vivian Wong: Greenville fulfilled their dreams, so the Wongs are happy to return the favor.” City People, February 23, 2000.
• Ho, Henry. Interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, November 28, 2022.
• Hsu, Madeline Y. “Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, Inc. And the Political Uses of Humanitarian Relief, 1952–1962.” Journal of Chinese Overseas 10 (2014): 137–64.
• Joshi, Khyati Y., and Jigna Desai. Asian Americans in Dixie: Race and Migration in the South. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2013.
• Jowett, A. J. “The Growth of China’s Population, 1949–1982.” The Geographical Journal 150, no. 2 (1984): 155–70.
• Khandke, Kailash. “Kailash Khandke Interview,” Furman University Oral Histories, Furman University. Interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, January 1, 2023. https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/oral-histories/51/.
• Kibler, Eli, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher. “Untold Journeys: Exploring Greenville and Furman’s Connections with Asia.” Greenville, SC: Furman University, 2022. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4844f5d2a6a24ab497a01a465ce5e9c8.
• “Kiyohiro Tsuzuki.” Spartanburg Herald-Journal, January 19, 2005. https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2005/01/19/kiyohiro-tsuzuki/29745031007/.
• Kung, Peter. “The Story of Asian Southern Baptists.” Baptist History and Heritage, 18, no. 3 (July 1983): 49.
• Leavy, Patricia. Oral History: Understanding Qualitative Research. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Li, Jian. “A History of the Chinese in Charleston.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine 99, no. 1 (1998): 34–65. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27570280.
• Li, Li. “Diversifying the Operation: Southern Baptist Missions in China at the Turn of the Century 1890–1910.” Baptist History and Heritage 34, no. 2 (1999): 167–68.
• Maris, Kathleen. “50 Most Influential People of 2018.” Greenville Business Magazine, December 28, 2018. https://www.greenvillebusinessmag.com/2018/12/28/186169/50-most-influential-people-of-2018.
• Mohl, Raymond A., John E. Van Sant, and Chizuru Saeki, eds. Far East, Down South: Asians in the American South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016.
• Mulvihill, Thalia M., and Raji Swaminathan, eds. Oral History and Qualitative Methodologies: Educational Research for Social Justice. New York: Routledge, 2022.
• Phan, Peter C. “Vietnamese Catholics in the United States: Christian Identity between the Old and the New.” U.S. Catholic Historian 18, no. 1 (2000): 19–35.
• Poteat, Gordon. Home Letters from China: The Story of How a Missionary Found and Began His Life Work in the Heart of China. New York: G. H. Doran, 1924.
• Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
• Savage, Leigh Gauthier. “Place of Peace.” Furman Magazine 51, no. 2 (2008): 6. https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol51/iss2/4.
• Strmic-Pawl, Hephzibah V., Brandon A. Jackson, and Steve Garner. “Race Counts: Racial and Ethnic Data on the U.S. Census and the Implications for Tracking Inequality.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 4, no. 1 (2018): 1–13.
• Page 194 →Teng, Yuan Chung. “Reverend Issachar Jacox Roberts and the Taiping Rebellion.” The Journal of Asian Studies 23, no. 1 (1963): 55–67.
• Tseng, Timothy. “Polity, Theology, and Ethnicity: Three Factors in the History of Asian-American Baptists in Twentieth-Century America.” In Baptist History Celebration—2007: A Symposium on Our History, Theology, and Hymnody, edited by Gary W. Long (Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, 2008), 489–96.
• Tsuzuki, Yuri. “About Me.” https://www.yuritsuzuki.com/aboutme.
• US Census Bureau. “Geographic Terms and Definitions.” census.gov, 2021. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/about/glossary/geo-terms.html.
• Wardin, Albert W., ed. Baptists Around the World: A Comprehensive Handbook. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995.
• Yagi, Shusuke. “Shusuke Yagi Interview,” Furman University Oral Histories. Interview by Eli Kibler, Eva Kiser, and Kylie Fisher, January 1, 2023. https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/oral-histories/49/.
• Yam, Kimmy. “Anti-Asian hate crimes increased 339 percent nationwide last year, report says.” NBC News, January 31, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwide-last-year-repo-rcna14282.
• Young, Robin. “Chen to Start China Studies.” The Furman Paladin 65, no. 1 (1980): 5.