This blog post is authored by Niki G. a member of the Biblio Lotus Team.
I’m with Dr. Howard J. Eng, to discuss his recently published book, Pursuing the American Dream: Tucson Chinese-Owned Grocery Stores. Visit the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center's website to read a detailed summary, then check out your copy from the library!
About Dr. Eng
Dr. Eng is a native Tucsonan. He is Associate Professor Emeritus (retired) at The University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy. Dr. Eng received his BS in Zoology and Pharmacy, and MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Later, he received his Doctor in Public Health at the University of Texas, School of Public Health. Dr. Eng has been a licensed pharmacist for 50 years in Arizona. He has 45+ years of experience working in health care. Dr. Eng has been a health services/policy researcher for 29 years. He has 23 years of experience working in rural Arizona and 21 years of working on the U.S.-Mexico Border. Dr. Eng is a local historian in the Tucson Chinese Community.
Niki
I'm so excited to be speaking with you about this book and how it sheds light on a lot of history many of us don’t know about. Can you give us some background information about your interest in writing the book? How did it come to fruition and what was your research process like?
Dr. Eng
The idea for writing a book came about in the early 1990s when I realized that the children from my generation had no idea of the history of the Chinese community in Tucson. This is also the case of new residents to Tucson who are of Chinese descent.
In terms of research, I started with the questions: What do I want to answer in the book? What do I want to be able to talk about? I wanted to provide a historical background of the Chinese people in Tucson. When did they come? What were the challenges? What did they do? I wanted to write about the Chinese community that included the two Tucson Chinatowns. I'm a native Tucsonan but never paid much attention to our Chinatowns. I also wanted to talk about the Chinese associations/organizations that had an impact on and supported the Chinese community, including grocery store owners and families. Those associations/organizations provided financial, social and welfare support and a place of belonging. Then I wanted to talk about the rise and fall of the Chinese grocery stores. The City of Tucson directory was an ideal data source because it listed most of the Tucson grocery stores and gave me opportunity to identify which of those stores were owned by Chinese persons. I also wanted the book to be able to describe: What was it like and what was the benefit of growing up in a grocery store? Why did the Chinese people decided to go into the grocery store business? I asked individuals to write stories about their experience and there are 88 stories in the book. I also wanted to provide a comprehensive listing of the 582 grocery stores that I was able to identify from the years 1881 to 1991.
Niki
What do you think makes this history of Chinese in the southwest and in Pima County so obscure and hard to find?
Dr. Eng
When we talk about the Chinese communities in the United States, we think about the big Chinatowns in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City and people don’t often think of Arizona as a state where there would be many Chinese. Pima County has a population of about a million people, but approximately 10,000 are Chinese. But Chinese grocery stores were in other places like California, Texas, Mississippi so it's a very common story.
Niki
What was the impact of the elimination of the Tucson Chinatowns on the local Chinese community?
Dr. Eng
I need to define what Chinatown is since there may be different definitions used by researchers. My definition of Chinatown is where there is a large number of Chinese businesses and residents in a concentrated area. It was a place for immigrants to practice their traditions and culture, buy Chinese food, goods and herbs, speak Chinese, socialize and get away from discrimination. When the Chinese first came to Tucson in the mid-1870s, they settled in an area that was north of Pennington that includes Pearl, Main, and Ott streets – it was bordered by Alameda to the north, Pennington to the south and Meyer Street to the east. Then it crosses over the river to the west where there were some Chinese shanties. When the Women's Club decided to build a new office building, they took part of Chinatown. A few years later, the city of Tucson wanted to build a city building which took the other part of Chinatown. In 1911, the Chee Kung Tong bought property further South. Chinatown also included a couple of stores and a laundry, and the boundary of that second Chinatown was Messilla, Meyer, Main, and Nutter Streets, which were about three or four blocks. When urban renewal came in the late 1960s, the whole area of Chinatown and a number of grocery stores were torn down. For the Chinese community, losing Chinatown did not have a major impact since many of the Chinese associations/organizations took over many of the roles of Chinatown (e.g., opportunities to practice traditions and cultural and speak Chinese).
Niki
I found it interesting to learn that so many of the store owners learned to speak Spanish or different Indigenous languages to communicate better with their customers and that a lot of the memories in the book included stories of the store owners’ generosity towards their customers. What impact did this intersectionality with other communities have on Pima County?
Dr. Eng
In the early days of Tucson, the Chinese grocery store was in just about every neighborhood and you had a place where people could gather and talk about news, family, politics, sports, and get away from the cold or heat because the stores were the few places that were air conditioned or had heat. Many neighbors became friends with the grocers and their families. The store owners’ kids grew up and went to school with the neighborhood kids. There was a rich interaction of culture with the Mexican, African American, Native and white Anglo populations because the neighborhoods were close together and self-contained communities within Tucson.
Niki
What were the benefits of the Chinese grocery stores to Pima County economy?
Dr. Eng
As far as an economic standpoint on the Tucson and the Pima County community... In the early days of Tucson, when individuals only got paid once a month or twice a week, and they needed to stretch their money to buy food between paychecks, the Chinese grocery stores were able to provide credit to those families, and for those who didn’t trust banks, the stores provided an informal banking system (cashing checks).
From 1902 to 1920, there were more Chinese owned grocery stories than non-Chinese owned grocery stores. The highest number of Tucson Chinese owned grocery stores occurred in 1955 with 119. These stores supported many wholesalers like milk, bread and meat companies. Also, the stores generated a significant amount of property and sales tax. From an economic standpoint, in addition to providing an economic base for the Chinese people, it also provided economic support for the Tucson community.
And the grocery store kids benefited from working in the stores because they learned responsibility, how to interact with people, and business skills. You worked after school, on weekends and summer breaks, and learned how hard it is to earn a dollar. You also learned times that business is very good and times the business is very tough.
Niki
In the book, you shared a memory of climbing on top of the icebox of your family’s grocery truck to get the ice to eat. What other memories do you have?
Dr. Eng
My parents had two grocery trucks, and they were on the road, selling groceries in rural Arizona, as far as Eloy. I remember seeing beautiful scenery on some trips to customers on reservations. My parents owned Right-Way Market for 27 years until they retired. I guess my fondest memory is the fun time I had with the neighborhood kids. The dirt lot behind the store was our baseball field and, in the summertime, we used to have water fights. Right-Way Market was across the street from the rodeo and the fairgrounds and every year, we could go right across the street to the fair. Those are some of my fond memories.
Niki
What do you hope people will gain from reading your book?
Dr. Eng
I hope that those who read the book will gain an understanding of the history of the Chinese in Tucson, what the Chinese did in the early days and how their jobs changed over time, but also to understand how the Chinese grocery store provided the foundation for many Chinese people to pursue the American dream. Every new immigrant generation wants the next generation to have a better life and the result of our parents and grandparents who worked long hours and who struggled – it afforded many of us the opportunity to work in managerial and professional jobs.
Niki
As a lifelong Tucsonan, what is your favorite aspect of living here?
Dr. Eng
Tucson still has that small town feeling, even though in Pima County we have over a million people. And though it has changed over time, in general people are still very friendly and caring. And part of their friendliness is that small town atmosphere. And I think that's one of the best things about Tucson.
