The Untold Story Of America’s Southern Chinese

This video, produced by AJ+, presents the history of the Chinese in the Mississippi Delta, a lesser-known but deeply significant chapter in the American South’s complex racial and cultural landscape. Chinese immigrants began arriving in the Delta during the post-Civil War era, around the 1870s, initially recruited as laborers to replace emancipated Black slaves on cotton plantations. However, many soon left field work due to poor conditions and turned to entrepreneurship, particularly in grocery retail.

By the early 20th century, Chinese families had established small grocery stores throughout the Delta, primarily serving African American communities who were often excluded from white-owned businesses. These stores became vital fixtures in segregated towns, with Chinese Americans occupying a unique racial space, neither fully accepted as white nor relegated entirely to the status of Black. They were frequently marginalized, facing exclusion from public schools and certain legal protections, yet they managed to carve out a niche for themselves within a rigid caste system.

The Chinese community remained relatively small but tightly knit, building churches, forming associations, and creating informal social networks to maintain cultural traditions and support economic growth. Over time, Chinese Americans in the Delta pushed for educational rights, eventually gaining access to white schools in the mid-20th century.

By the late 20th century, with the decline of the small-town grocery business and increased educational and economic mobility, many Chinese families moved to urban areas or out of the region entirely. Today, while few remain, their legacy persists in the oral histories, cultural institutions, and family-owned buildings that dot the Delta.

The Chinese in the Mississippi Delta represent a powerful story of resilience, adaptation, and identity formation in the face of racial segregation and economic hardship, contributing a unique thread to the broader tapestry of Southern and American history.