Talks by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

A former grade school librarian and teacher, Ruthanne Lum McCunn has taught at Cornell University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the University of San Francisco. Although she is now a full time writer, she frequently lectures at schools, universities, libraries, and community organizations.

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Previous Appearances

AMERICAN HOTPOT: The Chinese Ingredient
Ruthanne Lum McCunn began researching and writing about the Chinese in America while creating curriculum for her students in the San Francisco public schools. In 1979, she turned her curriculum materials into her first book, reclaiming history and rewriting the American experience. In American Hotpot: The Chinese Ingredient, McCunn discusses her motivation for reclaiming the lives of Chinese pioneers and their significance for us today.

THE MANY FACES OF CHINESE AMERICA: A Slide Presentation
In this vivid illustration of the diversity within Chinese America, Ruthanne Lum McCunn tells the stories of Yung Wing, who graduated from Yale in 1854; Alaska frontiers woman Mary Bong; Pacific Northwest packer Pie-Biter; Mary Tape, who fought for her daughter's right to a public education in San Francisco; Arlee Hen, one of Mississippi's many Black Chinese; Florida's plant wizard Lue Gim Gong; Louisiana's sheriff Harry Lee; Brooklyn's Poon Lim, who holds the Guinness World Record for survival at sea; and many other fascinating individuals. The images come from family albums and research collections, and the stories capture the detail and texture of the Chinese American experience past and present.

RECLAIMING LIVES: Challenges and Responsibilities
Ruthanne Lum McCunn discusses the combination of organized curiosity and exciting detective work required to research the experiences of Chinese/Americans in the 19th century. In particular, she explores the researcher's responsibility when more than 100 years have passed, crucial documentation has been destroyed, and she is challenged with conflicting eye-witness testimony, hard evidence, and opinions that are completely divergent.

RESEARCHING AND WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION: Case Studies
With her own novels as case studies, Ruthanne Lum McCunn examines her use of oral history and written documentation in researching the lives of Chinese on both sides of the Pacific and the choices she makes in weaving together fact and fiction and exploring race, class, and gender.

THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL FICTION IN THE CLASSROOM
With her own books as examples, Ms. McCunn debates the perils and rewards of using historical fiction to convey the experiences of Chinese in America.

REACHING FOR THE MOON PEARL: An Exploration of Women's Resistance
Ruthanne Lum McCunn's biographical novel Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the true story of Lalu Nathoy, who was brought to America from Northern China in 1872, auctioned off as a slave, won her freedom through a poker game, and is remembered today in Idaho as the beloved pioneer Polly Bemis. The Moon Pearl, set in 1830s Southern China, tells the true story of girls who joined forces to battle parents and clan leaders for lives of self-rule, creating a tradition of independent sisterhood that won acceptance and became much admired and respected. In discussing these two very different stories, McCunn explores the experiences of Chinese women in Northern and Southern China and the American West; resistance through individual struggle and collaborative effort; effecting social change and the continuing struggle for empowerment today.

HAPA OR DOUBLE: A Mixed Race Reading of Chinese in America
Ruthanne Lum McCunn reveals how being a woman of mixed race and American born but raised in Hong Kong has impacted her work--from her choices for research to publication and beyond.

CHINESE AMERICA: A MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Through readings from her novels, Ruthanne Lum McCunn explores the historical intersections between the lives of Chinese Americans, Latin Americans, African Americans, and EuroAmericans.

WHAT IS AN AUTHOR?
Ruthanne Lum McCunn shares the incidents in her childhood that made her decide on a career as a writer and how she goes about her work--from getting the initial idea for a story to the book's publication.