16 July 13-19, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Writing’s on the Great Wall A new exhibition hon- ors the remarkably re- silient history of Asian migrants in Dallas. BY VALERIE WHITE D allas is a place with many sto- ries. The city’s history is often eclipsed by rhinestones, oil money, bottled blondes and presidential tragedies, and while these things are undoubtedly a large part of who we are, there is danger in main- taining a limited narrative. Most of the stories that lie outside of it tend to be woefully over- looked and sometimes completely lost to his- tory. Let’s face it, we are notoriously bad about preserving things here; nobody bats an eye when a 150-year-old building is bulldozed and replaced with a soulless megabar. Nonetheless, Dallas has a richly diverse history, but you have to do a little digging to find it. Luckily, Stephanie Drenka is willing to get her shovel out. Drenka is the co-founder and executive director of the Dallas Asian American Soci- ety, which has a mission to “research, pre- serve, and amplify the legacy of Asian Americans in the Dallas area.” As a Korean American, Drenka has a spe- cial connection to Dallas Asian American his- tory. She believes that “Asian Americans are often victims of perpetual foreigner syn- drome, which harms our community and un- dermines our long history with this country.” Recently, the Dallas Asian American So- ciety has shifted its focus to the Chinese community and is working on a captivating new art exhibition that showcases the in- triguing and sometimes fraught history of Chinese restaurants in the city. The first wave of Chinese immigrants came to Texas in the 1870s. They were mostly working-aged men from the south- ern Chinese province of Guangdong who made their way to Dallas from Houston after a labor strike at the Houston and Texas Cen- tral Railway. The Chinese workers were not being paid, so they quit and filed a lawsuit against the company. Since job opportuni- ties were then scarce, they opened laundries and a few restaurants and took on various other domestic jobs where available. J.L Chow was the first Chinese American listed as a resident of Dallas in 1873; he opened a laundry at 904 Elm St. in 1874. There were several other laundries and some restaurants located near the city cen- ter, and business was thriving. However, things were not always so rosy; anti-Chinese sentiment had been brewing in the U.S. for some time, and with the imposition of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, things started to break down. As the Chinese popu- lation continued to grow, discontent fol- lowed. Over the next decade, white Dallasites made life increasingly difficult for Chinese business owners. They harbored a deep re- sentment toward their success, as it contra- dicted their ingrained racist ideologies about the inferiority of non-white communities. Predictably, they resorted to some very on- brand behavior by spreading xenophobic lies and stoking existing racial tensions. They falsely claimed that patrons of Chinese busi- nesses would contract mysterious diseases (sound familiar?). They portrayed Chinese men as effeminate for doing “women’s work,” and they disseminated a range of other harm- ful sinophobic stereotypes. Their goal was to instill fear and, unfortunately, their hateful tactics proved effective. The Dallas laundry industry was eventually entirely taken over by white business owners. That extended racism campaign cer- tainly set the Chinese community back, but it was not enough to stop them. Like most immigrants, they were incredibly resilient, so they pivoted. The new focus was food: specifically, restaurants and grocery stores. Jim Wing, initially a laundryman, made a re- markable transition to become a pioneering Chinese restaurateur in Dallas. In 1896, his venture Jim Wing & Co. acquired Moon Restaurant, marking a significant milestone. Continuing his entrepreneurial journey, he further expanded his influence by establish- ing Star Restaurant in the early 1900s. Jim Wing’s achievements laid the foun- dation for his own success and set a prece- dent for future generations of Chinese restaurateurs. Eventually, the Chinese Ex- clusion Act was repealed in 1946. This brought in the second wave of Chinese food ventures in the late 1940s, which in turn paved the way for the third wave in the 1960s. This surge saw many Chinese restau- rants relocating to the suburbs, where they continue to thrive and grow today. Upon witnessing the dramatic reemer- gence of widespread Asian hate and anti- China rhetoric during the pandemic, Stephanie Drenka and Denise Johnson, the other co-founder of the Dallas Asian Ameri- can Society, began a project of uncovering the little-known history of Dallas Chinese restaurants. They wanted to establish a pro- found connection between the contempo- rary Asian American community and its extensive yet relatively unfamiliar past. “[We] wanted to shift the narrative on the Asian community, to make people aware that Asian people have been here for as long as everyone else, and they have earned their right to claim ownership of this city,” Drenka says. She dug through the ar- chives and pains- takingly pieced together frag- ments of what in- formation she could find and be- gan to discover old matchbooks and menus from some of the bygone Chi- nese restaurants. The project gained significant attention and was the subject of a Dallas Morning News article. From there, something completely unex- pected happened. “We started getting calls from people whose families had owned some of these restaurants; they had photos and oral histo- ries that were previously completely un- known outside of their own family stories,” Drenka says. She knew she had to do something with this newfound trove of historical treasure, that this story needed to be brought to light in a way that is as special as those who are a part of it. “Since we don’t have a lot of tangible in- formation or a solid historical record of a lot of this history, we have to reimagine it with art and creativity, and oral history, to piece together an impactful story,” Drenka says. This created the perfect opening for Christina Hahn, the curator and creative di- rector of what is now known as, Leftover: The Enduring Legacy of Chinese Cuisine in Dallas. Hahn and Drenka met in passing a couple of years ago. Hahn later reached out to Drenka with the hopes of beginning a men- torship, to which Drenka replied, “I have a job for you.” The rest is history in the making. Hahn immediately got to work bringing her bold and personal vision to life, and within just six months, she transformed it into a captivating show, almost ready to be unveiled. She wanted the project to be “by Dallas, for Dallas” and she has succeeded greatly at it. The artists who created the bulk of the works are Dallas high-school stu- dents, mostly Chinese, but also from other Asian backgrounds. “I wanted to tell another story separate from the many stories of trauma that our community has faced,” Hahn says about her choice of working with high school-aged artists. “I want to add positive stories to our history, and I want to give the kids the ability to take that on and take that with them throughout their lives.” The project has benefited from numer- ous invaluable contributors, including dedi- cated volunteers from the Dallas Asian American Society, the Dallas Asian Ameri- can Art Club and an array of supportive friends and community members. The venue, offered by Preservation Dallas, is hosting its first exhibition centered around Asian American Dallas history. Hahn’s conceptualization brings an inno- vative, fresh and exciting approach to his- tory and art. She intends to captivate audiences through a series of vignettes that introduce them to this hidden chapter of Dallas history, fostering familiarity and ulti- mately enabling deep empathy and under- standing for the intricate lives of individuals who have devoted themselves to food, fam- ily, community and survival. Drenka and Hahn have similar hopes for what people will take away from the show. “Most non-Asian people’s introduction to Asian culture is through food, so I really hope to highlight how important food is in Asian culture and understand the deep his- tory and meaning that lies behind it,” Drenka says. “I also hope that Asian people especially can see themselves in the show, see their families, and I hope it inspires them to believe that their stories are impor- tant and worth telling and documenting.” The exhibition’s recurring emerging theme is resilience, an indispensable key of profound significance in many immigrant stories. Often, the individuals who are solely focused on survival and navigating their daily challenges fail to recognize their own invalu- able contributions to culture and history. Drenka is determined to ensure that their ac- complishments are rightfully celebrated, rec- ognizing their inherent worthiness. Hahn hopes for “this to be a story that ev- ery American can relate to, one of family, en- durance, and resilience. It takes a great amount of strength to leave your home, your culture, and your family, and many of the Asian Americans who did that not only over- came the initial hardship, but also overcame the discrimination they faced here, yet many were still able to succeed and thrive.” Leftover: The Enduring Legacy of Chi- nese Cuisine will run July 7– Sept. 22, at Preservation Dallas, 2922 Swiss Ave. ▼ Culture Rachel Schellsmidt The history of Asian Americans in Dallas is told through their cuisine at a new exhibition. “I REALLY HOPE TO HIGHLIGHT HOW IMPORTANT FOOD IS IN ASIAN CULTURE.” - CURATOR CHRISTINA HAHN
