Connie Young Yu
Appearances
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
My great-grandfather, Lee Wong Seng, came to the United States in 1866 from Guangdong Province, a village in Toisan, to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. He was 19 years old. My mother, his granddaughter, told me, she goes, your great-grandfather worked on the Iron Road. And she said this in Chinese. Her familiar language was Cantonese, so she said, is Iron Road.
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
That's why he came to California. And she always said we were very lucky that he came at the age of 19 in 1866. before the Chinese Exclusion Law, before the restrictions, and also he had a job. I mean, people talk about the Chinese being exploited, slave labor, coolie labor. That is not how they regarded it. It was an opportunity to work.
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
My mother told me that he knew a few words of English, and she said she thought he was a foreman. I do not have any documentation of where he worked. We just know he had to be in Sacramento, the railhead, and to start working from there. We know that, that he was in Sacramento.
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
And then going on to Auburn, Truckee, further up into the Sierras, I don't know if he was working on the tunnel, the Great Summit Tunnel that I visited a number of times and went through and imagine that he was there. But he survived, and he was able to come back, riding the rails, back to Sacramento, and then from Sacramento to San Francisco, where the Lee family, his clan, had a general store.
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
He soon became a manager, and he became the head manager. My great-grandfather was so fortunate. He was able to send for his wife, He wanted his family. He wanted his family in America. This is the oral history that we have from my mother that was passed down. Our people, who were excluded from America, denied naturalization to citizenship, we actually helped build America.
American History Tellers
Transcontinental Railroad | The Iron Road | 5
So because of the Chinese Railroad Workers' Descendant Association, because of their advocacy in planning the 150th, finally, the Chinese would be acknowledged very prominently And I was fortunate and honored to be asked to be the commencement speaker to represent. And I think my first words were, I'm Connie Young Yu. I'm an American and a descendant of a Chinese railroad worker.