‘Momentous’: Asian Americans laud Anna May Wong’s US quarter
Years after Anna May Wong was the first Asian American woman to be awarded a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame’s Hollywood Walk of Fame, the pioneering actor has created another first, quite literally. Wong will be the first Asian American woman to grace U.S. currency. The quarters with her face and manicured hands will start shipping Monday, according to the U.S. Mint. Anna Wong, Anna’s niece and namesake, was stunned by the honor. Anna Wong learned about the American Women Quarters honor through the Mint’s head legal consul.
” The information was then used to create the designs. There were many talented artists who created many different versions. Anna Wong sent an email to The Associated Press in which she pulled out a quarter to see the size and to see how the images would translate to real life.
The elder Wong was a fighter against stereotypes imposed on her by white Hollywood. She is one of five women being honored as part of this year’s program. Ventris Gibson, Mint Director, stated that she was chosen because she was a “courageous advocate who championed increased representation and more multidimensional roles for Asian American actors.”
Other icons included Maya Angelou, a writer; Dr. Sally Ride (an educator and the first American woman to travel in space); Wilma Mankiller (the first female Cherokee Nation principal chief); and Nina Otero Warren, who was a pioneer for New Mexico’s suffrage movements.
Wong has been a great success, both within and outside the entertainment industry.
Her nephew, Anna May Wong’s father, will be participating in an event with Mint at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on Nov. 4. A screening of “Shanghai Express,” a Wong movie, will be shown. There will also be a panel discussion.
Arthur Dong said that the quarter is a validation not only of Wong’s contributions but also of all Asian Americans. While a star on the Walk of Fame is significant, being on U.S. currency represents a whole new level of fame.
“This means that people across the country — and I’m guessing around the globe — will see her face, and her name,” Dong stated. “If they don’t know anything about her .”
Wong began acting in silent films during the silent film era. Wong’s career path coincided with Hollywood’s first Golden Age. But things weren’t so easy for Wong.
She was cast in 1922 her first major role in “The Toll of the Sea,” Dong’s book says. She played the role of a Mongol slave in “Thethief of Bagdad” two years later. For many years, she received no offers for roles as a femme fatale or Asian “dragon ladies” roles.
She fled to Europe, but Wong returned to the U.S. in the early 1930s, casting characters that relied on tropes that are difficult to tolerate today. These roles included the untrustworthy Fu Manchu daughter in “Daughter of the Dragon” as well as a sex worker for “Shanghai Express.”
She lost out to Luise Rainer, a white actor in 1937’s’ “The Good Earth,” which was based on a novel about a Chinese farming family. 1938, She was able to play a more sympathetic, humanized Chinese American doctor in “King of Chinatown.”
The juxtaposition of her roles and those of others is the main focus of a month-long program, “Hollywood Chinese : The First 100 Year,” which Dong is curating at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Los Angeles in November. He said
“(‘King Of Chinatown’ was part of a multi-picture Paramount deal that gave her more control and more choice in the films she would be participating in. “For a Chinese American woman to have that kind of multi-picture deal at Paramount, that was quite outstanding.”
By the 1950s, Wong had moved on to television appearances. Wong was supposed to appear on the big screen in the movie adaptation Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, but she was unable to do so due to illness. One year after receiving her star, she died 1961,.
Bing Chen was co-founder of the non-profit Gold House. He focused on elevating representation of Asian American content and empowering them.
But he also highlighted how anti-Asian hate incidents continue to persist and the lack of representation in the media.
“In a series of years in which Asian women have faced many challenges, from being objectified on screen to being attacked, this currency reinforces what many have known all along: (they are) here and worthy,” Chen stated in a statement. “It’s hard to forget, though. As a hyphenated society, Asian Americans continually struggle between being successful, and being seen.”
Asian American advocacy organizations outside of the entertainment industry also praised the new quarters. Norman Chen, CEO of The Asian American Foundation plans to find the coins to show his parents.
” I believe it would be very powerful for them to see an Asian American woman on the coin. He said that it was a powerful symbol of how Americans are so integral to American society, yet still seen in stereotypical ways. They will be pleasantly surprised and proud.” They will be pleasantly surprised and proud .”
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I have been writing professionally for over 20 years and have a deep understanding of the psychological and emotional elements that affect people. I’m an experienced ghostwriter and editor, as well as an award-winning author of five novels.
