Pauline Tso's Oral History
Title
Pauline Tso's Oral History
Subject
Chinese--Migrations
Chinese American college students
Chinese Americans--California--Los Angeles
Chinese Americans--Employment
Chinese American motion picture actors and actresses
Chinese American women
Chinese Americans--Social life and customs
Education
Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945
United States--Emigration and immigration--History
World War, 1939-1945--China
Description
Pauline Tso, née Wang, introduces her early childhood in Nanjing, China, before the Japanese occupation and her father’s diplomatic missions forced them to evacuate. She describes her boat journey to, schooling in, and childhood memories of Surabaya in Java, Bombay [Mumbai] in India, and Port of Spain in Trinidad, before the Wangs settled in Los Angeles, California. Tso recalls an active social life at Los Angeles and Manual Arts High School and explains how the death of her parents prompted the President of Culver-Stockton College to offer her a scholarship. She details her campus involvement as a social member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority, an “oriental” dancer with a troupe called Variety, and working with the centennial chairman to invite Eleanor Roosevelt to campus. Tso also describes her summers working in Los Angeles including as a movie extra through Bessie Loo’s agency, dating Chinese boys in Los Angeles and a white classmate in college, and graduating in 1954 with the most honors in her class.
Creator
Phun, Juily
Tso, Pauline
Source
Asian American Pacific Islander Oral History Project
Publisher
California State University, Los Angeles
Date
2017-05-05
Contributor
Sheppard, Jennifer
Jeong, Sae Hee "Keshy"
Fong, Carolyn
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Format
mp3
Language
eng
Type
Sound
Identifier
Tso_Pauline_01.mp3
Coverage
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Missouri
Nanjing Shi (China)
Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago)
Surabaya (Indonesia)
Files
Citation
Phun, Juily
and Tso, Pauline, “Pauline Tso's Oral History,” California State University - Los Angeles, accessed July 27, 2025, https://calstatela-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/809.