{"id":1583,"date":"2016-12-06T00:55:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T00:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library-beta2\/?page_id=1583"},"modified":"2016-12-06T00:55:57","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T00:55:57","slug":"penney-gong-interview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/guides-to-the-collection\/oral-history-collections\/delta-state-university-oral-histories\/penney-gong-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Penney Gong Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″][heading]\n

Penney Gong Interview \u00b7 Back to DSU Oral Histories <\/a><\/p>\n[\/heading][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″][vc_column_text]\n

Gong, Penny<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Tape 1 of 1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 10\/7\/99<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
By Georgene Clark<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n
This is an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Project.\u00a0This is being recorded with Ms. Penney Gong at the Capps Archives Building on October 7,1999.\u00a0The interviewer is Ms. Georgene Clark.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Penney, why don\u2019t you tell me something about yourself?\u00a0Your background, family, childhood, or where you grew up, those kinds of things?\u00a0Just acquaint us with you please?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Okay, I was born in San Francisco on May 19, 1950.\u00a0I have a brother and sister.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both were born in California.\u00a0My mother was born in California in 1922, and my father was born in China.\u00a0He came over to the United States when he was eight years old.\u00a0He and my mother were married in 1944, and in 1954 we moved to Mississippi.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What about growing up?\u00a0Where in Mississippi did you live?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0We spent a year here in Cleveland, MS.\u00a0My father had a great aunt that lived in Boyle, Ms., and she said Mississippi was the land of opportunity.\u00a0So my father packed up our family, and we moved to Cleveland.\u00a0We stayed in Cleveland a year.\u00a0We had a grocery\u00a0store on Highway 61.\u00a0At that time there was not that much traffic going by the store and my parents could not make it.\u00a0My grandfather had a friend in Clarksdale, MS, thirty-six miles away from Cleveland.\u00a0He took my father under his wing, and set us up with a grocery store in Clarksdale,, and that is where we all resided.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0You know I always thought you were from Cleveland.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0No<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0So when did you move back to Cleveland?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0When I came to Delta State.\u00a0When I came to school.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Oh okay, can you tell me something about growing up in Clarksdale, your childhood in Clarksdale?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Okay, most of my childhood was spent in the grocery store.\u00a0I went to school.\u00a0It was very hard for my brother and sister when we moved here.\u00a0Both of them failed the first year because of the language differences, the accents, and the differences in the schools from California.\u00a0Both my brother and sister really never liked it here in Mississippi; it did not feel like home.\u00a0All of my mom\u2019s relatives were in California\u00a0After they graduated from Delta State, they moved back to California.\u00a0My sister tried to stay and taught at Coahoma County High School, but eventually moved back to California.\u00a0I have always enjoyed it here.\u00a0I call myself a true southerner.\u00a0I have grown up here since I was four.\u00a0I have never wanted to move away.\u00a0Before getting married, I stayed most of the time in school or at home, and that was all.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Did you have many friends as a child or were the children more?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG: I played by myself or with my brother and sister when I was growing up before I started going to school.\u00a0We had our store in the black area of town.\u00a0We lived in the back of the store.\u00a0I played mostly with the children around the store, which was great.\u00a0\u00a0 I had a really hard time starting school.\u00a0I had a few good friends.\u00a0Just went to school and came home.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What about teachers?\u00a0Were there any particularly memorable or influential?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0I had a\u00a0teacher, Malcolm Mabry.\u00a0I think he is a political leader in Clarksdale.\u00a0He taught Civics.\u00a0He was just about the only memorable teacher I had.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0How about extra-curricular activities in school?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0I never went to the games.\u00a0That was the main thing with the Chinese culture\u2013 you stayed at the store and worked for the parents.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Tell me more about how the Chinese culture differed from perhaps the Anglo of African American culture that you were being integrated into?\u00a0How did you preclude you from doing certain things, like taking part in certain activities because you needed to do something else?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Well you know\u2013running a grocery store.\u00a0My parents opened up every day, three hundred sixty-five days a year.\u00a0So to be able to run a grocery store, the children and the parents had to spend most of their time stocking groceries, watching the store.\u00a0So there is really no time for extra-curricular activities.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Were there other Chinese families in the area?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0\u00a0 There were.\u00a0At the time that I was growing up, there was a large Chinese population.\u00a0My mother made sure that we went to church every Sunday.\u00a0We had an elderly couple that came by and picked us up to go to church every Sunday.\u00a0We also had Chinese church.\u00a0We also had Chinese school in the summer.\u00a0So we could make sure we learned about the Chinese culture, learn about the Chinese language, and still try to learn how to use it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What about socializing not just in school but in your family too?\u00a0When they were not working?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Okay , that was never.\u00a0Most of our activities were with our family. We did go to the drive in every Friday night.\u00a0That was just about the only thing we did.\u00a0I never had a store bought hamburger until I came to college.\u00a0We never ate out.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What about discrimination?\u00a0Were there any times when you living in Clarksdale that you or anybody in your family felt discriminated against?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0We did have a problem with that.\u00a0In the community where we lived we were quite accepted, but the blacks considered us as whites.\u00a0The whites considered us as non-black, but we were kind of stuck in the middle there.\u00a0\u00a0 Because my father hunted and fished, he had a lot friends.\u00a0There were a lot of people that came and socialized at the store.\u00a0\u00a0 My school integrated 1968.\u00a0I still remember the one girl, the black girl that came to school there.\u00a0I remember her name\u2013Eleanor Fondren.\u00a0The biggest thing that I remember about her was that she was ridiculed a great bit.\u00a0She had a lot of humor, and she just laughed it off.\u00a0She graduated with us.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What grade was this?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Twelfth grade.\u00a0Senior year.\u00a0So that was 1968.\u00a0In 1967, we tried to buy a house so that I could go to school at Clarksdale High School.\u00a0We met much opposition.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Was it overt or was it covert?\u00a0Did they come out directly and oppose the purchase?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Yeah<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Or was it all subtly done?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0There was some people who were rather ugly to my parents, but those same people turned out to be some of our very best friends after thye got to know us and we them.\u00a0In fact, Irby Ellis, I don\u2019t know if you remember Irby Ellis, here at Delta State.\u00a0His brother, Buddy Ellis was a judge in Clarksdale, and he was a very good friend of my father\u2019s.\u00a0He bought our first house for us, and he signed the house over.\u00a0He used my father\u2019s money to buy the house, and then he signed the house over to my father.\u00a0After we moved in, our neighbors were just ignorant of the fact that we weren\u2019t different.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Do you still have family in Clarksdale now?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0No I have one aunt living here Cleveland, that is all.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Okay Penney tell me about living in the new neighborhood, having a new house?\u00a0How did you and your family adjust?\u00a0Did you have any kinds of problems?\u00a0I am especially interested in how you were able to retain your culture traditions, your heritage when you were living something of a melting pot, cultural melting pot there in your neighborhood?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG: The Chinese church played a very big role in trying to keep the Chinese community together.\u00a0To try to keep instilling their ideals.\u00a0We were very fortunate to have a pastor that came in.\u00a0His name was Dr. Jacken Chan.\u00a0He was very educated.\u00a0He came in, and he had certain ideas about how he wanted to church to bring all the Chinese community together.\u00a0He is the one who made us go to Chinese school during the summer months while we were off.\u00a0So we could learn the language.\u00a0Learn how to write it, and to learn the Chinese culture and teachings.\u00a0Also he wanted to make sure we were able to live with in the American society with these same values.\u00a0After he retired, he retired back to Hong Kong.\u00a0He became the Head of the English department at the University of Hong Kong.\u00a0As I said we were very fortunate to have him.\u00a0I think he played a major part in helping the youth grow up and be able to function well in the all of our surroundings.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0I want to jump ahead a little bit.\u00a0Your freshman year in college, the whole college experience.\u00a0You left Clarksdale, and you came here to Delta State.\u00a0Tell me what it was like here at Delta State?\u00a0How much adjusting did you have to do to deal with being away from home?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0It was very difficult, because I had never lived away from home.\u00a0Very seldom did I spend the night out away from my family.\u00a0I had a very good roommate, and she helped me get around at Delta State because I was very, very shy.\u00a0At Delta State, there was always someone to help you.\u00a0I remember Dr. Mary Long.\u00a0She was the Dean of Women.\u00a0She was very, very nice.\u00a0You could go to her at any time, and it was very easy to talk with her.\u00a0She made the people at Delta State when they first came not as scared as they would have been.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What year did you come to Delta State?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0In 1969.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Now if I recall correctly, that was pretty much the end of a pretty turbulent decade as far as Civil Rights were concerned.\u00a0How did that movement affect you?\u00a0Either here at Delta State, in Clarksdale, or did it at all?\u00a0Were you involved?\u00a0Were you an activist?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0No, at Delta State I did not see any kind of problems here.\u00a0In Clarksdale the neighborhood where my parents still had the store\u00a0was still a quiet community.\u00a0My parents had a good relationship with the people they serviced, but during that time they were bringing people in from outside of Mississippi to try and stir up the movement.\u00a0Since we were living in the black community, or my parents had their store in the black community, they considered us as white.\u00a0Civil rights workers that came down may have gotten a bit carried away, but they burned my parents\u2019 store down thinking that they needed to get us.\u00a0They thought we were white, and they wanted us out of the community there.\u00a0The people that lived around my parents\u2019 store were devastated.\u00a0My parents never rebuilt the store even though the people that lived around the store continuously called and wanted my parents to open the store back.\u00a0It was too much.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0It was in the black neighborhood?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0It was in the black neighborhood.\u00a0My parents had gotten older, and they would have rebuilt if they had been younger.\u00a0It was just too much for them.\u00a0They still had many, many friends there when they quit..<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0That is a devastating experience.\u00a0How else was the movement manifested in Clarksdale?\u00a0Were there sit-ins?\u00a0Were there demonstrations?\u00a0Were there any of those kinds of thing with you being aware of the activity in the black neighborhood?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0At that time I was at school.\u00a0I only went home on the weekends.\u00a0So I can not remember.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Well now going back to Delta State.\u00a0What do you think Delta State gave you in terms of its contribution to your growth, education?\u00a0That is academically, personally.\u00a0What was your experience like, and what did it do for you personally?<\/div>\n
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PG:\u00a0I wander if it is because Delta State is here in that Cleveland is a little bit more welcome to more of a melting pot of people coming in.\u00a0They were more ready to accept you.\u00a0The businesses downtown were nice\u2013you would never had a problem when you went there.\u00a0Every body here is very, very kind.\u00a0Delta State all the teachers, as they are now\u2013still as helpful back then as they are now.\u00a0Of course you know school was much more rigid than as it is now.\u00a0They expected you to meet class.\u00a0You know you were not supposed to be absent from class.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What was the biggest change you see between then and now, as a student and still being here on campus?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0I think the students are more relaxed now.\u00a0Things are little more informal.\u00a0As I said the classroom is not as rigid now as it was then.\u00a0It was more structured.\u00a0Students can come and go.\u00a0They can speak their mind, where as we met class we were encouraged to speak out, but the teacher was more of an authority figure then.\u00a0They taught much more, and the students talked less.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0If you had to think about it.\u00a0Is there anything that Delta State didn\u2019t give you that you wished that they had when you were a student?\u00a0Kind of not really a good question I realize you are an employee, as a student?\u00a0Overall how would you rate your experience as a Delta State student in the late sixties or early seventies?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0The experience was good.\u00a0I only went for two years, and I did not finish my degree until several years ago.\u00a0The students were very close.\u00a0We had to depend on each other much more then than you do now.\u00a0It was a lot safer.\u00a0You never had to worry.\u00a0Then we had curfews.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0What time was curfew?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Must have been ten or ten thirty.\u00a0You had to sign in or sign out so they could make sure that you were back in the dorm.\u00a0You hardly had to have a room check because once you signed the register they knew you were in your room.\u00a0You also had to have permission to go home on the weekends.\u00a0You couldn\u2019t just leave and go.\u00a0You had to have a permission slip to check out of the dormitory on Fridays and check back in on Sundays.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0A signed permission slip?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Yes<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Well how did you come to work at Delta State?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Dr. McRaney gave me an opportunity to work in the registrar\u2019s office for two weeks one summer. His wife recommended me\u00a0My husband had done some work for Ms. McRaney, and she said that she thought I might like to work in the office during the summer.\u00a0So I took that job, and from then on I knew this is where I wanted to work.\u00a0The first opportunity I had to have a position in the registrar and admission\u2019s office at that time, I took it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0So what positions have you held in that office?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0The first job I took was typing clerical.\u00a0Then I moved into posting clerk position.\u00a0Now I am coordinator of graduation and commencement.\u00a0It has been an enjoyable experience.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Penney tell me who were the administrators when you first came to Delta State as an employee?\u00a0What were they like?\u00a0What was the campus like?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0The campus, I started in 1976.\u00a0Dr. Wyatt had just taken the position of president after Dr. Lucas.\u00a0We worked a very rigid eight to five schedule.\u00a0You took fifteen-minute breaks.\u00a0You had two fifteen minute breaks.\u00a0It is more casual now.\u00a0The offices stayed open during the lunch hour.\u00a0There was a time when we opened on Saturday to make sure that the campus was accessible to everyone at all times.\u00a0If they needed you to work after five o\u2019clock you were expected to put in that over time with no added pay because that was your job.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Who were the other people in your department, in your office?\u00a0What were they like?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Okay, Dr. McRaney was head of admissions and records when I first started working there.\u00a0He was very fair, and he was very good about offering the same opportunities to everyone.\u00a0We have had a great turnover in that office, but we have had a diverse employee pool.\u00a0He had hired an American Indian, blacks, Asians, whites, and he believed in giving equal opportunity to all races.\u00a0I feel like this office has been very diverse in its employees.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Tell me what Cleveland was like during this time?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Being from Clarksdale growing up there, there was a distinct difference.\u00a0When I moved to Cleveland, and after I married in 1970 and got to know a lot more people in the community. I realized how much more accepting Cleveland is to changes. Things were much more open here.\u00a0I believe Delta State had a big hand in that.\u00a0I believe it was because the university was here, and it had brought in different types of students and faculty.\u00a0Delta State and Cleveland have been more of a cultural, diverse community.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Good I was going to ask you what kind of affect you thought Delta State might have had on Cleveland.\u00a0Do you think it has had the same kind of impact on the delta itself?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0I do.\u00a0Ever since the Performing Arts Center has been built.\u00a0Since we bring in people from all around the state and all types of programs, it has made people more aware.\u00a0It gathers different kinds of people up.\u00a0They are able to discuss and see these performances and entertainment that they may have never had the opportunity to go to.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Well that was something else I was going to ask you about in terms of the growth that you see?\u00a0The cultural growth is one thing that the University has contributed to for itself as well as the area.\u00a0Now what about other types of contributions that you think the University has made to the area or influence that it may have made on the Cleveland area other than the cultural diversity?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0Economically I feel like it has made it an open area.\u00a0Since it can draw employees from the students, I think more educated students or more educated workers, I think it had brought in industry that may have never thought of coming here or in surrounding areas.\u00a0We have companies that come from all over the United States that come to interview at Delta State.\u00a0Which to me shows that we have good graduating classes.\u00a0The people from Delta State are highly thought of.\u00a0Delta State students go out in other states and they try to bring more Delta State people into their areas.\u00a0Job opportunities are made because of Delta State graduates in the work force.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Well you mentioned that you got married in 1970?\u00a0We haven\u2019t said too much about your immediate family?\u00a0Is your husband a native of Cleveland?\u00a0How many children do you have?\u00a0How do they like it here?\u00a0What kinds of adjustments have they made?\u00a0What has Delta State\u2019s contribution to their growth?\u00a0Are they Delta State students?\u00a0Did they attend?\u00a0Those kinds of things tell us about that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0My husband moved here from New York when he was two or three year old.\u00a0We have raised our tchildren here.\u00a0I have three children, two daughters and a son.\u00a0All three of them\u2013 two of my daughters have graduated from Delta State and have very good jobs. \u00a0My son is a junior this year.\u00a0They never thought of going anywhere else.\u00a0Delta State is the only school they ever wanted to go to.\u00a0It has set a good background for what they are doing now.\u00a0My daughter moved to Oregon, and she lived there for three years.\u00a0She has come home to Mississippi because she feels more comfortable here.\u00a0She enjoyed being in Oregon, but this is home.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Is there anything that you would like to tell us in closing Penney?\u00a0I appreciate you doing this.\u00a0Is there anything that perhaps I have left uncovered that you might want to mention to us?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
PG:\u00a0I think we have covered most everything.\u00a0I appreciate you interviewing me.\u00a0I hope I had something interesting to say.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
GC:\u00a0Of course you did.\u00a0Thank you so very much.<\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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