By George Yee

With the publication of this journal, the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California moves another step forward. We can be proud of our achievements in the past year and a half of our Society’s existence. Not only have we gained the respect of our local community, but we have also earned the admiration and recognition of City, County, and State officials. This is due, in a large measure, to the support and encouragement of the Society by our members and friends.

Everyone in America is fortunate in that he has more than one heritage. This is true for the Chinese Americans as well as others. The Chinese once constituted a large segment of the overall population in many of our Western camps and towns, especially those located in California. The contributions that these Chinese pioneers made toward the building of our country have, in most cases, been omitted from our history books and in many cases are lost forever. The purpose of this Society is not to rewrite history, but to bring these omissions, when they can be found, into proper perspective in line with our nation’s history so that every American can better appreciate the Chinese American contribution to our heritage. Understanding the history of the building of our state and nation is basic to our democratic way of life.

Our forefathers have broken a path in the forest for us to follow. The traces of these footsteps are fading with the passage of time. Let us retrace these steps and record them while we can – not so much for ourselves, but for our children and our children’s children, so that they, too, will know and appreciate their Chinese American heritage.

With this in mind, I ask you to join us to move forward first one step – then another – then one more.

Let those in the future one day look back at the effort of our society and say we indeed were NEW – – -BIG – – -FAST- – -BEST!