Family Outing in Austin, Texas: The Wong Family and the First Chinese Baby

This photograph captures a 1943 family outing to The University of Texas, in Austin. The young father, Fred Wong, was a grandson of one of Pershings "Chinese"--a group of 527 Chinese who accompanied General John J. Pershing into the United States after the failure of his campaigns against General Francisco Pancho Villa in 1917. Villa threatened retaliation against the Chinese for aiding Pershing, who determined to bring them back with him to the United States even though he had to lobby for special federal permission to do so in violation of immigration laws that banned the admission of all Chinese laborers. Many of these refugees settled in San Antonio where they established grocery stores, laundries, and restaurants.