Him Mark Lai (???) (November 11, 1925 San Francisco - May 21, 2009) was an American historian. He was known as the “Dean of Chinese American History” by his academic peers, despite the fact that he was professionally trained as a mechanical engineer with no advanced training in the academic field of History.
Him Mark Lai co-taught the first college course on Chinese American history with Philip Choy at San Francisco State University in 1969, and also taught the same course at UC Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies Department in the 1970s.
Him Mark Lai’s most well-known work is “Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940”, written in conjunction with Judy Yung and Genny Lim. These three formed the History of Chinese Detained on Island Project (HOC-DOI) to translate the Chinese poetry found on the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station and to collect oral histories of detainees on Angel Island, based on the specific restrictions of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Their resulting manuscript was independently published in 1980, and published by University of Washington Press in 1991. Lai joked to a newspaper reporter that “that book is the only one that makes [him] any money.”
In 1991 Him Mark Lai and Albert Cheng created the In Search of Roots Program through a partnership with the Chinese Historical Society of America, Chinese Culture Foundation, and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office from Guangdong Province, China. This year-long program trains a dozen Chinese American youths how to research their family history through National Archives and Records Administration documents and oral history during the Spring. Each Summer, the students visit their ancestral villages in the Pearl River Delta region of China. Upon their return, the students create a visual display of their genealogy and display it at the Chinese Cultural Center during Lunar New Year.
In 2003, the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley announced their “Him Mark Lai Collection,” over of Lai’s private research material, which he donated to the library for use by other scholars.
In 2007, Him Mark Lai was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer, yet he continued his research and writing. Lai died at his home on May 21, 2009.
The UCLA Asian American Center Press will be publishing his autobiography in 2009-2010, co-edited by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Judy Yung, and Russell C. Leong.
Him Mark Lai was what Albert Lowe calls a "stealth organizer," who was involved in progressive organizations throughout his life, strategically disguised as an interested researcher and scholar, and did not face the same community popularity or governmental scrutiny as higher profile Asian American activists of his era, such as Grace Lee Boggs and Yuri Kochiyama. Nevertheless, he was investigated by the FBI for his activities in Min Qing, as depicted in the 1991 film, The Chinatown Files.
Chinese League for Peace and Democracy, San Francisco Chapter
Chung Sai Yat Po newspaper, volunteer (1949)
Min Qing (Mun Ching), (Chinese American Democratic Youth League/Chinese American Youth Club), President (1951—1959)
Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) (1963—2009)
