Black family who defied segregation, honored by family they helped

Ron Dong was just two years old when his Chinese-American parents moved to Coronado, California, a change that was only possible because a black couple defied anti-Asian segregation by renting a house to his family.

More than 80 years later, Ron and his younger brother, Lloyd Dong Jr., 81, are continuing the legacy of that couple, Gus and Emma Thompson, by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Coronado house and an apartment complex. next door to support Black students at San Diego State University.

The university said the brothers’ donation, expected to total $5 million, would be “by far” the largest ever made to the Black Resource Center. The center will be renamed in honor of the Thompsons.

Ron Dong, 86, said it was “amazing” that the money “could do things we never expected our assets could do.”

The brothers decided to donate the money to the university’s Black Resource Center after learning more about the Thompsons, who rented their home to the Dong family in 1939.

“It was a real boost for the Dongs to be able to live there,” said Ron’s wife, Janice Dong, 86.

Coronado, an island across San Diego Bay known for the red-roofed Hotel del Coronado, was only accessible by ferry or a long drive across the strip of land that connects it to the mainland, near the border with Mexico, up to a bridge. opened in 1969.

In 1939, Lloyd Dong Sr. and his wife, Margaret Dong, in San Diego, while working six days a week as a gardener for wealthy Coronado residents. All were born in the United States to Chinese immigrant parents, Lloyd Dong Jr. said.

The family wanted to live in Coronado to avoid Lloyd Dong Sr.’s commute. to shorten, but was confronted with anti-Asian racism.

The Chinese Exclusion Law The treaty signed in 1882 blocked the Chinese people from immigrating to the United States, although many still entered illegally. The action, that was withdrawn in 1943 and replaced with a quota system that allows about 105 visas per year, and other laws institutionalized anti-Asian discrimination.

This racism was also ingrained in housing policy. In the early 20th century, house deeds could contain clauses known as racial restrictive covenants that prevented people of certain races and religious groups from purchasing homes or living in certain neighborhoods. This language was banned in 1968 under the Fair Housing Act, but it still appears on many property documents.

Kevin Ashley, a local amateur historian, said the Thompsons most likely built their home in 1894 or 1895, although property records show it was built in 1901.

“When the real estate agents came in in the 1920s and 1930s, the black community started to disappear,” says Ashley, who has researched black history in Coronado and share his findings online and in one Coronado Historical Association exhibit.

Mr Ashley contacted the Dongs in 2022 after learning about their connection to the Thompsons, who had been a prominent couple in business and society. The brothers knew the Thompsons had helped their family, but little else until Mr. Ashley informed them.

Gus Thompson was born into slavery in Cadiz, Ky. sometime between 1859 and 1862. according to Mr. Ashley. Years after slavery was abolished, Mr. Thompson moved to Coronado and worked for E. S. Babcock, an industrialist who founded the Hotel del Coronado.

He built a livery stable next to their house with a boarding house above it for black people who needed a place to sleep in Coronado, such as laborers and drivers who had driven their customers to the island. The Thompsons rented their home to the Dongs after moving to San Diego.

“You still allowed the Thompsons to keep their property amid this heightened period of racial restrictions against African Americans, Chinese, Mexicans and others,” Mr. Ashley said.

After the Dongs, who had four children, bought the house from the Thompsons in 1955, they replaced the stable with an eight-bedroom apartment building, which is also for sale. The brothers eventually moved to other parts of California and their two sisters passed away, so the family is ready to sell.

Lloyd Dong Jr. said the properties were worth an estimated $7 million to $8 million. He and his brother are donating their share of the sale proceeds, which he said would “give some deserving people a head start.”

San Diego State University said: “The donation is a confirmed $5 million and will come from the sale of two properties, which are now in the final stages.”

Janice Dong said the couple had considered using their share of the proceeds to fund scholarships, but discovered that students from underrepresented groups often need support beyond just financial aid, and chose to direct the money to the Black Resource Center to send. Ron Dong worked as a high school math and science teacher before retiring, and Janice Dong was a high school special education teacher.

Gus and Emma Thompson’s great-grandson, Ballinger Kemp III, 76, said he was “thrilled” by the donation. “It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

Mr Kemp said his great-grandparents’ decision to help the Dongs fit with the family ethos of doing good deeds without fanfare.

“Given what I know about my great-grandparents through my grandmother, I don’t think this was something they thought much about,” Mr Kemp said. “It was exactly the right thing to do.”

The nature of the Dongs’ donation is all the more special to Mr. Kemp because he comes from a family of educators, including his wife, mother and many aunts. He said he didn’t have the temperament to teach himself, but for decades he represented teachers in private practice and as a staff attorney for a teachers union. His beloved grandmother and Gus and Emma Thompson’s daughter, Edyth, had also sent three girls to school in Los Angeles, he said.

“We could use more of that right now – the spirit of the Thompsons and the Dongs,” he said.

Tonika Green, San Diego State vice president for campus community affairs and professor, said in a statement that the donation This was previously reported by NBCwould be used for mentorship and career development programs.

“The Dong family will change lives with this gift,” said Dr. Green.

Mr. Ashley, the historian, said the donation was especially important amid efforts to cancel diversity and inclusion programs in the United States and discussions about reparations.

“A lot of people want us to forget the difficult history, right? It is easier to forget than to remember,” said Mr. Ashley. “And the Dongs say, ‘We won’t forget.’”

Kitty Bennett research contributed.