Barrier-busting pilot, physicist and political activist Margaret Gee inducted into California Hall of Fame

The late Margaret Gee broke down stereotypes of Asian women.

Inducted into the California Hall of Fame Aug. 22 was pilot, physicist, and researcher Margaret Gee, who made history as one of two Chinese American pilots serving in the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots during World War II.

Gee was one of the seven Californians that Governor Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and the California Museum  named to the 16th class of trailblazers in public service, sports, music, entertainment, and more into the California Hall of Fame.Besides Gee, included in the posthmouse induction class are:

• Carrie Fisher: Actress and Screenwriter
• Etta James: Singer
• Jose Julio Sarria: LGBTQ Rights Activist and Pioneer
• Vin Scully: LA Dodgers Broadcaster
• Shirley Temple Black: Actress and Public Servant
• Archie Williams: Olympic Gold Medalist and Educator

“We are thrilled to announce the newest class of inductees joining some of our state’s most revolutionary, innovative, and brightest in the California Hall of Fame," said Gov. Newsom. "The outstanding legacy of this group has and will continue to embody what it means to be a Californian. There is no doubt their legacies will continue to live on and inspire millions across our state for generations to come.”

A diversely accomplished professional, Gee devoted her life to public service in many forms.

Born Gee Mei Gue in August 1923 in Berkeley, California, she was one of six children. Her father, a second generation Chinese American, worked hard to move his family from San Francisco’s Chinatown before she was born. Like many other Chinese American children, she went by her American name, Margaret, or more commonly Maggie, much of her life. Growing up, she enjoyed her family’s weekend trips to the airport in Oakland, California. There, Gee would look out for aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, whom she grew to idolize. After her father’s death in 1929, Gee admired her mother’s dedication to her family and community. 

Upon graduating from high school in 1941, she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley to study physics. However, the United States’ involvement in World War II halted her plans.

Early in the war, Gee decided she wanted to serve her country. In 1941, she left college to work in ship production at Mare Island Naval Shipyard alongside her mother. Her true ambitions, however, were in the air. 

Inspired by her childhood idol, Earhart, Gee wanted to become a pilot. She saved money from her work at the shipyard for flying lessons. After saving enough money, Gee moved to Minden, Nevada, to learn to fly. She earned her pilot’s license within six months, then immediately applied for the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) training program. The WASP program was formed in 1943 when Army officials realized they needed more domestic pilots to free up members of the Army Air Force for deployment. 

The WASP offered female pilots a rare opportunity to serve. Despite the need, however, WASPs faced gendered discrimination from their male peers and commanders. It was deemed too controversial to enlist women into the military as WASPs. They were thus classified as civilians, though they were uniformed, trained, and followed the expectations of a member of the Army Air Force. Gee was a part of the only 8% of applicants allowed into the WASP, and only one of two Chinese Americans accepted.

Despite the challenges, Gee found success as a WASP. She trained in Sweetwater, Texas, and graduated with her silver wings on November 8, 1944. Later in life Gee reflected, “I consider myself very fortunate, that I could do something that I really enjoyed. I felt I was doing something for my country…” 

The WASP program ended in December 1944, but in her short time as a WASP, she was well-accomplished. She transported planes from factories to airbases to prepare them for war-front delivery, copiloted fighter planes in mock air fights, and trained male pilots at the Las Vegas gunnery school. WASPs were classified as civilians, so upon the end of World War II and the disbanding of the service, female pilots were released from their positions. Not until 1977 did Gee and her fellow WASPs earn military status for their service with the passing of Public Law 95-202.

Having already succeeded once in a male-dominated field, Gee returned to the University of California, Berkeley to succeed in another. She re-enrolled in college to earn her physics degree at a time when women were underrepresented in STEM fields. Not only did Gee earn her Bachelor of Science degree, she completed a Master of Science in Physics as well. 

In 1958, she began working in Berkeley’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researching weapons systems employed in the Cold War. Gee worked or consulted on the lab’s nuclear and magnetic fusion programs for the rest of her career. It was at the lab that she met Warren Heckrotte, her life partner of almost 50 years.

Gee was also an accomplished community leader. She was highly active in the Democratic Party, starting in the Truman administration. Continuing her mother’s tradition of community involvement, she volunteered to run voter registrations and fundraisers. Throughout her life, she served as a member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, the California State Democratic Party Executive Board, and the Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus. Her influence culminated in her inclusion in the 1992 Democratic Party Platform Committee.

After a long and accomplished life, Gee died at the age of 89. In 2010, she was one of the few surviving WASPs to be presented a Congressional Gold Medal from President Barack Obama.

Launched in 2006, the California Hall of Fame honors history-making Californians who embody the state’s spirit of innovation and have changed the state, the nation, and the world. Inductees are selected annually by the Governor and First Partner for achievements in arts, business and labor, entertainment, food and wine, literature, music, public service, science, and sports.

 “The Governor and I are delighted to honor the contributions of this remarkable group of visionaries,"  said First Partner Siebel Newsom during the induction. "Each one of these pioneers has uniquely impacted California through their boundless creativity, perseverance, and courage – encapsulating the California dream through their lives and legacies.”

The determined physicist and pilot believed in success and social change every step along her path overcoming stereotypes and opening doors for women and Asian Americans. She said in 2003, “I’m very optimistic about the world and people… it will be alright…You can make changes. I think just one small person can make a little bit of change…”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.

Larry Itliong, Ruth Asawa inducted into California Hall of Fame

Artist Ruth Asawa and labor activist Larry Itliong were among those included in the 14th class of the California Hall of Fame.

The two Asian American legends join the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, singer Richie Valens and LGBTQ activists Phyllis Lyon and Dorothy “Del” Martin, announced Gov Gavin Newsom Tuesday.

The California Hall of Fame was established in 2006 at the California Museum by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver to honor legendary people who embody California’s innovative spirit and have made their mark on history. 

Inductees come from all walks of life and have made distinguished achievements across a variety fields, including the arts, education, business and labor, science, sports, philanthropy and public service.

Ruth Asawa working on one of her artworks.

Ruth Asawa

Internationally recognized for her distinctive wire sculptures, pioneering artist Ruth Asawa left her mark on the landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area through her public commissions and on countless students through her activism on behalf of arts education.

Asawa’s artistic talent was evident from an early age, but she had little spare time for the art-making she enjoyed while working on her family’s farm and attending school. In 1942, her family was forced into detention, along with all other Japanese Americans on the West Coast. 

She got her first chance to study with professional artists while imprisoned at Santa Anita Racetrack and graduated from high school in an incarceration camp in Rohwer, Arkansas. Released to attend teacher’s college in 1943, she learned after three years that she would be denied a credential because of her Japanese ancestry. 

At the urging of close friends, she continued her education at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. There, her creativity blossomed as she studied under many of the leading lights of Modernism, including Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller and Merce Cunningham. She also met architectural student Albert Lanier, whom she married in 1949.

In San Francisco, the couple raised six children and built their careers. Over the next half-century, Asawa produced sculptures and works on paper. Her innovative use of material and original form brought her growing acclaim. Her work has been exhibited widely since the early 1950s and is in the permanent collections of museums nationwide. She also is known for her public commissions throughout the Bay Area, including fountains in Ghirardelli Square and outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco, and the Japanese American Internment Memorial in San Jose.

Asawa was devoted to expanding access to arts education, believing that when children make art, they make “history for themselves.” She co-founded the Alvarado Arts Workshop in 1968 and was instrumental in creating the first public arts high school in San Francisco in 1982, which was renamed in her honor in 2010.

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Labor leader Larry Itliong

Larry Itliong

Itliong was one of the most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century and a father of the West Coast labor movement.

Born in the Philippines, Itliong immigrated to the U.S in 1929, hoping to become a lawyer. Instead, he ended up working in the Alaskan fish canneries and along the West Coast as a farm laborer. During that time, he experienced how badly laborers were treated and saw the power they could gain by working together. He became an activist and organizer.

Following his service in the U.S. Army during World War II, Itliong became a U.S citizen and in 1954 moved to Stockton’s Little Manila, where he organized for the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). He was so good at recruiting new members that union leaders asked him to move to Delano to organize Filipino grape workers. It was there that he helped change the history of farm labor.

On Sept. 8, 1965, he led AWOC members in walking off the grape vineyards to demand wages equal to federal minimum wage and better working conditions. But Itliong knew that for the strike to succeed, they needed members of the National Farm Workers Association to join. He approached NFWA’s leader, César Chávez, with the proposal. 

On Sept. 16, the AWOC and NFWA joined forces beginning the Delano Grape Strike and Boycott. It lasted five years and was one of the most important social justice and labor movements in American history, ending with victory for the farmworkers. In the meantime, the AWOC and NFWA merged in 1966 to become the United Farm Workers (UFW), with Chávez as director and Itliong as assistant director.

In 1971, Itliong left the UFW but continued to work for Filipino Americans until his death in 1977 at age 63. One of his major successes was securing funding for the construction of the Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village in Delano, which has provided housing and support for retired Filipino farmworkers since 1974.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, observations, tips and references from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @dioknoed