Bertha Hosang Mah

Bertha Hosang, from a 1918 publication.

Bertha Hosang Mah (November 18, 1896 – 1959) was a Canadian student, the first Chinese woman to graduate from a Canadian university.

Early life

Hosang was born in Lillooet, British Columbia.[1] Her older sister recalled, "We were the only Chinese family and there weren't any separate classes in the school, so we talked English all the time."[2]

Education

Hosang attended McGill University, first at the Vancouver satellite location (now the University of British Columbia), and later at the Montreal campus; when she graduated in 1917, she was described as "the first Chinese woman graduated from a Canadian university".[3] At McGill, she won an award for best speech, from the Women's Literary Society (Delta Sigma).[4] She also won first prize in a national essay competition, with her article "Physical Education for Chinese Women," which was later published in Chinese Students' Monthly.[5]

Hosang was elected to the University Women's Club of Vancouver in 1918, and gave a presentation to the group that year, on "Chinese Literature".[6] Hosang worked as a secretary at the Chinese consulate in Vancouver in 1918 and 1919.[1] Her older sister Myrtle Hosang Lee studied economics at the University of California in Berkeley.[7]

Personal life

In 1921, Hosang married Dr. Ng Wing Mah,[8] a Chinese-born political scientist who taught at the University of California. They had three children.[9] Bertha Hosang Mah died in 1959, aged 62 years.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Who's who of the Chinese Students in America (Lederer, Street & Zeus Company, 1921): 42.
  2. ↑ Timothy J. Stanley, Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-Racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians (UBC Press 2011): 153-154. ISBN 9780774819336
  3. ↑ Francis J. Dickie, "Interesting Westerners" Sunset: The Pacific Monthly (October 1918): 45-46.
  4. ↑ "Personal Notes" Chinese Students' Monthly (November 1917): 77-78.
  5. ↑ "Girls' Essay Competition" Chinese Students' Monthly (1918): 364.
  6. ↑ "Miss B. Hosang Addresses Club" Vancouver Daily World (April 29, 1918): 7. via Newspapers.com
  7. ↑ "Former U. C. Reader Weds" Chinese Digest (January 31, 1936): 6.
  8. ↑ "Personal Notes" Chinese Students' Monthly (March 1922): 417.
  9. ↑ "Winberta Mah Announces Betrothal to Kechin Wang" Oakland Tribune (September 11, 1950): 17. via Newspapers.com
  10. ↑ R. A. Scalapino, E. C. Bellquist, P. Seabury, "Ng Wing Mah, Political Science: Berkeley" University of California: In Memoriam 1977 (University of California Press 1977).
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