Pearl Fu (born c. 1941) is a Chinese-American community leader. She is known for her leadership of the Local Colors festival in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

and for initiating multicultural dialogue in the city. In 2011, she was named to

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of t ...

for her work in promoting intercultural dialogue and community action.

Biography

Pearl Fu grew up in a political family in

Yunnan Province, China Yunnan; is an inland province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, ...

. Her family later moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, but her mother instilled the family's Yi culture and traditions into her children.

Emigration to the United States

Pearl moved to the United States in 1959 with the intention of becoming a Broadway actress and dancer. She attended Maywood College in Pennsylvania and graduated from the

Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a Private university, private music and dance music school, conservatory and College-preparatory school, preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliat ...

in 1963. She later married C.C. Fu, an engineer and fellow Chinese immigrant.

Local Colors

In 1986, Pearl and C.C. Fu moved their family to Roanoke, Virginia, where Pearl would become active in the community. In 1991, Fu became involved with the Local Color street festival. She was the only Chinese person represented at the festival that year, and she committed herself to growing and celebrating immigrant contributions in the local community by growing the festival. For 25 years, Fu was the director of the community festival that became known as Local Colors (with an s), a community festival in the

Roanoke Valley The Roanoke Valley ( ) in southwest Virginia is an area adjacent to and including the Roanoke River between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Appalachian Plateau to the west. The valley includes much of Roanoke County, as well as the ...

recognizing immigrants and fostering multicultural dialogue. Under Fu's leadership, the festival was transformed from a small street-corner celebration to an annual event drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the Roanoke Valley and celebrating over 100 ethnicities. She said, “Similarity is ordinary...We should go beyond that and rejoice in the differences.” As the leader of Local Colors, Fu became involved in many activities around multicultural dialogue in the city, including serving as a judge and participating in the city's St. Patrick's Day parade and the city's Greek Festival.

Roanoke Cultural Ambassador

In 1999, she was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

, but continued her work in the local community. Fu became involved in Roanoke's Sister Cities project, helping initiate a Sister cities agreement between Roanoke and

Lijiang, China Lijiang ( zh, s= ), formerly romanized as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) ...

. In 2001 she was awarded the Perry F. Kendig Award from Hollins University and Roanoke College. In 2006, she was honored with Roanoke's Local Hero Award. Later she was named "Roanoke's Ambassador of Goodwill". In 2011 she was honored by the Library of Virginia and named to the Virginia Women in History. That year, Pearl Yu was featured on a mural painted in downtown Roanoke by local artist Toobz titled, "The World is a Village".

Retirement

In 2014, she stepped down from her leadership role at Local Colors due to her worsening Parkinson's disease. In 2015, she was awarded the Cabell Brand Hope Award. In 2019, Fu and her husband left Roanoke for Philadelphia, where they could live closer to their daughter. Due to Fu's outsize role in the local community and longstanding commitment to Roanoke, her move garnered media attention. That year, the Roanoke City Council named the Pearl Fu Plaza (23 Church Avenue Southeast, Roanoke, VA) in downtown Roanoke after her.

References

{{Authority control Living people Chinese expatriates in the United States American community activists 21st-century American women 20th-century American women People from Roanoke, Virginia People with Parkinson's disease 1940s births Yi people