Sherman Hsiu-huang Wu (; 1937 – May 11, 2010) was a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

social activist and professor, whose experiences at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

brought the issue of discrimination against Asian Americans to the fore. The general condemnation of the prejudice exhibited against him presaged later actions in the

Asian American movement The Asian American Movement was a sociopolitical movement in which the widespread grassroots efforts of Asian Americans effected racial, social and political change in the U.S., reaching its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During this period A ...

. Wu was born in China to

K. C. Wu K. C. Wu (; October 21, 1903 – June 6, 1984) was a Chinese political figure and historian. Among other offices, he served as Mayor of Shanghai and as Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government. Early life Wu was born in Jianshi County, H ...

, a Chinese politician, and Edith Huang."Obituaries: Edith Huang "; Savannah Morning News, August 25, 2002. () The younger Wu was prevented from leaving

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, where his father had served as governor, after the rest of his family had moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. K.C. Wu charged that this action was retaliation for his criticisms of the government of Chiang Kai-shek. Eventually, however, Wu was allowed to leave. Sherman Wu is best known because of the song "The Ballad of Sherman Wu", by Arthur Winner, which appeared on the

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

recording ''Gazette''. The lyrics to the song are available a
The Mudcat Cafe

Experience with discrimination by Northwestern University fraternity

Wu attempted to pledge at the

Psi Upsilon Psi Upsilon (), commonly known as Psi U, is a North American fraternity,''Psi Upsilon Tablet'' founded at Union College on November 24, 1833. The fraternity has chartered fifty chapters at colleges and universities throughout North America, some ...

fraternity at

in the Fall of 1956. After originally being told that he would be able to join the fraternity, he was "depledged" after his fellow pledges objected to someone of Chinese ancestry joining the organization. Wu wrote a letter to ''

The Daily Northwestern ''The Daily Northwestern'' is the student newspaper at Northwestern University which is published in print on Mondays and Thursdays and online daily during the academic year. Founded in 1881, and printed in Evanston, Illinois, it is staffed prim ...

'', the campus newspaper, criticizing the actions of the fraternity. Wu wrote that his depledging was "just one of those cases that are based on a few people's ignorance and prejudice." Psi Upsilon representatives stated that, "Having an

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

in the house would degrade he fraternityin the eyes of other fraternities and make it more difficult to get dates from the sororities." As then-fraternity president Jack H. Lageschulte put it, "we felt he would be a detriment." Lageschulte also said that all seven other freshmen pledges objected. The Daily Northwestern called for the interfraternity council to investigate the depledging, and the student government of Northwestern University criticized the actions of the fraternity. The Northwestern University branch of the

American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...

issued a statement calling the depledging "completely contrary to the democratic ideals for which the AAUP stands" and "deplorable." Psi Upsilon's action became national news when written about by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine. The actions of the fraternity were criticized by

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 California gubernatorial election, 1934 Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, among others. In the wake of the publicity, two other fraternities offered to pledge Wu. The dean of students, James McLeod, took no action to force the Psi Upsilon to rescind its decision, saying that "the fraternity is a student organization which has its own rules." The president of the university, J. Roscoe Miller, stated that the university would not interfere with the selection of fraternity members. Fraternities at the university continued to practice racial discrimination until the mid-1960s.

Later life

Wu remained at Northwestern, having joined a different fraternity,Andrew Meacham
"Sherman Wu, inspiration for Pete Seeger song, dies,"
''Tampa Bay Times'', May 20, 2010. Retrieved 2012-08-08. and received his bachelor's degree in 1961. He later also received a Master of Science degree in 1963 and a doctorate in 1965, both still at Northwestern. After completing his PhD, Wu worked in various space industries. He contributed to the design of reaction jet control system for the Apollo mission and digital auto-pilot for the ABM and other tactical missiles. He later became a professor at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He married Julianne Lezotte Agnew, a native of Wisconsin and a journalist. Following his retirement, he settled in Clearwater,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He died on May 11, 2010, from

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Sherman 1937 births 2010 deaths Deaths from esophageal cancer in Florida Marquette University faculty Northwestern University alumni Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States History of racism in Illinois Chinese emigrants to the United States