Radiant Light: The Story of Eastfield / Ming Quong
Andrea Borsuk, Radiant Light: the Story of Eastfield Ming Quong, mural detail, 2017
In the 1930s, the Ming Quong Home in Los Gatos housed young Chinese, Chinese American, and Chinese biracial girls needing shelter and refuge from the Bay Area and throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Mexico, and Panama. Over several decades, Ming Quong would become part of a larger thread of merging organizations dedicated to giving at-risk children a better life. Today the historic property is the home of Uplift Family Services. This exhibit explores 150 years of the organization's origins.
Today, Uplift Family Services is one of the largest and most comprehensive family-centered treatment programs in California. Its history began in 1867 with a single building in San Jose that provided shelter for homeless youth under the name Eastfield Home of the Benevolence. Over the course of 150 years, the organization merged with other agencies, including Ming Quong, which provided safety and education for Chinese girls. Missionary Donaldina Cameron continued her dedication to rescuing Chinese women and girls, victims of human trafficking, which began in 1895 at the San Francisco Chinese Mission Home. By 1915, Chinese communities throughout the United States became more Westernized and Chinese children needed social services and shelter because of changes in the family structure. Cameron separated the victims of human trafficking from the innocent children who were products of divorce, unwanted in a second marriage, having lost one or both parents, emergency refugees, or had mental and physical health issues. She established Tooker Memorial Home in 1915 and the Ming Quong Homes beginning in 1925. The Los Gatos Ming Quong Home was established in 1936 for young girls, from Pre-K to 6th grade. With the help of local philanthropic organizations, it continued to ensure that children without advocates could have a second chance at life. This exhibit celebrates Donaldina Cameron and the Los Gatos Ming Quong Home that would eventually become Uplift Family Services.
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