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Chinese-American Postmaster Left Indelible Stamp on Postal Service
Oleh :New America Media, News Report, Carolyn Goosen, Posted: Mar 12, 2007
Editor’s Note: The nation’s first Chinese American postmaster is little-known today but in his time was a rare role model for Asian Americans and also radically changed what the Postal Service looked like. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of San Francisco’s Chinatown post office, Carolyn Goossen explores the legacy of Lim Poon Lee. Goossen writes on education and other topics for New America Media.
SAN FRANCISCO -- No one really knows it, but it was Lim Poon Lee who made the postal service look like San Francisco.
“We used to joke that you had to be an Irish Catholic from St. Anne’s parish to become a postal worker,” retired California State Senator John Burton says. “By the time Lim finished with it, it looked like the face of San Francisco, with Asian, African American, Latino and female workers. His appointment as postmaster was like a big bomb going off.”
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