Albert Lum

Born in West Memphis, Arkansas, Albert was the youngest of six children. Unlike many Delta Chinese, whose fathers immigrated to the United States and returned to China to marry, Albert’s father, Charlie Lum Sr. was born in the Sunwui district of Guangdong, China, but his mother, Bertha Wong Lum was born in the U.S. “[M]y father came here from China in the early 1900s and arrived in Seattle, Washington, as a legal permanent resident of the United States,” but “[m]y mother was born in Rosedale, Mississippi, the elder daughter of four daughters.” Albert’s maternal grandfather was a student in America and became so enthralled by the South that he went back to China, married Albert’s grandmother, and returned to the U.S. to start a new life. According to Albert, his maternal grandfather first arrived as a student in America, and he and his wife later owned and ran a bakery in Rosedale. Both sets of Albert’s grandparents were from “Sze Yup [四邑] or the Four District area of Guangdong,” China, with his maternal grandparents from Yun Pin (恩平), and his paternal grandparents from Sun Wui (新会).

Albert’s family owned several businesses in Eastern Arkansas throughout his early years, including multiple grocery stores, a taxi service, and a restaurant. His mother’s store in West Memphis, BW Lum, was the family business that Albert helped run. Albert recalls his mother as “the beacon” of his family, portraying her as both a “typical Chinese wife” who maintained Chinese holidays and traditions, and an “Americanized” businesswoman who utilized her dominating personality to provide for her family as the head of the household. Albert’s mother not only founded each of the family’s businesses but also used her sharp intelligence to persuade the contractor building her home and the school superintendent to allow her children, including Albert, to attend the local all-white district school. She did so by emphasizing the funds she was investing in the construction project and the economic value her business could bring to West Memphis. His father drifted in and out of his life due to a progressively worsening gambling addiction. Because of his mother’s business responsibilities and his father’s frequent absence, Albert used his own judgment to guide his future. 

In high school, Albert was a gifted athlete, like his older brothers before him. He was voted Best Athlete, Best All Around, and second Most Likely to Succeed among his peers. This recognition gave Albert a sense of immense pride, a feeling that he was truly part of the American dream. However, one summer at a Baptist church camp at Mt. Petit Jean, a group of white boys hurled racial slurs at Albert. He was the only minority student among his classmates. On the eve of his senior prom, his date, a white girl, canceled at the last minute at her mother’s request.

Despite the discrimination Albert faced as an adolescent, he remained focused on advancing himself. After he graduated from high school in 1951, he helped his parents in their grocery store, then became the head chef in the family’s restaurant. On February 1, 1954, he joined the military, like his siblings Frances, Charlie, Edwin, and Richard before him. After his military career, he went to college at Tulane University. He then moved to California to join the University of Southern California Law School (USC).

By 1959, he met his partner, Theresa, and by 1961, they had two daughters together. Albert graduated from USC Law School and in 1963 became a lawyer. By 1970, two sons joined the family. In 1975, Albert founded the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA) at an inaugural dinner at the Golden Palace Restaurant in front of 200 attendees. The SCCLA was the first Asian American bar association, and it laid down the foundational framework that subsequent Asian American bar associations used for their formations.

In Albert’s book, Stand Up and Be Counted: Memoirs of Albert C. Lum, he recounts his life with the dignity of a man who has fought hard for the life he has from his parents’ grocery store all the way to his law practice.

Story by B. Haden Ainsworth Reynolds

• 
• 
•