Irma Tam Soong

Irma Tam Soong (July 15, 1912 – January 11, 2001) was a historian, writer, and educator specializing in the history of the Chinese in Hawaii. She was the founder and executive director of the Hawaii Chinese History Center, established in 1971, and was the author of ''Chinese-American Refugee'' (1984), her memoir about her experiences in China during World War II. A distant relative of Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen, her most widely cited work was a 1997 article in ''The Hawaiian Journal of History'' about his education at Christian schools in Hawaiʻi. Her extensive teaching experience included stints at two schools in China; she was an instructor in Chinese language and literature at Pomona College in California in the early 1950s, and was an English teacher at Kaimuki High School in Honolulu until 1970.

In 1975, Soong received an American Association for State and Local History award of merit "for her contribution to the preservation of Chinese culture and history in Hawaii". In 1984, she was named a "Hawaii Chinese Living Treasure" by the Chinese Youths of Hawaii. Provided by Wikipedia