Southern Fried Rice

Last year, I had the unexpected pleasure of being interviewed by Grammy-nominated jazz singer, Neena Freelon, and documentarian, Lana Garland who are producing  a multi-media theatrical tribute, The Clothesline Muse, to the black washerwomen of yesterday who earned meagre incomes to help support their families by washing clothes for whites.  Freelon and Garland contacted me to learn the history of Chinese laundries, which they recognized as an imporant aspect of the societal context in which the black washerwomen toiled.