Lau Sing Kee

Lau Sing Kee (January 25, 1896 - June 3, 1967) was a World War I recipient of the United States Army's Distinguished Service Cross and France's Croix de Guerre for extraordinary heroism in combat, the first Chinese American to receive these honors. Later, he was a businessman and civic leader in New York City's Chinese community. In 1957 he was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison for selling false documents to aid in the evasion of the then discriminatory restrictions on Chinese immigration to the United States.

Early life Lau Sing Kee was born into an immigrant family at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) and subsequent federal laws severely restricted not only Chinese immigration to the United States but also the rights of Chinese already living in the U.S. His family resided in Saratoga, California, then moved to nearby San Jose. His father made a living as a store owner and labor contractor. He attended local schools. His Chinese surname was Lau, but when it was mistakenly listed as Kee he accepted the change. Becoming known as Sing Kee, he would pass down Kee as the family name to his progeny.

Violation of immigration laws With each nation battling Japan, the United States and China became allies in World War II and in 1943 the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. The overseas spouses and children of Chinese-American citizens could now legally come to the United States. Beyond that, however, legal immigration remained extremely limited with a fixed quota of 105 visas annually for Chinese ethnics. In this context, combined with the prospect and then the reality of a Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the practice of creating paper sons thrived. Fraudulent documents were created and sold purporting to show that American citizens had children or spouses overseas and thus eligible to migrate to the United States. Booklets called halgoons were sent to overseas "sons" and sometimes to stateside "parents" with family facts needed to pass routine interrogations. In 1956 Sing Kee was arrested in connection to these activities, and in 1957 he was convicted of violating U.S. immigration laws. He was fined and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. An appeal to a Federal Circuit Court failed and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Stevie Wonder tribute The 1976 Stevie Wonder song Black Man contains the following lyric:

Who was the soldier of Company G who won high honors for courage and heroism in World War I? Sing Kee - a yellow man.