Louise Leung Larson

Louise Leung Larson (February 16, 1905 – October 1, 1988) was a Chinese American journalist, who was the first Asian American reporter to work on a mainstream daily newspaper,

Larson grew up in a wealthy family, with six siblings and several servants, which was unusual for Chinese American households at the time. Additionally, Larson's household growing up included people of many different races including white women working as receptionists for her father's business, and Chinese and black folk assisting with meal preparations, child care, and household work. Larson experienced racism notably during World War II when she was mistaken for being Japanese. Her first story was on Chinese customs, and as a result of its success she was hired by the paper to work on civil and criminal court reporting.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Larson worked for newspapers including the San Francisco News, the Chicago Daily Times, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, and the Los Angeles Daily News. She reported on high-profile cases such as the tax evasion trial of Al Capone in 1931, Albert Einstein's activism around peace and disarmament, and Madame Chang Kai-Shek's 1942 visit to America.

She wrote under several names, including: Mamie Louise Leung, Louise Leung, and Louise Larson, as well as Hilda Hoover and Jane Logan.

Personal life In 1929, she married Arnold Larson, who was also a journalist, and the couple lived in Chicago, before returning to California. They had three children: Stanley (born 1930), Jane (born 1945) and Daniel (born 1948). The couple divorced in 1950.

Leung Larson died on October 1, 1988, following complications after she had a stroke.

Legacy Larson donated her father's archive to University of California, Los Angeles, where it is available to researchers as the Tom Leung Archival Collection of the Chinese Royal Society in the Early Twentieth Century.

Awards

Asian American Journalists Association – Honor Roll (1988) Asian Pacific Women's Network (1983)