Museum of Chinese in America

Marjorie Lee, a librarian and archivist at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, briefly discusses Hazel Ying Lee, a Chinese American woman pilot who flew in the 1920s and 30s. She shares her insights into the flying club established by the Chinese community to express their patriotism before World War II, and contextualizes the decision of Hazel to pursue aviation within the historical gender norms of the times. This interview is part of the Hazel Ying Lee & Frances M. Tong Collection and was conducted as part of the research and making of the documentary film, A Brief Flight: Hazel Ying Lee and the Women Who Flew Pursuit (2002), directed by Alan Rosenberg.