Sammy Lee, the first Asian-American man to earn Olympic gold, died at the age of 96. Dr. Lee won his medal in platform diving 1948 and won another gold medal in 1952.
Lee was a Korean-American who served as a medical officer in the Korean war. In the late 1920s he was living in Highland Park, where he swam at Brookside Park in Pasadena. He could only swim on Wednesdays, “International Day,” when Asian, black, and Latino kids were allowed in the pool. After they had departed, the pool would be drained and refilled for the white kids.
Dr. Lee is survived by his wife, two children, and three grandchildren.
Information for this post was taken from Robert D. McFadden, “Sammy Lee, Olympic Trailblazer Who Stood Up to Prejudice, Dies at 96,” Times, (Dec. 5, 2016), p. B6.
It's sad that our past has been full of many racist people, though it still is an issue in too many parts of our country.
ReplyDeleteTrump has said he was going to drain the swamp. From all that I have seen he is doing it by taking all the alligators from the swamp and bringing them to the White House and Washington D.C.
The amazing thing is that people like Dr. Lee could overcome that kind of discrimination. We have some incredible people in our history.
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