Understated and matter-of-fact, Mrs. Wong’s humility might overshadow her achievements in America. Inseparable from her American story is the story of her immigration. When asked what she thought New York would be like, she replied, “There isn’t much to talk about. You come here to work.” Mrs. Wong expected to work in a New York garment factory, but the notion that she would graduate to become an elite-class worker who would earn the responsibility of making samples for American designer brands, or that she would find joy in the work (despite the hazards of factory labor), or that she would join her sisters and brothers of Local 23-25 in street demonstrations, or that her job could become a source of creativity and collective power, might have been beyond her earlier imagination.

In 1965, Mrs. Wong boarded an airplane, stepping boldly into a new life in New York City. In 1971 she entered the garment industry where she remained until 2001, when New York’s Chinatown garment industry all but imploded. In 1973 she joined Local 23-25, and in the same year, she became a citizen of the United States. Details from the memory of her Naturalization Ceremony reveal the how tightly woven Mrs. Wong’s factory work was to her American story:

“The letter that told me to go to the swearing-in said I had to wear a dress. I made the dress myself. I went to the garment factory and made myself a dress. Ha-ha! I don’t remember [the color] any more. It was very cute, so I remember that.”

n the fashion world, styles change with each passing season. Specific details tend to get forgotten over time. Our memories function the same way; as the years pass, the smaller details become more difficult to recall. After 46 years, Mrs. Wong could no longer recall the color of the dress, but remembered that she made the dress herself and felt good wearing it. The dress symbolized her creativity and pride, a representation of everything she learned in America. Dressed in a cutting-edge style, custom-tailored, literally self-made (not to mention very cute), Mrs. Wong repeated the solemn oath of citizenship, and thereafter, went back to work. Just another day. Nothing special and at once extraordinary.