MARY WONG
Real Name: Mary Wong
Identity/Class: Normal human (late 1940s era)
Occupation: High school student
Group Membership:
Affiliations: Sz-to Wai, Yeh Chung-yu
Enemies: Joe, "tough boy" (name unrevealed)
Known Relatives: Sam Wong (father)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: New York City, USA
First Appearance: Junior Miss II#26/6
(September, 1947)
Powers/Abilities: Mary Wong is a dedicated
high school, but one who has become tired of overt and unintended
racism.
Height:
Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
History:
(Junior Miss II#26/6 (fb) - BTS) - Mary Wong was born
and raised in the USA; her father was Chinese born and ran a laundry
in New York's Chinatown. They were friends with neighboring herb seller
Sz-to Wai and banker Yeh Chung-yu. At 15, she had endured various forms
of racism, from exclusion of out-of-school activities by school-only
friends, expressions of curiosity, racial stereotyping by her teacher,
and outright racial taunting by local boys.
(Junior Miss II#26/6) - One day upon returning home
to Chinatown, she endured more aggressive racist derision from locals
Joe and "tough boy". Having tolerated too much racism, yet knowing it
was unfair as she was an American citizen, she asked her father if they
could move elsewhere. Her father was very proud of achievements and
wanted to remain. The next day, she came home from school to find the
two bullies huddled with a policeman, unsure what to do about an armed
thief who had robbed Yeh and was holding her father hostage. She dashed
into her father's workplace and confronted the robber. Her father lay
half-conscious on the floor and the villain took her hostage instead,
calling her by a racist term. Angered, Mary grabbed an iron and swung
it at the robber, who was later arrested. There was media attention and
photos in the newspapers. The following day, she received more respect
from her fellow students, and Joe and "tough boy" offered to walk her
home. She cheerfully accepted, thinking all it took was just "a little
something to break down the barriers" as a fellow American citizen(!).
Comments: Created by Michele Small & Christopher Rule.
A good attempt for the era for educating diversity in an otherwise white magazine; however, it still remained very white after this.
This was a text story with one image. Junior Miss was
a fairly even mix of text and comic stories.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Mary Wong has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Junior Miss II#26/6, p1-2
Appearances:
Junior Miss II#26/6 (September, 1947) - Michele Small (writer),
Christopher Rule (pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 01/29/2025
Last updated:
01/29/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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