Ella Kam Oon Chun
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| education = University of Hawaiʻi
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Ella Kam Oon Chun, also Ella Chun (March 28, 1915 – December 3, 1979) was a journalist active in Hawaii, notable as the first Asian American woman reporter on the Honolulu Advertiser.
Biography
She attended University of Hawaii and was a member of many clubs; she graduated in 1937.{{Cite book |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/34457/1/Ka%20Palapala%201936.pdf |title=Ka Palapala |publisher=University of Hawaii |year=1936 |volume=XXI: The 'Flight' Edition |location=Honolulu |pages=24, 49, 148, 150}} Chun joined The Honolulu Advertiser in 1937, where she was the first Asian American woman reporter.{{Cite web |last=Brislin |first=Tom |title=Hawaii Journalism History |url=http://www2.hawaii.edu/~tbrislin/jourhist.html |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=University of Hawaii}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 10, 2010 |title=Journalists laud 106 pioneers of diversity |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2010/08/10/hawaii-news/journalists-laud-106-pioneers-of-diversity/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |language=en-US}}
Chun was the first woman journalist of any ethnic background at The Honolulu Advertiser to break away from the "society" pages when she became a City Hall reporter. In 1956, on the newspapers' centennial, Chun was honored as the longest serving reporter at the paper. Chun's work often covered Chinese life in Hawaii, from 150 years of Chinese presence there,{{Cite web |date=1965 |title=Index to the Honolulu advertiser and Honolulu star-bulletin, 1929–1967, Volume I: A to Death |url=https://ulukau.org/ulukau-books/?a=d&d=EBOOK-IHASB261.2.5.41&e=-------haw-20--1--txt-txPT----------- |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=Ulukau books}} to discussions of everyday life of fish sellers.{{Cite journal |last=Schug |first=Donald M. |date=2001 |title=Hawai'i's Commercial Fishing Industry: 1820—1945 |url=https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ahamoku/files/2022/04/Schug-Donald-M.-Hawaiis-Commercial-Fishing-Industry-1820-1945-Honolulu-Hawaiian-Historical-Society-Vol.-35-2001.pdf |journal=The Hawaiian Journal of History |type=PDF |volume=35 |pages=25}} Her work emphasized the positive aspects Chinese Americans brought to Hawaiian and American life. Her work also described cultural differences to overcome prejudices.{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Carlee J. |url=https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/3676/Johnson_Carlee_MA_2011.pdf |title=Remembering "the American Island of Oahu": Hawai'i under Military Rule, 1941–1945 |publisher=University of Victoria |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-494-88310-5 |location=Victoria |pages=89 |language=en}}
She also wrote on human interest affairs, particularly on women.{{Cite news |last=Chun |first=Ella |date=1952 |title=An Interest in Each Child |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9146984/ellen-jensen-watumull-a-bahai-for-a/ |access-date=September 27, 2022}}
Chun also served as managing editor for the groundbreaking Waikiki Beach Press, established in 1952, which was one of the first four-color tourist brochures and included serious articles on Hawaiian life, authors, and culture.{{Cite web |title=Helen Chapin's Guide to Newspapers of Hawaiʻi, 1834–2000 |url=http://www.hawaiianhistoricalsociety.org/ref/chapinmultiprocess.php?boolean1=1&terms1=hawaiian&fields1=3&booleanb1=1&boolean2=1&terms2=&fields2=1&booleanb2=1&boolean3=1&terms3=&fields3=1 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=Hawaiian Historical Society}}{{Cite book |last=Chapin |first=Helen Geracimos |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45729341 |title=Shaping history : the role of newspapers in Hawai'i |date=1996 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=0-585-26600-X |location=Honolulu |pages=282 |language=en |chapter=38. Women in the News: From Society to Social Causes |oclc=45729341}}
Chun was friends with American actor Jack Lord.{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Sylvia D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZFQDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Ella+Chun%22+journalist&pg=PA6 |title=Jack Lord: An Acting Life |date=March 19, 2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-3175-2 |pages=6 |language=en}}
= Honors, awards, and recognition =
She was included in Notable Women of Hawaii.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11030010 |title=Notable women of Hawaii |date=1984 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |others=Barbara Bennett Peterson |isbn=0-8248-0820-7 |location=Honolulu |oclc=11030010}} The Asian American Journalists Association has honored Chun in the Honor Roll of Asian American Pioneers in Journalism.{{Cite web |date=December 24, 2010 |title=Honor Roll, Asian American Journalists Association: Remembering Our Roots |url=https://www.aaja.org/40th/honor-roll/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=Asian American Journalists Association |language=en-US}}
References
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Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
Category:American women journalists of Asian descent
Category:American journalists of Chinese descent
Category:American women writers of Chinese descent