Who was Frances Aoki?
The first Asian student to enter as a freshman and stay at the University until graduation.
Frances Aoki was the first Asian to enter as a freshman and stay at the University until graduation. According to The Megaphone, from September 28, 1951, Frances Aoki was a 17 year-old girl from Hawaii when she entered Southwestern (See Figure 1). At the time, Hawaii was not yet a state but a U.S. Territory. Frances had four older brothers and two older sisters, making her the youngest of seven children. Her parents were retired farmers.
The high school she attended in Hawaii, had many Filipinos, Japanese, and others within their 1,200 students. Compared to the mainland U.S., Hawaii was especially relaxed and easy going. There were fewer rules and hard structure such as, school dress codes, church attire, or even activities to do for fun. (e.g. aloha shirts and skirts, school dresses to church, fishing, surfing, swimming, etc.)
Frances mentions remembering the day Pearl Harbor was attacked (See Figure 1). She says she was getting ready for Sunday School when bullets started riddling her home; she was only seven at the time. Instead of doing as the air wardens said and running for the hills, her family ducked under their beds following the advice of her soldier brother.
She happened upon Southwestern by the recommendation from her Texan pastor, Reverend Glen Evans (See Figure 1). He suggested she come to Southwestern because he was friends with Dr. Finch and Dean Berglund, of Southwestern. Reverend Evans mentioned that she could receive individual attention because it is a small university and “meet lots of friendly people in the greatest state in the union” (See Figure 2).
The rules and weather, in Texas, were strange to Frances, but she loved playing her ukulele and sending letters to friends.
The Megaphone, January 16, 1952, had a poll asking students what academic freedom meant to them (See Figure 1). Frances’ response was, “Academic freedom is the freedom to widen one's knowledge in any direction he wishes, for knowledge is the ultimate goal.”
In the spring of 1952, The Megaphone, April 4th, mentions how on April Fool’s and/or Senior day Miss Aoki, although not a senior, danced the hula (See Figure 2). Another article in this edition mentions Frances Aoki doing a Hawaiian folk dance for the Miss Sou’wester event, held in the main auditorium (See Figure 3).
An article in the May 2, 1952 Megaphone about a “Wonders of the World” carnival says that Aoki dressed in her native attire while riding a decorated fender during the carnival. She did that to advertise the Independents’ Booth, where many wondrous activities were taking place, including Confederate mummy (See Figure 4). There was also a poll over the marriage of Li’l Abner, a comic strip character. It seems to have been controversial among the students; Frances herself thought it was outrageous (See Figure 5).
The Megaphone, November 14, 1952, has an article about polling the student body about their ideal person of the opposite sex (See Figure 6). Miss Aokis’s response was short and simple, “Blond hair and blue eyes.”
Frances once assisted the school when she and other “foreigners” were asked to give their view on the American press (See Figure 7). May 1, 1953’s The Megaphone writes about how the students gathered newspapers or other publications from their homeland for others to examine.
One October 1953, The Megaphone, article mentions how two Southwestern graduates came back to campus just to visit Frances Aoki (See Figure 8).
With a holiday birthday, Frances went back to Hawaii for winter break, as mentioned in The Megaphone December 1953 and January 1954 (See Figure 9 & Figure 10). In the same January edition, Frances is given the right to say “Howdy” by being accepted as an Honorary Texan (See Figure 11).
In the next January 1954 edition, Frances Aoki, Elsie Kaneshiro, and Franklin Sun send off another international student (See Figure 12). There was a farewell dinner held for Fred Alon, who was graduating.
Miss Aoki’s last semester has two more documented little instances, in February. The Megaphone brings up an opera event in their February 12 edition and an Arab event at the University of Texas in their February 27 edition. The opera she saw was Puccini’s Japanese-themed “Madame Butterfly” (See Figure 13). At the Arab event, she sang and danced (See Figure 14).
Based on this information and Frances’ actions, we can conclude that France enjoyed singing, dancing, and participating in school activities. Like the many international students after her, she existed between two worlds at Southwestern.
