Scholarship Recipients
Note: The scholarship recipients’ names are written with their surnames preceding their given names to honor the traditional structure of Chinese and Japanese names.
Matsuda Michi
1895-1899 (undergraduate), 1908-1910 (graduate)
Born in Kyoto, Matsuda received Bryn Mawr’s first scholarship for Japanese women. Matsuda’s attempts to share her culture were derided by the American press. Seattle papers reduced her lecture on Japanese culture as “entertainment,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer described her demonstration of a tea ceremony with Kawai Michi as “Fair Japs Pour Tea.”
Kawai Michi
1900-1904
Upon first meeting, Kawai failed to recognize M. Carey Thomas and bluntly asked who she was.
Suzuki Utako
1904-1906
Suzuki’s scholarship was rescinded in her third year after Tsuda and the Philadelphia Committee disagreed about the qualifications to receive the scholarship. The Committee felt Suzuki did not earn her place and Tsuda wanted more control over who received the scholarship.
Hoshino Ai
1908-1912
In 1910 and 1911, Hoshino published her writing in Tipyn O’Bob, a Bryn Mawr student literary magazine. Both pieces focused on Japanese festivals honoring the dead.
Hitotsuyanagi Maki
1912-1914
Soon after starting Bryn Mawr, Hitotsuyanagi contracted a severe case of typhoid, which continued to affect her health for the next two years. In 1914, she decided to withdraw from Bryn Mawr.
Uchida Fumi
1916-1920
Uchida almost lost her scholarship status three times. It is possible Uchida was a strong supporter of local women’s movements, which the more conservative Committee disapproved of. She was one of the twenty students who were admitted to the English Club and later was offered a scholarship in the English department for graduate studies. She lived in No. 5, Radnor Hall.
Fujita Taki
1921-1925
In 1922, Fujita wrote an article in the College News asking her fellow students and community to not compare Japanese people to Japan’s political actions. “Some Americans informed me that all Japanese appeared alike to them, but you know we are not. As our appearances are different, out ideas, our opinions and our beliefs as much as yours, Americans, are.”
Liu Fung Kei
1918-1922
Liu Fung Kei was the first Chinese Scholarship student. Her two older sisters attended Columbia University, and both became educators. In 1921, Liu hosted a fundraiser for the Chinese famine, which. The College News marketed as a chance to try “strange Chinese food” with a “Chinese stunt” performance afterward. The article was placed directly below a report on the anti-Japanese immigration debate held the previous week by Bryn Mawr students. After Bryn Mawr, Liu began teaching and founded the Yuet Wah School in China.
Yen Theodora C.
1922-1923
Theodora Yen’s uncle was appointed Chief Advisor for the president of China in 1923. She left for unknown reasons.
Dju Lüh
1924-1926
Attended Bryn Mawr as a graduate student.