# @michigandaily on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ9qP0Jpgh1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/30784792-michigandaily-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cf6fb34bae.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-05-22T17:00:06.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Michigan Daily (@michigandaily) — https://gondola.cc/michigandaily

## Caption

tmdailyarts: Note: This article contains spoilers.

During the first half-hour of “Sinners,” hundreds of thoughts rushed through my mind, ranging from how gorgeous Miles Caton’s (debut) voice is to wondering how they seamlessly shot Michael B. Jordan (“Creed III”) passing a cigarette to himself. But the thing that stuck out to me the most was the appearance of Bo (Yao, “#LookAtMe”) and Grace (Li Jun Li, “Babylon”) in the film; an Asian American shopkeeping couple in the Deep South. As an Asian American, my personal knowledge of the Asian American diaspora in the early 20th century consisted of the large communities on the West Coast of the United States — not anywhere near Clarksdale, Mississippi. After the film ended, I did some research and discovered that Chinese Americans really did have a presence in the Mississippi Delta at that time.

The spread of Chinese Americans to the Mississippi Delta area began in the late 19th century, as white plantation owners used newly immigrated workers to pick cotton in a similar manner to the recently freed Black slaves. Over time, these Chinese communities began opening their own businesses — grocery stores — in the area, serving both white and Black customers. But still, the Chinese Americans in these Mississippi Delta communities found themselves in limbo; they were not Black, but they were not white either. They were stuck in this awkward middle. This overlooked community played a vital role in small towns across the South, and as such, director Ryan Coogler (“Creed III”) includes them in “Sinners,” providing meaningful, historically accurate representation. Coogler even went so far as recruiting Dolly Li, a documentarian on Asian American history, as a historical consultant in depicting the Chinese American community for the film. 

To read more, click the link in our bio.

✍️: JC Rafal
🎨: Lara Ringey

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