Bette Bao Lord

Born in Shanghai, Bette Bao Lord moved with her family to the United States in 1946. Three years later, the family was unable to return to their home country after Chairman Mao Zedong won the civil war in China. Bao Lord wrote about her childhood experiences as a Chinese immigrant in her autobiographical children's book In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Her novel, Spring Moon, was an American Book Award nominee. In 1998, President Bill Clinton presented her with the first Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights. Updated July 2015