“I was filled with much emotion as I looked around the classrooms that were nothing like the dingy halls of the ‘Pink Prison’ that I remembered. There was so much light streaming through the windows. Books and art filled the shelves and walls. I recognized names of poets and writers whose books were available. The environment certainly will be conducive to learning.”
— “Oakland students choose to name building for radical poet Nellie Wong.”
“The Building Song” was written by Nellie Wong for the September 24, 2011 dedication of the Nellie Wong Building at Oakland High School. Established in 1869, Oakland High School is the oldest public high school in Oakland and the sixth oldest public high school in California.
THE BUILDING SONG
Ma used to say to me: Why don’t you buy a building
Instead of shopping and getting your hair done?
Now I can say to her: No building owner am I,
But a building at Oakland High School
Is being named after me!
Remember? You clapped your hands
When I told you I got a job
At Oakland High School
Starting at $198.00 a month!
You and Bah Bah said that we were too
Poor for all of us to go to college
And so I, dutifully, took commercial courses
And worked in the vice principals’ and
Principal’s offices, making 75 cents an hour
On 4/4 time.
Four hours of classes
Four hours of typing, filing and taking shorthand.
Such a beginning at the ol’ Pink Prison
Such learning from using a manual typewriter
Such habits learned from being Home Room President,
The Chi-U Club, cheering the Wildcats
In their Block O’s, wondering what
The Forensic Society was all about
And what was in store for a girl
Sitting on the sidelines
So curious about the world.
That education would lead me somewhere
That being a secretary was an honorable profession
Though poorly paid, but it was a job,
It was a job!
And I should not complain.
Learning to work
Learning from working 40-hour weeks
Learning from going to college as an adult
And still working full time
As a secretary, of course
Leading me to reading and writing
Leading me to thinking and analyzing
Leading me to ponder the life of a working woman
To write about work and family and community
Why there was rich and poor
Why some had a lot
And some little or nothing
Why there was poverty and suffering
Why there were plantations and sharecroppers
Why there was racism and sexism and homophobia
Why there was war and no peace
Why women and girls were held back
Why discrimination against people of darker hues
Or with mental and physical disabilities
Why laborers were despised but used
Why the scourge of inequality
Why more prisons than schools are built.
The learning from experience
The learning from understanding the material world
How workers organized in strikes for better conditions,
For health care and water and food
Writing poetry not under the light of the moon
But in the open, in public squares, even
In a room of my own, finding and hearing
The voices of the world.
That to voice and act
That to organize together
For bread and roses,
Redistribution of wealth,
Computers and cell phones,
Housing and free public education,
Music and art and song and sports,
Strong bodies and beautiful minds
Our necessity, our freedom to make.
Nellie Wong
September 23, 2011
Nellie Wong (pictured top row, fourth from left), 1952 Oakland High School yearbook, pg 40.
“OHS students of the 2011-2012 school year, participated in a different vote. This in-school election determined the names of several buildings on their campus. Each of its five buildings was named for a distinguished alumni and member of the Oakland community such as prominent historic figures, Jack London and Louise Thompson Patterson. Among the alumni who were honored with a building as their namesake is poet and activist Nellie Wong. Wong attended OHS in the mid 20th century before embarking on an influential career as a poet and community activist. Wong’s poetry highlights the racism, sexism and classism that mark the lives of many in the Oakland community and inspired the students to nominate and vote to honor her in this way.”
“Oakland High School: Student Agency, Partnership, and Dignity.”
Anderson, Lucetricia M. & Kinnard, Lauren. (Summer 2023). UCLA Center for Community Schooling. https://communityschooling.gseis.ucla.edu
The dedication of the Nellie Wong building at Oakland High School in Oakland, California on Saturday, September 24, 2011.
Nellie Wong attended with her siblings, Lai Chop Webster, Flo Oy Wong, Bill Wong and their families.
“A highlight of the ceremony for Nellie was meeting the students. Many were Asian American, African American, and Latino and Latina (just as they were when she was there in the late ’40s and early ’50s). They told her that teachers initiated the building naming, and school administration opened a contest to let the students decide who to honor. The pupils researched alumni records, made nominations, wrote letters supporting candidates, and visited classrooms so that all students could discuss the final choices. The students expressed respect and admiration for Nellie’s courageous battles and poetic wordsmithing against racism, sexism, class oppression, and exploitation.”
“Oakland students choose to name building for radical poet Nellie Wong.”
Mendicino, Toni. (December 2011). Freedom Socialist Party. socialism.com
“For bread and roses,
Redistribution of wealth,
Computers and cell phones,
Housing and free public education,
Music and art and song and sports,
Strong bodies and beautiful minds
Our necessity, our freedom to make.”
