85 years later, Chinese family honors the Black couple who rented to them

Ron and Lloyd Dong Jr. grew up on a sunny, palm tree-lined street in Coronado, Calif., a resort town in San Diego Bay.

They had a childhood most would covet: The schools were excellent, and the beach was just a few blocks from their family home. It almost didn’t happen. Their father, Lloyd Dong Sr.



, a Chinese farmer and gardener who worked at the renowned Hotel del Coronado, came to the city at a time when discriminatory housing covenants made it almost impossible for non-White families to live there. Only one couple would rent to him in 1939: Gus and Emma Thompson, one of the few Black families that owned a home in Coronado. After Gus — a former enslaved person — died, Emma sold the house to Dong.

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