Media Spotlight: Anna Low, Aviatrix

Daily Advocate
(Stamford, Connectocut)
November 20, 1919

Schenectady Gazette
(New York)
November 21, 1919

The Patriot
(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
November 21, 1919

Daily Argus
(Mount Vernon, New York)
November 22, 1919

Morning Herald
(Gloversville, New York)
November 28, 1919

Decatur Herald
(Illinois)
November 30, 1919
Mrs. Anna Low, wife of George Low, municipal engineer of the Island of Maul. Hawaii, and a graduate of the University of California, has the distinction of being, the first Chinese woman aviator. This photograph was taken, on her return to San Francisco from her home in China, where she was taught to fly by the famous Chinese aviator Tom Gunn, her brother-in-law.

Petaluma Argus-Courier
(California)
December 1, 1919
p4: First Chinese Woman to Become an Aviator
Mrs. George Low
Mrs. Anna Low, wife of George Low, municipal engineer of the Island of Maui, Hawaii, and a graduate of the University of California, has the distinction of being the first Chinese woman aviator. This photograph was taken on her return to San Francisco from her home in China, where she was taught to fly by the famous Chinese aviator Tom Gunn, her-brother-in-law.

Evening State Journal and Lincoln Daily News
(Lincoln, Nebraska)
December 4, 1919

Baltimore American
(Maryland)
December 28, 1919

The Green Book Magazine
May 1920

Women of China
Foreign Language Press, 1990
page 40: Women Pioneers in Aviation

This is the first in a series of articles about the women who pioneered in China aviation

Although their numbers were not large, these strong women dedicated their energy and skill to the motherland as well as to the cause of aviation. Their noble spirit stimulated the ideals of millions of Chinese women. The heroic women fought against traditional feudal ideas to move China forward.

Women in the United States and Europe became interested in aviation before Chinese women, but Chinese women were the first in Asia to take their place in an airplane cockpit. Actually, in 1915 [sic], shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Mrs. Anna P. Low, an American-Chinese became the very first woman aviator. Her brother-in-law was the well known aviator, Tom Gun. Inspired by his example, she took flying lessons in the United States. Tom Gun went to China to fight under Dr. Sun Yat-sen, but Anna was still undergoing flight training. When she completed her training she also went to China and American newspapers hailed her as “the first Chinese woman pilot.”

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At Ancestry.com there are two passenger lists with an “Anna Low” and “Anna T. Low” who sailed from Honolulu to San Francisco in 1919 and 1925. The 1919 passenger list (below) said she was born January 31, 1895 in San Francisco. A third passenger list recorded “Anna Low” traveling from Victoria, British Columbia to Seattle, Washington. Her identification was Form 430, a requirement of the Chinese Exclusion Act. She was five feet tall and an Oakland, California resident at 254 8th Street. I believe the woman in the passenger lists was the aviatrix, Anna Low.

(Next post on Friday: Hon Chew Hee, Artist)