‘Sinners’ unearths overlooked history of Chinese immigrants in Mississippi Delta
By Ryan General
Ryan Coogler’s new supernatural thriller “Sinners,” released nationwide on April 18, is drawing attention not only for its eerie atmosphere and horror-driven plot but also for its portrayal of overlooked histories in the American South. Set in 1930s Mississippi, the film centers on African American and Chinese American communities navigating a racially segregated system — and has sparked renewed conversation about shared histories of oppression and survival.
Chinese grocers in a rural town
In “Sinners,” Coogler weaves a fictional narrative of vampires in the Jim Crow-era South with threads of real-life historical trauma. Coogler shared in a recent interview with The Guardian that he has long been fascinated by the era when many Black Americans were weighing whether to leave the South — a period shaped in part by his own family’s roots in Mississippi.
The film introduces Grace (played by Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), Chinese American grocers in a rural Mississippi town who forge quiet but powerful alliances with Black protagonists Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan). Their presence — and actions — become central to both the plot and its underlying commentary on solidarity and betrayal within marginalized communities.
By drawing parallels between their lived experiences, the film invites viewers to reflect on the long history of solidarity and at times tension, between these groups.
“Caught in the middle”
“Sinners” sheds light on a lesser-known chapter of U.S. history: the presence of Chinese laborers in the Mississippi Delta during and after Reconstruction. Like Black Americans, Chinese immigrants were pushed to the margins — excluded from white institutions and forced to build parallel communities for survival.
Following the Civil War, many Chinese workers were brought to the South through the “coolie trade,” a system of indentured servitude that often mirrored slavery in its exploitation. Recruited to replace freed Black laborers on cotton plantations, some later transitioned into running grocery stores in Black neighborhoods. These stores became lifelines in segregated towns, even as Chinese families faced discrimination from white society, including segregated schools, redlined housing and exclusion from civic life.
Baldwin Chiu, who produced the 2020 documentary “Far East Deep South,” has spoken about how his family’s roots in Mississippi revealed the complicated racial position Chinese Americans held during segregation. “They weren’t white, and they weren’t Black. So, they were caught in the middle of this racial structure,” Chiu told the Mississippi Free Press in 2021. “It’s not like they were always treated the same.”
Pivotal scene
Spoiler warning: The following section discusses a key scene from “Sinners”
One of the most talked-about moments in “Sinners” comes when Grace invites a group of vampires into a Black-owned juke joint — breaking the supernatural protection barrier and triggering the film’s bloodiest confrontation.
Li talked about the scene during a post-screening Q&A earlier this month. “That scene didn’t exist in the first draft. Honestly, I asked Ryan for it,” she said. “You don’t see Grace’s daughter again after the intro, so I felt the audience might forget or find it hard to empathize with Grace. She needed that extra beat, a turning point, to show that this was her decision — not just to wait for sunrise, but to fight instead of give up.”
This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.
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