THE FOUNDING OF KAHS, PART 1

About KAHS

A Call for the Formation of a Historical Society of Koreans in Washington State

Daeshik Yu, 1983

A Place Called Chinese America is a history book proposed and sponsored by the Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc., a national advocacy organization of concerned Chinese Americans. While numerous old photographs illustrate the moments of historical significance, the co-authors Diane Lin Mark and Ginger Chih's narration unfolds the twoＩundredＺear Chinese American history interwoven with succinct analysis and interpretation. The 192-page history of Chinese in America was published in 1982.

Filipinos: Forgotten Asian Americans is another history book which traces the lives of Filipino Americans from 1163 to 1963, combining the methods of oral histories, photographic illustrations, and interpretive analysis. The contents of this 235-page pictorial essay were made possible by the Demonstration Project for Asian Americans' (DPAA) Forgotten Asian Americans: Filipinos and Koreans, a history project funded by a grant from the Division of Special Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities. This book was published in 1983.

I understand that a book on the history of Japanese Americans in Seattle is now being written, and the project is funded by the Japanese American Citizens League.

These are all just a few examples of how busily our fellow Asian Americans are engaged in writing their histories to let the world know about their heritage and achievements in the United States.

Publication of a comprehensive history of Koreans in Washington State is one of the urgent tasks that faces us, and as an effective way of carrying it out, I propose that we form a historical society of Koreans in Washington State, in which concerned members of the Korean community organizations such as the Seattle-Washington Korean Association, the Korean Society of Tacoma, the Korean Women's Association of Tacoma, and other religious and social service organizations work together in pooling information and materials and writing our history.

According to a 1980 report of the Washington State Commission for Asian American Affairs, the Korean population in the state showed the most phenomenal growth: a 652 percent increase from 1910 levels and a 150 percent increase from 1916 figures to reach a total of 15,000 in 1980. But our community leaders unofficially estimate that the actual number is twice as high. As the Korean community continues to grow rapidly, our fellow Washingtonians are increasingly interested in understanding why we come, how we live, what we are contributing, and how we view our past, present, and future. Thus, there is an immediate social need for us to write our history and with it help our fellow Washingtonians understand the ways in which we adjust to, and leave our mark on, the lives of Washingtonians.

There is also a crying need in academic circles for such a history. Since its beginnings in the 1970s, Asian American studies has established itself as an interdisciplinary program in major institutions of higher education in the United States, offering courses on the history, culture, literature, and contemporary issues of concern to Asians in America. As an important group among Asian Americans, the Korean community has a vital role to play in developing Korean American studies into a full-fledged discipline, for its subjects are none other than the various aspects of Korean immigrants' lives. Finally, there is that instinctual need in all of us to leave the records of the way we have lived for our offspring, telling them about how we participated in making history in our own generation. Perhaps, it is this instinctual need to account for ourselves by ourselves that brought about the familiar axiom we are fond of citing: "A tiger leaves behind its hide, whereas a man leaves his name."

Despite these urgent social, intellectual, and instinctual needs for it, we have yet to write the history of Korean experiences in Washington State. Most of our fellow Washingtonians are unfortunately living in a dark age as far as the history of Koreans in Washington State is concerned. For that matter, most of us Koreans are not any better off, either. Only a couple of months ago, a student who wished to write a term paper on the history of Koreans in Seattle could find virtually no information except for two pages of narration included in an autobiographical sketch at the end of Koreans in America by Bong-Youn Choy (1979). Without any doubt, Choy's book, along with a few others like Warren Kim's Fifty-year History of Koreans in America (1959) and Korea-USA: 1882-1982 published by Yeonhap News Agency in Seoul, is an indispensable work in the general history of Korean Americans.

When it comes to the subject of Koreans in Washington State, however, these books do not help much. I suggested to the student that some of the essays, editorials, and articles appearing in the Korean language newsletters of community organizations might be useful in writing her paper on the Koreans in Seattle, but they could not help her, either, because she did not read Korean. Some of the writings in newsletters do indeed represent the history of Washington State's Korean community in the making, but they are limited to a Korean reading audience and remain unknown even to the children of the writers, not to mention the larger community of the English reading public.

Those of us who emphasize the importance of our heritage owe it to ourselves to define what form and shape our heritage takes for the sake of our children. The longer the task of writing our history is delayed, the greater the chance of our being misunderstood and misrepresented by those in the mainstream of the Washington community just as we were unfairly portrayed by the Tacoma News Tribune articles in March 1983. While we know all too well that constructive criticisms of our community by those who view it from the outside can help us put our acts together from time to time, we are also aware that we are attacked often for the wrong things for the wrong reasons. I submit that a solid and comprehensive account of ourselves for what we really area history to be written by the proposed Historical Society of Koreans in Washington State can improve the situation, for it will give our friends and critics alike a proper frame of reference for their judgment of our values and our actions.

By way of inviting concerned members of our community to seriously consider the formation of the proposed historical society, I close by citing an oral history excerpt on the life story of the late Mr. Chang Hei Lee, the first president of the Seattle Korean Association established sixteen years ago in 1967. The excerpt is one of the many findings of research conducted by the Demonstration Project for Asian Americans on the history of Koreans Americans and it appeared in the DPAA newsletter published in September 1982.

Is it possible for us Koreans to pick up the thread of history where the DPAA has left off and complete the writing of our history initiated by our Filipino friends?

"Chang Hei Lee was a soft-spoken humble person noted for his generosity and understanding for students from Korea and those struggling for just and patriotic causes. His deep empathy arose from his own experiences of hardships as one of the early struggling Korean students in search of education in America. Lee, a graduate of Yonsei University, with three years of teaching experience in Korea, arrived in San Francisco to further his education in 1930. Soon after his arrival, he sought work in the farmlands to earn money for travel and tuition and survival."

"In Reedley I picked peaches then other fruits as they ripened . . . like grapes. . . . "

Physically frail . . .

"though willing in spirit, the regular laborers would always let me take on jobs that were less strenuous. . . if I lagged behind in the fields, they'd help me by filling my crates and trays so I'd be able to put in my daily quota."

During the 8 to 10 hour day he earned 30 cents an hour. During this period, Lee also taught Korean language to early first generation Korean Americans and participated in patriotic and social Korean activities of his church in Reedley and Delano. Lee could barely make ends meet and had to seek work and schooling elsewhere. He met Chang, another student in the same economic plight in Atlantic [sic] Georgia. This fellow was more fortunate in that a sympathetic professor loaned him money and advised him to go elsewhere. Chang conceived the idea of opening a Chinese restaurant and giving employment to other Korean students as waiters and dishwashers. Lee worked there and attended college and by 1937 had earned three degrees from Vanderbilt University and Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. He had intended to return to Korea and had even purchased his boat fare, but the political climate in Korea, the war in Europe and increasing pressure by Japanese officials on Korean students in America made him postpone his return.

He remained in southern California. During World War Two, he was hired to teach Japanese to university students. He became a chief translator for the US Overseas Secret Service (OSS). Flown from Free China during the war, he gathered information from . . .

"young Korean soldiers who had been drafted by the Japanese government . . . had abandoned and escaped to Free China to join . . . the Korean Provisional Government."

In 1946, when the US occupied South Korea, Lee's wish to return to his homeland was fulfilled when he was sent as a translator. Through friends, he met his future wife, Kim Kan Nan [Gloria Kim], and they returned together to Seattle in 1948. He taught Korean language and history at the University of Washington. He worked as a chemist at Boeing and in real estate. He also was active in the Korean Presbyterian Church until his death in 1979 at the age of 77. He is survived by his wife and their children, Alice and Victor.

Chang Hei Lee from the DPAA Newsletter, September 1982.

A Call for Action

I repeat the question I raised at the end of my proposal for a Historical Society of Koreans in Washington State, a standing autonomous organization whose objective is to collect materials and information for the purpose of writing the history of Korean Americans in the state of Washington.

Can we pick up the thread of history where our DPAA friends left off and complete the writing of our own history?

The Founding of KAHS, part 2

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