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Korean Students in New York City, 1907-1937 Jean H. Park Submitted Exiled Envoys: Korean Students in New York City, 1907-1937 Jean H. Park Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2021 © 2021 Jean H. Park All Rights Reserved Abstract Exiled Envoys: Korean Students in New York City, 1907-1937 Jean H. Park This dissertation follows the activism of Korean students in New York City and the trajectory of their American education as it applied to Korea’s colonization under the Empire of Japan. As a focused historical account of the educational experiences of Korean students in New York from 1907 to 1937, this dissertation uses archival evidence from their associations, correspondence, publications, and the institutions they studied at to construct a transnational narrative that positions the Korean students operating within and outside the confines of their colonial experience. The following dissertation answers how the Korean students applied their American education and experiences to the Korean independence movement, and emphasizes the interplay of colonization, religion, and American universities in contouring the students’ activism and hopes for a liberated Korea. Table of Contents List of Charts, Graphs, Illustrations ................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Korea in the Age of Imperialism ................................................................................. 14 Chapter 2: “No Government of Their Own”................................................................................. 39 Chapter 3: Cultural Internationalism & NYC’s Institutions ......................................................... 74 Chapter 4: Exiled Envoys in Action ........................................................................................... 106 Epilogue ...................................................................................................................................... 146 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 152 i List of Charts, Graphs, Illustrations Figure 1. March 1 Movement demonstrators, Korea, 1919. ......................................................... 28 Figure 2. March 1 Movement demonstrators ................................................................................ 28 Figure 3. March 1 Movement demonstrators. ............................................................................... 30 Figure 4: Japanese police anti-protest barricades and fortification, Korea, March 1919 ............. 30 Figure 5. Japanese Police forces patrolling streets with bayonets, March 1919 ........................... 30 Figure 6. First Korean Congress, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, April 16, 1919................. 106 Figure 7. First Korean Congress representatives, Philadelphia, April 16, 1919 ........................ 107 Figure 8. Dr. Philip Jaisohn, First Korean Congress, April 16, 1919. ........................................ 125 Figure 9. Henry Chung and Syngman Rhee, First Korean Congress, April 16, 1919. ............... 128 Figure 10. Student delegate committee members, First Korean Congress, April 1919. ............ 133 Figure 11. First Korean Congress, Processional, Philadelphia, April 1919. ............................. 135 Figure 12. Korean Students Federation of North America, Chicago, June 13, 1924 ................. 141 Figure 13. Dr. Helen Kim with President Harry S. Truman, Oval Office, May 8, 1951 ............ 146 ii Acknowledgments I am overwhelmed with the depth of gratitude I feel for my advisor, Dr. Cally Waite, whose candor, wit, and wisdom guided me from start to finish. She is the unsung hero of the History & Education program at Teachers College, working tirelessly to foster genuine scholarship, real camaraderie, and loving respect amongst its students. My doctoral journey would have taken a very different turn for the worse had it not been for Dr. Waite’s stewardship, who smoothed the bumps ahead at her expense to make the road all the smoother for me and her advisees. I thank you, Dr. Waite, for your selflessness, for reminding me to live a full, balanced life as a graduate student (and not feel guilty about it!), and for sharing so much of your knowledge, passion, and life with me. I am truly humbled by the graciousness, time, and support of my esteemed dissertation committee members: Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy, Dr. Christine Baron, Dr. Deidre Flowers, and Dr. Viola Huang. In the COVID-19 era, my committee members have been incredibly patient and accommodating with exclusively digital and/or virtual communications. Thank you for taking every curveball thrown at you in stride and with a smile, your responses have been the best encouragement and motivation! Thank you to Dr. Pyong Gap Min at Queens College, who opened up the doors to my research, literally and figuratively, with his library collection at the Research Center of Korean Community. Dr. Min’s dedication and work in and for New York’s Korean community continue to inspire me now as much as it did upon meeting him in person, which was a true honor. My iii gratitude also extends to Jocelyn Wilk, University Archivist at Columbia, who met with me to show me how to navigate through the Columbia University archives on-line and on-site at the Rare Books and Manuscript Library. Her expertise and knowledge directed me to the materials that would comprise such an important part of this work. Thank you to the libraries staff at Burke Library, to Hee-sook Shin at Starr East Asian Library for suggesting the works of the Korean Students Federation of North America and the League of Friends; and to Dr. Ken Klein, curator of the Korean American Digital Archive at USC’s Digital Library for making the resources available for public use, for his quick and helpful responses when I had questions. The comments by participants and readers at the History and Education Society annual meetings, NYU’s History and Education Writing Group, at the Asian American Studies Association-American Studies Association of Korea Conference in September 2017, and 2019’s AERA annual meeting were all perceptive, valuable, and taken into account. Very special thanks go to Dr. Barbara Beatty, Professor Emerita of Education at Wellesley College and Dr. Yoon Pak at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, both of whom believed in me and my work from the very beginning, writing letters on my behalf and rooting me on. I was also fortunate to serve as a teaching assistant to Prof. Aaron Passell’s Urban Sociology and Urban Studies courses at Barnard during the early stages of my research; his insight and lectures helped to hone my focus in New York City, and his interest in my work gave me confidence to seek out and build on interdisciplinary approaches to historical study and scholarship. To the History & Education program, and Prof. Ansley Erickson and Prof. Bette Weneck: Being in your company and learning from your work has been a true honor. I was extremely lucky to have entered the doctoral program with the most caring, thoughtful, and truly lovely colleagues, Viola Huang and Jennifer Boyle, who I’m glad to call my friends. I also am the iv luckiest for having mentors in Dr. Fevronia Soumakis, Dr. Deidre Flowers, Dr. Antonia Smith, and Eric Strome, who collectively used their brilliance to help the younger cohort shine brighter. Thank you for bringing me up, literally and figuratively, with a laugh, a hug, a meal, even if I brought you down (how about that slide, Deidre?). I am so blessed to have been at TC with you. To the staff at Columbia OSMC, especially Alex Thurman and Samantha Abrams. I am thankful beyond measure to be working with you. I miss seeing your faces and our First Friday catch-ups. Let’s make up for it with an endless supply of hot chocolate! A huge thanks goes to my in-laws, especially my mother in-law, You-soon, and sister-in- law, Jae, for sacrificing their time during the weekend and weekends to watch the girls. I could not have finished my dissertation without your love! Thank you so much. To my brother Jason, my parents, Hoon Jae and Chang Hae Park: I hope to make you as proud of me, as I am of being your noona, your yuhwoo, and your jjiroo. You are the reason I was, I am, and want to be. And to my family, Douglas Kim, with me on this journey from even before it started, I thank God that it was you. I thank you now and forever. Nora and Shae, I am so blessed to be witness to your sense of wonder and awe. You were and are my biggest little cheerleaders, and I will always be your biggest fan. You are life! v Dedication To umma and appa, who inspired me to love learning and from whom I have learned so much about love. vi Introduction This dissertation follows the trajectory of a select group of Korean men and women who risked their lives by pursuing studies abroad in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. Annexed by the Empire of the Japan in
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