The Collective Memory of the Korean Community: "We Are What We Are Because of Our Memories"

FAIN: PY-258589-18

Korean American Historical Society (Seattle, WA 98104-3035)
Mel Kang (Project Director: May 2017 to March 2021)

Two community digitization days and a day-long outreach event to discuss immigration history and Korean-American communities around the United States. The applicant would undertake this project to digitize and preserve heritage materials in cooperation with the Wing Luke Museum. Events would raise awareness of the importance of family collections and heritage among community members. The project would focus on family collections and materials that document domestic life, immigration, small businesses, and community organizations. Project staff would draw on contributed materials to create lesson plans encouraging teachers to integrate the subject matter into primary education. With permission, digitized items would be made available through the Wing Luke Museum’s website.

The Korean American Historical Society (KAHS) in partnership with the Wing Luke Museum plans to collect the kinds of things that show us what it means, and meant, to be Korean American. KAHS will conduct two to three public events to digitize this material followed by a community discussion lead by Professor Moon Ho Jung. The community event will focus on the larger Korean and United States historical context of the collected materials. We will also develop a curriculum for the 60 Korean language schools in Washington to pass on the lessons of the compilation to the next generation. To achieve these goals we plan to reach out to second generation Korean Americans by working with Korean American civic and professional groups and Korean language schools. We do this because in Korean culture individual humility is important. Older Koreans often consider their individual stories insignificant. However their children have the perspective to realize the importance of these individual stories.The Korean American Historical Society in partnership with the Wing Luke Museum plans to collect the kinds of things that show us what it means, and meant, to be Korean American. KAHS will conduct two to three public events to digitize this material followed by a community discussion lead by Professor Moon Ho Jung. The community event will focus on the larger Korean and United States historical context of the collected materials. We will also develop a curriculum for the 60 Korean language schools in Washington to pass on the lessons of the compilation to the next generation. To achieve these goals we plan to reach out to second generation Korean Americans by working with Korean American civic and professional groups and Korean language schools. We do this because in Korean culture individual humility is important. Older Koreans often consider their individual stories insignificant. However their children have the perspective to realize the importance of these individual stories.