Welcome to Roots Before Branches: A Guide to Corean American History on the Web.

The history of Coreans in the United States is rarely taught in our textbooks or classrooms. Our entire heritage as Corean Americans is often simply briefly mentioned in a small paragraph on immigration, in the same breath as other post-1965 immigrant groups.

Furthermore, most academic works on Corean immigration to the U.S. focuses on post-1965 immigration patterns. Yet what about the pioneers, those who truly laid the framework for Coreans in this country? Within this website, you will find a comprehensive collection of online resources on mostly pre-1965 Corean American history. This collection of links is searchable by keyword and also available in its entirety, sorted alphabetically or by topic.

In conjunction with Professor Robert Lee and the Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistanship Program at Brown University, this website was created in the hopes that it will instill a sense of pride, promote further interest in Corean American history, encourage academic works and research into the history of Corean America, and that it marks one important step towards reclaiming our history and heritage as Corean Americans.

In addition, please note that throughout this website, I have chosen to spell Corea with a C and not with a K. For a brief explanation of why this is done, please click here. For the sake of clarity, however, the spelling of Corea has not been changed in the links themselves.

This project would not have been possible without the immeasurable help, kindness, and/or assistance of the following:

Professor Robert Lee, Dean Margaret Klawunn, members of the Karen T. Romer UTRA selection committee, and Rev. Janet Cooper-Nelson.

Special thanks are also due to Jason Hahn for his invaluable technical assistance.

lovepeace&respect,
Juhyung Harold Lee
August 2003