Korean Americans, including children and families of Korean independence martyrs, celebrate the March 1 Independence Movement at Berendo Street Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 1. / Korea Times photo by Park Jin-hai



By Park Jin-hai



Los Angeles, Calif. ― Some 200 Korean Americans, including children and families of Korean independence martyrs, gathered at Berendo Street Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California, on March 1.



They shouted "manse" and avidly waved national flags of both Korea and America to pay tribute to their ancestors.



Among those independence fighters were orange farm workers from Riverside, California. They stood up against the Japanese occupation of Korea and fought for the freedom of their mother country from thousands of miles away.



"Recalling the works of our ancestors, I cannot even guess how it could be possible at that time. The Korean immigrants, who had been barely living, working over 10 hours a day in plantations and farms, voluntarily donated their hard-earned money for the independence movement," said Kwon Young-shin, chairman of the Korean National Association Memorial Foundation, located in Los Angeles.



Ahn Chang-ho, the iconic independence fighter who migrated to San Francisco for study in 1902, played a role behind Korean-Americans' rare rally in the United States.





Ahn Chang-ho in Alta Cuesta orchard in Riverside, California in 1911

Ahn, also an educator and politician better known by his penname Dosan, changed his plans to pursue a degree in the United States after witnessing Korean-Americans struggling to make ends meet due to the language barrier.



After moving to Riverside in 1904, he established the first Korea town on the U.S. mainland called Dosan Republic, better known as Pachappa Camp. Some 100 Korean-Americans lived there. Ahn helped them find a local employment agency and worked with orange farmers to find jobs for Koreans. In 1905, he created Gongnip Hyuphoe (Cooperative Association) to foster a sense of community, which later developed into KNA.



"The KNA run by their money maintained some 116 overseas branches throughout North America, Manchuria, Siberia and Mexico in the 1910s and carried the news of independence through Sinhan Minbo (The New Korea). Nowadays we have internet, but when I think of the time then, I can only be in awe of how they mobilized people and disseminated the news to support the independence all over the world," Kwon said.



At home, over 2 million Koreans took to the streets on March 1 to rally for their independence from Japanese colonial rule all across Korea.



When the news of the pan-national movement reached the U.S. in mid-March, Korean-Americans held the First Korean Congress and a mass rally in San Francisco the following month.



Philip Jaisohn, the first Korean to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen, spearheaded the movement where the participants declared Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule.



In celebration of the centennial anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement and following the establishment of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai, where several prominent Korean-American leaders took key roles, Koreans living in LA have been holding a series of events this year.



Starting with a visit to the Rosedale Cemetery where 21 Korean immigrants honored as independence activists are buried, the local Korean community also plans a large-scale street manse parade near Korea Town on Saturday.



Independence movement in US



The independence movement on American soil revolves around four prominent figures ― Philip Jaisohn, Ahn Chang-ho, Syngman Rhee and Park Yong-man.



Jaisohn, who was in exile after his failed 1884 Gapsin Revolution to reform Joseon and make their country truly independent from Chinese interference, was one of the first Korean immigrants to the U.S.



After the March 1 Independence Movement, he actively participated in independence movements. Mainly working around Philadelphia, he organized the First Korean Congress and published the political journal "Korea Review" to inform the American public of the situation in Korea, and to persuade the U.S. government to support Korean independence.



The other three leaders who also came to the U.S. for education were also on the forefront of the independence movement following different ideologies. Rhee who worked mainly in the east coast and partly in Hawaii claimed independence can be earned through diplomacy; Ahn who was active in southern California said national reform is what the country needs the most; and Park in the Midwest and Hawaii promoted military force as a tool for independence.



The clarion call signaling the need for making a unified organization on U.S. soil was the 1908 assassination of Japan lobbyist and former American diplomat Durham Stevens by Gongnip Hyuphoe member Chun Myung-woon (a.k.a Jeon Myeong-woon) and Daedong Bogukhoe member Chang In-hwan. It was the first armed independence uprising by Koreans living outside the country.





Donation receipt issued by Gongnip Hyuphoe's Hawaii branch in July, 1912