Abstract
The merger of Christianity and migrant nationalism during the first wave of Korean migration created a synergy that provided a sense of liberation and belonging to Korean migrant religious communities. In this article, I argue that Christianity played a pivotal role in fostering nationalist sensibilities away from home. Conversely, migrant nationalism propelled the spread of a contextualized Christianity based on Korean migrant ethnic identity that was distinct from the dominant White American Christianity during the early 1900s. Korean migrant churches functioned as repositories of national pride as Koreans negotiated their sense of belonging, identity, and agency in a foreign land.
Before the 1960s, the US government and American society deemed Asians unassimilable aliens unfit for membership in the United States. The so-called Orientals were subjected to the government policy of Asiatic Exclusion in 1882. Under the provisions of the exclusion, Asians experienced barriers to naturalization, occupational discrimination, and residential segregation. 1 In the 1920s and 1930s, Filipino Americans in California were violently attacked due to widespread hatred. During World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order to forcibly remove around 112,000 Japanese Americans to ten internment camps across the country. Many died in these camps where Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned during the war. Even after the war’s end, Asians were systematically excluded from civic participation and demonized as uncivilized enemies. The American media painted dehumanizing portraits of Asians, doing everything from calling them names to perpetuating racist stereotypes.
Historian Lon Kurashige suggests that Asian immigration history be divided according to the implementation of significant policies: before exclusion, peak exclusion, late exclusion, trans-war egalitarianism, and civil rights egalitarianism. He demonstrates that each era had differing dominant and subordinate policy communities. For example, the immigration-labor policy community was a dominant force during the exclusion era, while race relations and foreign relations policy communities were dominant during the egalitarian period. 2 US immigration laws formed during international wars, the most notable being the 1952 McCarran–Walter Act that ended Asian exclusion by extending US citizenship eligibility to all Asians. After the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed discrimination against ethnic groups from immigration policy, the race relations policy group dominated the scene. A broad range of Cold War internationalist and domestic civil rights movements demanded equality for minorities, including Asian Americans. 3
While both domestic and international politics expedited the implementation of anti-racist policies and major civil rights legislation, it was the culminative impact of grassroots movements that ultimately made the most progress in changing the public’s view of Asians and Asian Americans. The government stimulated macro-level changes, while Asian American Christian organizations, missionaries, social workers, and individual actors drove micro-level changes in areas the government failed to reach. Korean diaspora communities’ independence movement in opposition to Japanese occupation was one such micro-level movement. Interestingly, while Korean migrants sought full assimilation and acceptance into American society, their nationalist movement was based not on race, but on ethnicity. 4
As “exiled aliens,” the first wave of Korean migrants from 1903 to 1945 were caught between xenophobia and ethnocentrism. On one hand, like other Asians, they were met with vitriolic xenophobia and racism. Despite being promised a better future, Korean migrants suffered oppressive conditions in the United States and were exploited on the sugarcane plantations of Hawaii and the streets of California. 5 On the other hand, many were exiles who had lost their homeland due to imperial Japan’s ethnocentrism and lust for power. Korean historiography divides the Japanese occupation of Korea into three periods: military rule, cultural rule, and ethnocide (or cultural genocide). 6 Throughout these periods, and particularly during the latter half of the time in question, the Japanese government sought to systematically eradicate Koreans’ ethnicity and identity by prohibiting the Korean language, renaming geographical places, and rewriting Korean history. The Korean press came under heavy censorship, and all nationalist organizations were outlawed. The tumultuous political state and abject poverty drove Koreans from varied socio-economic positions to migrate to the United States. The precarious state of the first wave of Korean immigrants meant they had to continually negotiate their sense of belonging, identity, and agency in a foreign land.
Christianity as the basis of liberation
Amid Korean migrants’ collective trauma, Christianity played a pivotal role in the meaning-making process of the early migrant communities and fostered nationalist fervor. From the beginning, Korean migrants to the United States had ties to Christianity, as missionaries like George Heber Jones and Horace Allen facilitated the migration process. Jones was instrumental in encouraging and preparing Korean Christian leaders to relocate to America, and he fondly recalled meeting a Korean family he had baptized in Korea as they were settling into their new home in Hawaii. 7 Allen, as US envoy to Korea, convinced King Kojong to allow Koreans to migrate to the US to alleviate domestic economic troubles and increase Korea’s international prestige. 8 Approximately 40 percent of the Korean migrant population consisted of Christians, and churches became a repository of Korean identity, ethnicity, and nationalism. Between 1903 and 1918, it is estimated that around 2,800 Koreans out of 8,000 converted to Christianity and established thirty-nine churches in the Hawaiian Islands alone. 9
The nationalist sensibilities of Korean migrants were fostered by ties to Korea. It is imperative, therefore, to take a transpacific view of Korean migrant Christianity and situate their story against the backdrop of the history of Protestant nationalism in Korea. While in recent years historians have begun to give attention to Korean migrant nationalism, few works delve into the underlying theology of the nationalist practices. Like Korean Protestants who spearheaded the protests in Korea, many migrants had a distinct theology of suffering and freely used persecution tropes. To illustrate, in a prayer letter issued on March 3, 1919, Christians were asked to fast and pray earnestly, using as their “golden text” Esther 4:13–17, in which Esther famously declares “if I perish, I perish.” 10 One of the common hymns Korean independence fighters sang was “Rock of Ages,” in which the themes of suffering and the passion of Christ are prominent.
Korean diaspora communities widely perceived the independence movement not only as a political act of liberation, but also as a religious act of participating in the suffering of Christ. The marriage between political impetus and religious zeal led major Christian leaders to fight for the independence of their country. Notably, out of the thirty-three signers of the Korean Declaration of Independence, sixteen were Christians—eleven pastors, two elders, and three lay leaders associated with various Christian institutions. According to a 1919 Japanese military police report, approximately 19,525 Koreans were arrested after the protests, and Christians constituted almost 20 percent of the total. More than half of the religious arrestees were Protestant—an impressive statistic considering that Protestants made up a little over 1 percent of the population in 1919. Protestant women accounted for more than 65 percent of the women arrested. 11 The Japanese government noticed the conspicuous tie between the nationalist movement and Christianity and started to torture freedom fighters in barbarous ways that involved crosses as symbols. 12
One of the main contributions of Christianity to the Korean independence movement was the development of the idea of self-determination. The notion of self-determination is often traced back to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech of January 8, 1918, one year prior to the March 1st Movement, a series of organized and spontaneous protests in Korea. The principles of world peace, internationalism, and self-determination that were introduced in Wilson’s speech continued to gain ground in the 1920s as American Christian thinkers—including Pearl Buck, William Hocking, John R. Mott, and many others—began to use internationalist rhetoric that underlined world peace and unity. 13 The Korean independence movement, as historian Erez Manela argues, was part of the larger Wilsonian movement, in which Korea participated along with countries such as India, China, and Egypt. 14
While Woodrow Wilson’s January speech certainly prompted Korean migrants to frame their demands for independence in the new Wilsonian rhetoric, the idea of self-determination has a longer history in Korean Protestantism. Key Korean activists such as Ahn Changho were deeply influenced by the three-self church model introduced to Korea by John Nevius in 1890. 15 The Nevius method of church planting, or the Nevius Plan, was a development of the existing idea of the three-self church put forth by Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson. Prior to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, Ahn Changho and many other Korean Protestants were influenced by the idea of the self-support, self-government, and self-propagation of local churches in the formative period of Korean Protestantism. These Christian leaders extended the covenantal relationship between God and his people to the constitutional relationship. They applied the principle of the three-self church planting method to the self-determination of the Korean nation-state.
Within the independence movement, Christianity was a crucial source of liberation for women especially. Although their main goal was the independence of Korea from Japanese colonial rule, Christianity gave them a voice and a respite from the patriarchal social structure they were accustomed to. Korean migrant women formed grassroots organizations such as the Korean Women’s Association (1908), Korean Women’s Society (1913), Korean Women’s Patriotic Society (1919), and Korean Women’s Relief Society (1919) to support church activities, promote Korean independence, and foster Korean culture and education for children. 16 These grassroots organizations contributed not only to the Korean independence movement but also to the social uplift and self-actualization of Korean migrant women in male-oriented and often feudalistic communities. The organizations were both political and religious in nature and served as major fundraising resources.
In particular, the Korean Women’s Relief Society was so successful that it expanded to four local chapters, one on each of the major islands of Hawaii, and raised approximately $200,000. 17 These funds went to the Korean Provisional Government in China, the Korean Commission in Washington, DC, and the Korean Independence Army in China and Manchuria. In addition to raising funds for the independence movement, the society’s members trained emergency nurses and engaged in relief work for Koreans in Manchuria and Korea. The organization also supported the families of those who had been killed during the March 1st Movement and victims of famine and floods in Korea. They raised funds by selling kimchi, rice cakes, and reprints of the Declaration of Independence. Many of these women went knocking on doors around their towns, often with small children on their backs. These Korean migrant women were the “worker bees,” while male leaders served as the face of the movement. 18
Migrant Nationalism as the Basis of Belonging
Migrant nationalism propelled the spread of contextualized Christianity based on Korean diasporic ethnic identity during the early 1900s, ushering in new religious communities that functioned as repositories of national pride. Koreans in America had the advantage of being safe from Japanese retaliation and enjoyed more financial stability than their counterparts in Korea and Manchuria. The fusion of the Korean independence movement and Christianity became an integral part of the Korean migrant communities, and many converted to Christianity after moving to the United States for various reasons. Some viewed conversion as part of the assimilation process in the US, while others were attracted to churches’ independence activities. Most importantly, however, churches provided a space for belonging that served not only religious but also social and educational purposes. Many children went to Korean language schools, and at the Pachappa Camp of Riverside (one of the earliest Korean migrant communities), the Korean mission site provided English lessons for Korean migrants. 19 Through various cultural events and educational opportunities, churches became a hub where Korean migrants could promote their culture and ethnicity to their American neighbors.
Although Korean migrants were far from their home country, many of them became more intensely Korean in the United States. Religious communities provided a space where they could sustain their national and ethnic identity. Benedict Anderson calls the heightened sense of nationalism that develops away from home “long-distance nationalism,” 20 a phenomenon that binds together migrants and those who remain in their homeland into a “single transborder citizenry.” 21 They share a sense of peoplehood based on their shared culture, history, and continuous pledge of allegiance to their nation-state. Korean migrants had multiple reasons to fixate strongly on their home country, including the memory of oppression by the Japanese government, survivor’s guilt, and a difficult transition into their new country. 22 In the United States’ racial regime, Korean migrants became exiles and aliens simultaneously, which exacerbated their sense of loss and marginality. Churches provided a space where national pride, a message of hope and liberation, and a sense of belonging could be cultivated.
The merger of Christianity and the Korean independence movement also assisted Korean diaspora communities’ assimilation process. Korean migrants communicated to the broader American public that their Korean nationalism and their strong patriotism as new Americans were not mutually exclusive. In a newspaper advertisement for the “American-Korean Victory Fund Drive” organized in Hawaii, both Korean and American flags were portrayed, symbolizing the collaboration of the two countries. The advertisement read, “Help raise the right flag! If you want to help lower the flag of the hated conqueror and raise that of old Korea—help put over the American-Korean Victory Fund Drive. Every cent raised during this drive will be sent directly to President Roosevelt to use AS HE SEES FIT!” (emphasis in original). 23 It is noteworthy that the funds were sent directly to the US president and that the migrants promoted the idea of a close alliance between Korea and the United States.
In a letter expressing appreciation to the United States government for the issuance of five-cent stamps commemorating the Korean national flag, members of the United Korean Committee of Hawaii used a similar rhetoric of alliance. Praising the “courageous and generous act” of the US government for supporting Korea, they expressed gratitude that the commemorative stamp was a “formal answer from America to Korea’s incessant cry for her national liberation.” The letter closed with a promise of commitment to the United Nations and the USA, thanking the committee’s “international friends.” 24 As evidenced in these documents, Korean independence fighters used internationalist language and sought to form amicable relationships with American Christians and the US government.
While Korean diaspora communities framed their desire for assimilation with Christian rhetoric, they acted more subversively when they crafted a unique theology of liberation with little missionary support. The majority of the American missionaries in Korea strictly prohibited political activities among their flocks, and some even regarded the Japanese government as a partner in their task of civilizing Koreans. In 1906, for example, twelve students were suspended from Pyongyang Academy after they participated in a rally against the Japanese imposition of a protectorate over Korea. During the Pyongyang Revival in 1907, Koreans were pressed to repent for their bitterness and hatred towards the Japanese, as the missionaries remained largely unsympathetic to Koreans’ anti-Japanese sentiments. 25 Despite this general apathy on the part of missionaries and White American Christians, Korean diaspora communities formed political organizations with distinct religious undertones, formulating a contextual theology that consolidated nationalism and biblical principles. 26
One of the most prominent organizations that formed as a reaction to the March 1st Movement was the Korean Congress convened by the nationalist leader Philip Jaisohn (So Chae-pil) in Philadelphia from April 14–16, 1919. The primary goals of the Korean Congress were to mobilize support for the new Korean Provisional Government (with Syngman Rhee as the president) and to garner American support at the Paris Peace Conference. 27 The Congress, which was attended by nearly 200 delegates, published “An Appeal to America,” beseeching Americans to support Korea’s fight for justice and liberty with an appeal to their Christian sensibilities: “Our cause is a just one before the laws of God and man. Our aim is freedom from militaristic autocracy; our object is democracy for Asia; our hope is universal Christianity” (emphasis mine). 28
Nationalist leaders such as Philip Jaisohn and Syngman Rhee created a distinctively Korean theology of liberation and belonging based on the belief that because everyone is equally created in the imago Dei, that all human beings have the fundamental God-given right to a just, liberated, and independent nation. Consequently, Christianity had a direct influence on the worldviews of Christian leaders who spearheaded the independence movement. The Korean Congress also invited prominent Protestant and Catholic leaders to pray for them and read passages such as Psalm 53 together, asking God to “turn away evil from me upon my enemies, and scatter them in Thy truth . . . For Thou hast delivered me out of my trouble, and mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies.” 29 The Korean Congress established the League of the Friends of Korea in Philadelphia on June 16, 1919, with the aim of securing religious liberty for Korean Christians. 30 The themes of liberation, ethnic identity, and belonging were predominant in their contextual migrant Christianity.
Conclusion
While the Korean independence movement was a micro-level grassroots movement, it represented something bigger than itself. What appeared to be an isolated instance of overseas nationalism was part of the grander worldwide movement towards self-determination, Christian internationalism, and religious freedom. Soon after the March 1st Movement, to meet the demands of the shifting religious climate, the International Missionary Council (IMC) emerged in 1921. IMC was an inter-denominational association of Protestant churches established with the goal of promoting ecumenical interests, facilitating significant missiological studies of the period, and engaging with issues ranging from racism to religious freedom. John Mott, the chairman of the IMC, declared that Christian mission reflected “true internationalism,” echoing the language of Korean nationalist leaders’ international friendship. 31
Korean religious communities’ relentless nationalist endeavors, coupled with Japan’s brutal violence, caused many missionaries to become disillusioned with their vow of political neutrality. Missionaries declared that there would be “no neutrality for brutality” and began to participate in the independence efforts of Koreans abroad. 32 The missionaries’ collaboration and Korean activists’ rhetoric about merging Korean democracy and Christianity started to garner a significant response from the American public. At times, however, the close alliance with American missionaries eclipsed Korean voices under the shadow of US political hegemony, repeatedly demonstrating how Korean migrants had to continuously negotiate their agency and power amid the dominant American culture.
Ultimately, despite its complexities, the merger of Christianity and transpacific nationalism fostered a sense of liberation and belonging for Korean diasporic communities, empowering them to establish grassroots movements and engage in political and social activities in the US. Their transpacific nationalism reminds us of the close link between diaspora communities and their connection to their ancestral homelands. Korean nationalists in Korea and the US shared sustained ties and common struggles and exchanged political values, theology, and financial support. In addition to being subjects of Japanese colonial rule, Korean migrants collectively shared the struggle of displacement, alienation, and lack of agency in a foreign land. Their precarious situation led them to form a unique theology of liberation and belonging that spoke to their shared marginal experience.
Footnotes
Notes
Author biography