First-Of-Its-Kind Korean American Studies Class Helps High Schoolers Unearth Their Own Stories

At 7:30 p.m. on a Monday, some 40 teenagers fire up their laptops to log into class.

They’re from seven schools across the Anaheim Union High School District so meeting virtually at night is the only way they can all make it to this first-ever Korean American studies course offered to high schoolers.

Teacher Jeff Kim beams at them from a square on the screen and recites a class motto of sorts.

“In order for the tree to grow tall,” Kim says, then pauses.

“You have to know your roots,” the students reply in scrambled unison.

Students are halfway through the year-long class that was launched this fall. Lessons span more than 100 years, covering key events like the arrival of the first Korean immigrants, the civil unrest of 1992 in L.A. and the rise of K-Pop.

Police quell violence at 924 S. Vermont Avenue in Koreatown on April 29, 1992. Few Koreans received help from the city in rebuilding their stores after the riots.

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Mae Ryan/KPCC With archival photo by Gary Leonard

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Kim has also been urging students to find out their own family histories, while acknowledging that can be a challenge in immigrant households because of cultural and linguistic barriers.

Kim says in the case of Korean Americans, immigrants also carry the generational trauma of Japanese occupation, the Korean War and moving to the U.S.

“They're certainly not seeing their story as a story of how they've overcome these amazing, amazing challenges because they’re so busy just surviving, just making a living,” Kim says.

But the class has motivated students to dig into their parents’ past, asking questions they might not have otherwise.

“This class has started a conversation in my home,” says freshman Shion Lee, who's “trying to find a little bit more about myself and my history.”

A great American story

The bulk of signups for the class have been Korean American students seeking to connect to their heritage.

Says another freshman Celine Park: “Growing up as a Korean American, there had always been this sort of gap between my Korean culture and identity and the American culture that I'd grown up with."

Studying Korean American history is also a draw for students who are not Korean American — about a quarter of the class. For some, their interest was piqued as fans of Korean dramas and K-pop. Others related to the universalities of being an immigrant.

Tenth-grader Guillermo Castro repeats a quote he’s heard his teacher say.

“The Korean American story is not just the Korean story; it's the great American story,” Castro said. “That quote really moves for me because it makes me realize that the American story is built off of different cultures."

Overcoming racism

Kim is teaching them the Korean American stories he wishes he had learned as a kid — like that of L.A.-born Young Oak Kim. He overcame racism in the U.S. Army to become one of its most decorated officers of the 20th century. During WWII, he famously led the 100th Infantry, made up mostly of second-generation Japanese American soldiers.

Korean American Olympian Sammy Lee won back-to-back gold medals in platform diving.

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PJ Capilla

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AP

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Kim had been offered a transfer because Japan's occupation of Korea had created tensions among immigrants in the U.S., but he refused, saying he was American as were his soldiers.

“He really embodied what it means to live in a multiracial America,” Kim said.

Then there was Olympian Sammy Lee who dominated the platform diving events. One of his training grounds had been a segregated pool in Pasadena which he and other swimmers of color could only use on certain days.

“Yet he has such a story of resilience: back-to-back gold medals for the United States of America,” Lee said.

Breaking the silence

Kim has wanted to teach a class on the Korean American experience for a while. Then the pandemic hit and anti-Asian attacks surged in number.

“I started seeing elderly folks getting pushed down and beaten, bones broken, dying sometimes," Kim said. "And then I heard about the Atlanta shootings, and we saw the six Asian American women that were murdered, I knew I could not be silent on this topic anymore."

Kim thought about what he could do as an educator.

The San Gabriel Valley played host to two vigils on Saturday for the victims of the Atlanta shooting spree, including this one in San Gabriel.

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Josie Huang

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LAist

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“What about if we create spaces where students can listen to one another of their stories," Kim wondered. "Might that accelerate compassion in our great nation?”

Over the next few years, Kim developed a curriculum with Korean American history experts at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton and received support from the Korean Consulate General in L.A.

The class was never meant to be just for Korean Americans. Abigail Tafesse says she brings her perspective as an Ethiopian American to lessons.  

Something she says that really stuck with her was learning how the "model minority" myth was used to drive a wedge between Asian and Black Americans. 

“In a Korean American class, you expect to learn about Korean Americans — which we do — but you also get to see how other communities were affected at the same time,” Tafesse said.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to students was how much they learned about themselves. 

Through a class assignment, Shion Lee learned more about her great-grandfather, the Korean composer Lee Sang-geun.

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Courtesy of the Lee family

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One of the first assignments Kim gave his students was to write their family histories. Shion Lee said was more familiar with her dad's path to the U.S. where he runs a design/build company. But she knew less about her mother's past and started probing.

She discovered her mother, Heejin, had given up a career teaching music composition at a university to move to the U.S. and start a family.

“She never told me that and I thought that's like a pretty important life event,” Lee said.

Her mom’s love of composing had been fostered by her grandfather — a composer named Lee Sang Geun who's been described as Korea’s Tchaikovsky and is the namesake of an annual music festival. (Listen to a performance of his music here.)

Heejin Lee fondly shared how her grandfather took her to concerts.

Talking with her daughter “reminds me of the old days, and the passion I had for my music,” she said in Korean.

The Korean American studies class met in-person in November to celebrate the students' family "stories of resilience" at Cambridge Virtual Academy. Shion Lee and her mother Heejin sit at the far right.

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Courtesy of Jeff Kim

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Last month, mother and daughter took part in a student-parent panel for the Korean American studies class, the first time it had met in-person to celebrate their families' "stories of resilience."

Shion says she’s not sure when else she would have thought to ask her mom about her past life. But if her class has taught her anything, some of the most important history could be right in front of you.