An innovative, visionary medium that showcases the richness/diversity in the Korean American experience. It empowers and uplifts the human spirit while serving to preserve the extensive and compelling stories of generations past. Koreanamericanstory.org is an organization with a truly important mission.
Our country is made up of immigrants from many nations and that diversity makes this country so unique, interesting and powerful.
KoreanAmericanStory.Org has proven through its leadership, dedication and hard work that the organization has archived and collected many fascinating and interesting immigration histories that can be shares with many generations and different cultures about Korean-American immigration history. I truly believe, this organization will continue to be a great platform for many of us to get connected, grow and build to enrich our culture well into the future.
Visionary nonprofit that creatively captures the history and stories of Korean Americans through multiple generations!
My father is 83 and my mother is 77. They came to the US 40 years ago, when I was 6. As part of KoreanAmericanStory.org's Legacy project, I recently interviewed my parents. I uncovered new stories of their escape from North Korea, their struggles establishing a life in Cleveland, Ohio and most touching, the things they regretted the most. Of course, topics like this never came up in normal conversation. I'm so grateful to have permanently captured these stories on film. My children may not be very interested in grandma and grandpa's stories now, but I know the time will come when they will want to know and their grandparents may not be with us then. Additionally, I am proud that KoreanAmericanStory.org embraces and gives a voice to the adoptee, bi/multi-racial and the LGBT Korean American community and raises up important issues such as illegal immigrants and mental illness that are often kept in the dark.
Although I too am a Korean American, it was not until I began to read the stories and heard the voices presented and preserved by this organization that I realized how diverse, complex, and nuanced the Korean American story truly is. I believe that this organization acts not only as a forum for preserving the history of the Korean American experience but also acts as a mirror wherein the full range of the Korean American experience as is currently lived is reflected.
KoreanAmericanStory.org strives after a grand vision - ultimately to preserve the stories of mutliple generations of Korean Americans from all walks of life and backgrounds that add color and diversity to the human thread of experience. It has a special place in society and contains a very unique potential to connect with people on various levels and platforms.
My experience with KoreanAmericanStory.org has been life-changing. They empowered me, presented challenging opportunities to me, and helped me accomplish goals that I never assumed possible prior to meeting them. As a Korean American artist, I was able to find my voice in various mediums with their guidance, encouragement, and patience. I am blessed to be a part of KoreanAmericanStory.org and look forward to growing more comfortable in my KoreanAmerican-ness with the help of this great organization.
KoreanAmericanStory.org has already enabled my mother and I to engage topics about Korean culture that usually aren't discussed in our family, especially topics related to migration and biculturalism . I believe that sometimes Korean immigrants may feel that their story of migrating to the United States is not "worth" telling to the public – perhaps this is because they rather not focus on the struggles with the legacy of the Korean War and instead focus on success in the US, or because they feel like a collective voice hasn’t been established. I get the sense through my fragmented conversations with my parents that there is much to be told, many gaps to fill.
I was born in the US, and like so many other Korean Americans, don’t fully understand Korean culture and also don’t speak Korean fluently. Even if I try to engage my parents about their migration experiences, I am speaking in mostly English and some broken Korean. By combining the visual and narrative in both Korean/English, KoreanAmericanStory.org is helping to bridge the gaps in my conversations. I want to have fuller conversations with my community.
This new organization is positioned to create a legacy for the stories of Korean Americans and their contribution as Americans and Koreans. With an ambitious mission statement, I believe this organization will make a lasting contribution for Korean Americans.
KoreanAmericanStory.org is an organization that works hard to give voice to all members of the Korean American community through highly personal stories told in an authentic manner in a variety of medium. Some of these stories are incredibly moving, some are funny, but they are all very interesting. This organization recognizes that while the immigrant experiences of Korean Americans are unique in some respects, these are stories of all Americans. These stories help to remind us how much we have in common with each other as a nation of immigrants, and help to connect as human beings.