미주 한인사회의 초기 구국운동과 한민족의 정체성 : 1910년대 한인교회를 중심으로

Abstract

Last year marked the centennial anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States. There were various celebrations and academic conferences both in Korea and overseas to commemorate the anniversary. This article is a development of the speech delivered at the symposium in August, 2003 in Los Angeles, celebrating the centennial anniversary of Korean-American churches. The final chapter on the identity of Korean-American communities was originally presented in July, 2002 to a symposium held by the Association of Korean-American Schools It is since the 1860s that Koreans began making communities in other lands. At first, most immigrants were poor peasants uprooted from their native lands and migrated to “Gando” region. But after Korea became annexed by the Japanese, overseas immigration began in a large scale. Koreans who went to sugar farms in Hawaii in 1903 marked the first immigration to the American soil. This first immigration was promoted and arranged by the Protestant churches in Korea, and hence immigrants were mostly Christians. Naturally, the Korean communities in American, from the beginning, showed a strong Christian character. In addition to their Christian character, the Korean-American communities clearly demonstrated anti-Japanese, national tendencies. Considering the Japanese occupation of their mother land, such attitude of the Korean immigrants' is understandable. This article first tries to examine the development of Korean-American communities and churches. Then it deals of Korean-American communities' national independence activities, and interprets their historical meanings. The final chapter is devoted to the appraisal of the place that Korean-American communities occupy in Korean national history and its relations with the identity of the Korean people from a broad, global perspective.