1935 Los Angeles City College Field Hockey Team at Griffith park. Susan Ahn is in front row, 3rd from right.
The U.S. Navy initially rejected Susan Ahn Cuddy when she applied for officer training because she was Asian and anti-miscegenation laws in Virginia prevented her from marrying Frank Cuddy, an Irish American. The type who doesn’t take no for an answer, Cuddy became the Navy’s first female gunnery officer (that means she trained male pilots how to shoot 50-caliber machine guns) in 1944, went on to work for the National Security Agency where she had 300 intelligence specialists under her command, and did marry her Irishman with whom she had two children.
This “Stepping on the Spirit of the Earth Ceremony” is being held at the Morning Glory stationary store on Lawrence Avenue in Chicago. This ceremony is a part of the Korean Lunar New Year’s celebration and performed annually by the Work and Play group. (Courtesy of Korean American Resource and Cultural Center.)
Jishin Balpgi, literally meaning “Stepping on the Spirit of the Earth,” is a traditional folk festival marking the beginning of the Lunar New Year in the Korean calendar dating back more than 4,300 years.
Il Kwa Nori, meaning “Work and Play” in Korean, is composed of Korean American artists who perform traditional Korean percussion ensemble, called poongmul. For centuries, poongmul has been performed by commoners in Korea to celebrate hard work, build courage and hope for the future, give thanks for a good harvest, and generally liven up daily life. For this reason, poongmul is known as music of the people.
Friends at Venice Beach on Fourth of July, 1931. (Photo courtesy of LAPL.)
In the 1930’s, approximately 650 Koreans in Los Angeles County formed a community in the area between Adams and Slausen Boulevards and between Western and Vermont Avenues, now called South Central Los Angeles. Despite their small numbers, Koreans were targets of anti-Asian violence as well as anti-Asian legislation. Korean farm workers were attacked in Hemet Valley, California, in 1913, by an angry mob of white workers who mistook them for Japanese. The same year, California passed the Alien Land Act, which prohibited immigrants ineligible for citizenship - that is, Asians - from buying property.
Korean student social gathering. Macalester College, St. Paul 1955-1956. (Minnesota Historical Society)
The first Koreans to settle in Minnesota in significant numbers arrived during and after the Korean War (1950-53) and included students, wives of American servicemen, and war orphans adopted by American families. Since the end of the Korean War, thousands of American families have adopted more than 120,000 Korean babies and children—roughly 1 out of every 10 Korean Americans are adoptees. One of the largest concentrations is in Minnesota; while there are no definitive statistics, it’s estimated that roughly half of Minnesota’s Korean population of about 35,000 is adopted.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Susan Ahn Cuddy, USN
In 1942, like many Korean Americans, the three Ahn siblings, Ralph, Philip, and Susan, children from California’s first Korean immigrant family, enlisted in the U.S. military. The Ahn sister, Susan Ahn Cuddy, was the first Korean American woman in the U.S. military and the first female Navy gunnery officer. For her service in the WAVES, she reached the rank of Lieutenant.
A Sunday school class of First Korean United Methodist Church (FKUMC) 1964. (Courtesy of Chang Yong Lee.)
In the late 1960s, Korean American Sunday schools were formed to teach Korean culture and language in the Chicago area. It is believed that the first Korean school was the Chicago Korean School, which was established by the eighth president of the Korean American Association of Chicago, Paul Park and the secretary general of the YMCA, Rev. Young Hee Park. The first classes were held in the YMCA building on Lincoln and Barry Street in 1971. Sook Ja Kim was one of the first Korean language teachers in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Korean War Bond drive booth.
Feb 26, 1943. In Hawaii, citizens of all different races mobilized to help the war effort, organizing sales of war bonds aimed at specific subsets of the population. On this date, the Korean community also commemorated the 24th anniversary of Korea’s declaration of independence from Japan.
American diving champion Sammy Lee enters the water, his upper body completely rigid with straining muscles, during the 1948 Olympics, London, England, August 6, 1948. (Photo by FPG/Getty Images)
Dr. Samuel (“Sammy”) Lee (born August 1, 1920) is the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving. His dream of becoming an Olympic diver was not easy; because of discriminatory policies, he could only practice at the local training pool the one day a week when non-whites were allowed in (astoundingly, after the non-white day, the pool was entirely drained and refilled with “clean” water). When he couldn’t use the pool, Lee would practice jumping into a sand pit.
The documentary, “Sa-I-Gu”, Korean for April 29, opens a window on Korean American women in Los Angeles whose stores — and lives — were devastated in the aftermath of the Rodney King Trial.
