Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 251

and held weddings, social activities, and other community functions like English classes. The
community flourished and Dosan’s wife and children also moved to Riverside where they
resided until 1913.
The importance of Pachappa Camp and the role the settlement played in the growth of the
Korean American community and the global Korean independence movement in the early 1900s
has long been overlooked by historians and academics. But, new discoveries including local
church records, maps, and newspaper articles illustrate just how important and significant
Pachappa Camp was. It is important to note that Korean women at Pachappa Camp played a very
important and active role in the independence movement as well. They helped with fund raising,
donated what little they had to the cause, and actively participated in meetings. In fact, they also
fundraised, gave lectures, and participated in discussion groups. Korean women not only worked
as well as the men, they also took care of the family, cooked, and maintained the Pachappa Camp
buildings.
Koreans living in the United States spent much of their time working for the independence of
Korea which became a protectorate of Japan in 1905 and was formerly colonized in 1910. Ahn
Chang Ho, Syngman Rhee, and other Korean independence activists worked to liberate Korea.
While the Korean National Association fought for Korea’s independence during the early 1900s,
Koreans in America were about to engage in their own independent recognition as non-Japanese.
On June 26, 1913, a group of eleven Koreans were contracted to work in Hemet, CA picking
apricots. But at the time anti-Asian sentiment was high. The Korean workers, who went to
Hemet by train, were greeted by white protestors who threw their baggage back at them and
forced the Koreans back on the train. This incident would later prove to be invaluable to the
Korean American community. As word spread of the event, Koreans became the subject of
American newspapers who reported on the story which became known as the “Hemet Valley
Incident.”
According to the news reports, the Japanese Consulate moved quickly to represent the Koreans,
who they claimed as Japanese subjects at the time. Outraged by the Japanese government’s
interference, the Korean National Association’s president David Lee, sent a telegram to then
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan proclaiming that Koreans in America were not
Japanese subjects and should be treated as Koreans.
Secretary of State Bryan took this opportunity to deflect criticism from the Japanese government
and issued a press release stating that “Koreans are not Japanese subjects.” The Hemet Valley
Incident would serve as an important moment in Korean American history. Koreans in America
were now unofficially recognized by the U.S. government and were considered free from
Japanese authority. In essence, the Korean American community gained semi-formal status and
the Korean National Association became the unofficial diplomatic representative of Koreans in
America.
The March 1, 1919 Mansei uprising in Korea which protested Japanese occupation inspired
Koreans living abroad to become more active in independence movements. Shortly after, on
April 13, 1919, the Korean Provisional Government was formed and its president Syngman Rhee
oversaw operations. Syngman Rhee also formed an independence organization known as the
Dongji-hoe, or Comrade’s Association. Established in Hawaii by Rhee, the organization moved
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