The Golden Mountain: The Autobiography of Korean Immigrant: 1895-1960

Abstract

At the age of ten and unaccompanied by any adult, Easurk Charr came to Hawaii in 1904, a convert to Christianity who hoped to earn enough money to acquire an education and return to his native Korea as a medical missionary. The Golden Mountain is Charr's story of his early years in Korea, his migration to Hawaii and the mainland, and the joys and pain of his life as one of some seven thousand Koreans who migrated to the United States between 1903 and 1905. Charr tells eloquently of his difficulties in becoming a naturalized citizen, even after serving in the army, of his sergeant's encouragement of his quest for citizenship, his return to San Francisco and a job in a cousin's barbershop during the Depression, and of the American Legion's help when his Korean-born wife was threatened with deportation proceedings after her student visa expired. After becoming a naturalized citizen, Charr took the civil service examination and, for the remainder of his working life, was employed by the U.S. government, first in Nevada and then in Portland, Oregon. The introduction and annotations by Wayne Patterson provide a broader perspective on both Charr and the Korean immigrant experience.