Korean American

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Korean American
Herbert Choy and Michelle Wie
Total population

1,520,703
0.5% of the US population (2006)[1]
Regions with significant populations
California, New York City Metropolitan Area, Chicago Metropolitan Area, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Washington Metropolitan Area, Hawaii, Western Washington
Language(s)
English, Korean
Religion(s)
Christian (chiefly Protestant); Buddhist

Korean Americans (Korean: 한국계 미국인, Hanja: 韓國系美國人, hangukgye migugin) are Americans of Korean descent.

Contents

[edit] Demographics

As of 2000, there were approximately 1.4 million Korean Americans,[2] with large populations in California (esp. in the Los Angeles and San Francisco metro areas), New York, Georgia, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Nevada, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Los Angeles, with its Koreatown district, is home to the largest population of Koreans outside of Asia. Palisades Park, New Jersey has the highest concentration of people of Korean ancestry in the United States at 36.38% of the population. Georgia is home to the fastest-growing Korean community in the U.S., growing at a rate of 88.2% from 1990 to 2000.[1]

There are 56,825 adopted children of Korean nativity and place of birth (2000 U.S. Census); in addition, 99,061 Koreans were adopted into the U.S. from 1953-2001 (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002).[citation needed]

In a 2005 United States Census Bureau survey, an estimated 432,907 Koreans in the U.S. were native-born Americans, and 973,780 were foreign-born. Korean Americans that were naturalized citizens numbered at 530,100, while 443,680 Koreans in the U.S. were not American citizens.[2]

[edit] History

The first group of Korean laborers came to Hawaii in January 1903 to fill in gaps created by problems with Chinese and Japanese laborers. Between 1904 and 1907 about 1,000 Koreans entered the mainland from Hawaii through San Francisco.[3] Many Koreans dispersed along the Pacific Coast as farm workers or as wage laborers in mining companies and as section hands on the railroads.

Korean-American football player in Chicago, 1918
Korean-American football player in Chicago, 1918

After the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, Korean migration to the United States was virtually halted. Picture brides became a common practice for marriage to Korean men. After World War II, opportunities were more open to Asian Americans, enabling Korean Americans to move out of enclaves into middle-class neighborhoods. When the Korean War ended in 1953, small numbers of students and professionals entered the United States. A larger group of immigrants included the wives of U.S. servicemen, and as many as 150,000 adoptees. As many as one in four Korean immigrants in the United States can trace their immigration to the wife of a serviceman. With the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Koreans became one of the fastest growing Asian groups in the United States, surpassed only by Filipinos.

In 1965, the Immigration Act abolished the quota system that had restricted the numbers of Asians allowed to enter the United States. Large numbers of Koreans, including some from North Korean that have come via South Korea, have been immigrating ever since, putting Korea in the top five countries of origin of immigrants to the United States since 1975. The reasons for immigration are many including the desire for increased freedom and the hope for better economic opportunities.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Koreans became noted for their small businesses such as dry cleaners and convenience stores. Tensions between these owners and their customers, often African American, were publicized by press coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots as well as by the American film industry's movies such as Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.

Their children, along with those of other Asian Americans would also be noted in headlines and magazine covers in the 1980s for their numbers in prestigious universities. Favorable economics and education have led to the painting of Asian groups such as the Koreans as a "model minority."

A number of U.S. states have declared January 13 as Korean American Day in order to recognize Korean Americans' impact and contributions. Famous Korean-Americans include supreme court justice Herbert Choy, actress/comedian Margaret Cho and professional golfer Michelle Wie.

In recent years, ethnic Koreans from Mexico and Latin America (see Korean Mexican and Korean Peruvian) emigrated to the U.S. to further diverse the Korean-American community. There has been an intermingling of Korean and Central American cultures such as ethnic intermarriage on the rise by Korean and Central American mates in Los Angeles, both groups resided in the central section and the similarity of North and South Korean and Guatemalan/Salvadoran immigrants came to America for both economic fulfillment and political asylum from communist rule.[citation needed]

[edit] Politics

In a poll from the Asia Times before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, Korean Americans narrowly favored Republican candidate George W. Bush by a 41% to 38% margin over Democrat John Kerry, with the remaining 19% undecided or voting for other candidates [2].

[edit] Socioeconomics

Korean Americans hold diverse occupations, just as other ethnic groups in the U.S. do. As a generalization, some first generation Korean Americans run small businesses such as restaurants, small retail shops, and dry cleaning businesses. Such businesses often require some capital and long hours. Some Koreans immigrate at the expense of working in a job below their level of education to obtain an education in American schools for their children.

[edit] Religion

Korean Americans in America have historically had a very strong Christian heritage. More than 70% of Koreans living in America are Protestant or Roman Catholic. The other 28% are Buddhist and 2% non-religious or spiritualist-structuralist.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ S0201. Selected Population Profile in the United States. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  2. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Census2005
  3. ^ Patterson 2000: 1-11

[edit] Sources

  • Huntington, Samuel. "Are We a Nation "Under God"?", The American Enterprise, July-August 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-20. 
  • Patterson, Wayne (2000). The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawai'i, 1903-1972. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824822412. 

[edit] External links

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