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.
#506606 in Books 2000-06-08Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 .97 x 6.37 x 9.37l; #File Name: 0252025377296 pages
Review
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. A Pioneering HistoryBy Jack BlockerAs a professional historical researcher studying African-American migration and urbanization in the Midwest; I found this book invaluable. This is the first study of a black-majority town in the Midwest; and it represents a model of how such a study should be conducted. Anyone tackling the task of writing the history of ordinary people faces severe problems in finding sources; and this problem is compounded when one's subjects are African Americans. In particular; sources are extremely rare which reflect the perspective of working-class African Americans. Sundiata Cha-Jua has overcome these problems brilliantly.He has mined a wide variety of source materials. Fortunately; African-American newspapers in Springfield; Illinois and St. Louis reported on events in Brooklyn and sometimes carried correspondence from Brooklyn residents. Manuscript censuses; probate records; and city directories have been used to reconstruct the socioeconomic structure of the community at various points in time. Criminal records also reflect community conflict.These sources; employed with empathy and interrogated with important historical questions in mind; support a plausible narrative of the history of an African-American community from the perspective of the people themselves. Cha-Jua follows the community from its beginnings as a group of escaped slaves; through a series of struggles to wrest control from whites; to Brooklyn's eventual fate as a working-class dormitory community and vice district within the metro-east region. While sympathetic to the aspirations of community residents; the author is clearsighted in his critique of community factionalism and leadership failures. Throughout; he places the history of this tiny midwestern community in the context of larger developments within its region and the nation. As a result; the book carries us a long step forward in our understanding of African-American life during the industrial age.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Page TurnerBy Beverly A HarperThis is the place my husband was born in and really liked some of the stuff the author was saying and finding out some things about the town I didn't know; also seeing some of my own relatives mentioned in this book really took me back in the day. If there is anyone out there from the area buy this book u won't regret it.
