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Going to America
I am Jae-Sun Park of Taegu, Korea. I am 19 years old. Taegu is a small town, and my family owns a small butcher shop. We are very poor, and the Japanese Occupation of Korea has done nothing to help that. We are oppressed. But I have heard that in America lies great opportunity and freedom. They say there are more than enough jobs. I hope to go to America to start a new life for myself. My steamer leaves tomorrow. -
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Arrival
From boat trip to San Francisco -
The Boat Trip
This boat trip is not great. In the steerage cabin, there are so many bunks, but we are separated by race and gender. The bathroom buckets are cleaned far too rarely, seasickness is rampant, and the food can make you vomit even by itself. -
The Gentlemen's Agreement
The boat journey has taken nine days, and yet I am waiting again on this Angel Island for the officials to let me through. There has been a ban on Japanese Immigration, and seeing as Korea is a part of the Japanese Empire, the ban has been extended to Korean people. Myself included, even though I began my journey the day before the ban was signed. -
Hope Returns
The officials have finally let me through, although it has been a day shy of two weeks since I have arrived. I am getting off the island! Most people leave after two or three days, but since I was a special case, I had to wait longer, along with the others that were on my steamship. I have made a friend in another Korean boy looking for opportunity, Eun-Suk. He was on the same boat as me. We plan to go to San Francisco together and share a rented room to save money. -
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San Francisco
The time I spent in San Francisco -
A New Job
I have found a job in the dry-goods store of a wealthy Chinese man, Wei-Ling Shen. He pays good money, and even offers discounts on store items to his employees! I am very fortunate, for it's not easy to find a job in America when you know so little English, and are a Korean man. -
Better Times Ahead ctd.
Eun-Suk, my best friend, is staying behind. His job is still offered to him, and he hopes to marry Mr. Shen’s daughter. -
Better Times Ahead
I knew my job in the dry-goods shop was too good to be true, because competing stores have taken customers and forced Mr. Shen to fire some workers. I was one of the unlucky workers. But there is supposed to be great opportunity in the north, a great city called Seattle. Outside of the city there are acres and acres of trees, and lumber companies need workers. I plan to work there. Eun-Suk, my best friend, is staying behind. His job is still offered to him, and he hopes to marry Mr. Shen’s daugh -
Train Ride North
This train ride is reminiscent of the boat ride that I took to get here. It is crowded full of people, and there is not a breath of air to be had. Why can't we share room on the train with the wealthy in front? We are people too. America is supposed to be a land of equality and justice. But it is just like Korea, with the Japanese breathing down our necks at every turn. Opression. Segregation. Humiliation. Maybe coming here was a mistake. -
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The Trains Going To And From Seattle
The time I spent traveling to Seattle, in Seattle, and going from. -
The Lumberjack ctd.
Keisuke is just barely 17, with no hard feelings towards anyone. I can't see how someone that could be my younger brother could come from a place so evil. -
The Lumberjack
I have finally gotten a job working for a lumber company. The wages of the white men are less than those at the dry-goods store, and mine, even lower. I will take what I can, for beggars cannot be choosers, It doesn't mean I have to like it, though. The work is backbreaking, a harsh reality check from the easy and sometimes fun work at Mr. Shen's store. I have a tree cutting partner, a Japanese man named Keisuke. I would normally think of a Japanese as an enemy, an oppresor of my people. -
An Accident
Today, my tree partner Keisuke and I were cutting down a tree. We didn't even realize he was there, I swear we didn't! And he didn't move out of the way in time. I have killed my boss' small son today. That man loved his son more than he loved life, money, anything. He will kill me, no matter what I say. I need to get out of Seattle. -
New Life on the Island
I am currently in Oahu’, Hawai’i, and I work for a sugar plantation. It is hard work, and pay is low, but I will not be found here. My name is now Eun-Je, and I have been running away from my past in Seattle for years. Keisuke is with me, but he is Takayushi now. We are wanted criminals, pegged as dangerous murderers by the country we thought would free us. I don’t know what lies ahead, and what has happened in the past, will hopefully stay there.
