제2차 세계대전과 캘리포니아 한인사회의 특성

A Study on the World War Ⅱ and the Characteristics of Korean Community in California

The object of this study is to examine the characteristics of Korean community in California during 1940s. Using Oral histories, autobiographies, special collections, and contemporary studies, this study analyzes how Koreans in California were influenced by the breakdown of the World War Ⅱ and formated their characteristics as they adapted in California during this period. The legal status of Korean immigrants was aliens ineligible to citizenship like other Asian immigrants who bear the brunt of the racial hierarchy in the United States. Furthermore, Koreans abroad were considered subjects of Japan by the United States because Korea had been under Japanese rule since 1910. Koreans in California had applied different ways of adjustment depending on anti-Japanese hostility and racism During World War Ⅱ, the racial prejudice for Asians as well as anti-Japanese movement in California had been greatly changed. Because wartime mobilization afforded all Asians socioeconomic mobility, Koreans could acquire better socioeconomic opportunities. Koreans in California maintained basic traditional values-the relationship between parents and children, the authority of husband, separation of sexual roles in family, emphasis on the education. Nevertheless, they had to change some traditional values due to the economic and legal changes. Their efforts to accommodate in California were reflected on equal support of education, alleviation of social preference of son, sexual equality, improvement of woman’s position, and dual loyalty for Korea and the United States.