Dosan Ahn Chang Ho
the Founding Father of America's first Koreatown and
the Birthplace of Korean Constitution in Riverside, California

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho (1878 - 1938), one of the most prominent and respected leaders of modern Korea, was an epitome of an "intellectual in action" in 20th century Korea.

Dosan, the pen name of Ahn Chang Ho, means a mountain rising out of the ocean, the Korean name for the island of Hawaii rising out of the Pacific Ocean, which Dosan saw from his ship on his first trip to the U.S. in 1902.

Ahn Chang Ho and wife Lee Hye-Ryeon immigrated to the U.S. in October 1902 as citizens of the Daehanjeguk (대한제국) the Korea Empire, a new name of Joseon kingdom of Korea. They were the first married Korean couple to arrive in the U.S..

The official immigration of Koreans to the U.S. began with 102 people aboard the S.S.Gaelic arriving in Hawaii on January 13, 1903. However, by the time more than 7,000 Koreans were living in the U.S. in 1905, they no longer had a country.

The Japan–Korea Treaty, also known as the Eulsa Unwilling Treaty signed in 1905 under duress of Japanese troops at the Korean imperial palace, deprived Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty.

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, with four charter members, started the first Korea independent movement in the U.S. in San Francisco by forming the United Korean Association (Kong Lip Hyophoe 공립협회) with 800 active members in nine branch offices in the western U.S. and additional branches in Manchuria and in Russia, promoting national consciousness and the movement to restore Korean sovereignty.

The United Korean Association raised funds from its membership and purchased a three-story headquarters building in San Francisco, California on November 14, 1905.

One of the best employment for immigrant workers in early 1900's was at the citrus farms in Riverside in southern California located about 90 kilometers east of Los Angeles.

The first Korean American community called Pachappa Camp was formed where Dosan Ahn Chang Ho settled with his wife Lee Hye-Ryeon (이혜련) in 1905.

Researchers at the University of California at Riverside discovered historical records and photographic archives confirming the formation of America’s first Koreatown called the Pachappa Camp.

When Violet Catherine Kim, who was born at the Pachappa Camp, passed away in 2018, many items of historical significance were discovered from her estate including "photos, ledgers, clothing, and many other historical records of Pachappa Camp" according to Professor Edward T. Chang, Professor of Ethnic Studies and founding director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at UC Riverside.

Unlike many places in the U.S. and in Mexico where Korean immigrant bachelors worked, families with women and children moved into Riverside and formed the first Koreatown in the mainland USA.

As one of the first Korean immigrants to the U.S., Dosan Ahn Chang Ho organized grassroots Korean American community structures wherever he went.

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho launched the Kong Lip Shinbo (공립신보 共立新報) one of the first Korean language newspaper in America, which kept Korean immigrants informed.

The news about the assassination of Durham White Stevens (1851 - 1908) an American diplomat and later an employee of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working for the Japanese colonial office in Korea, by Korean-Americans Jang In-hwan and Jeon Myeong-un in one of the first acts of nationalist rebellion by Koreans in the U.S. was reported in the newspaper and ignited the Korea independence movement.

Dosan also created the Korean Labor Bureau in Riverside, California, which helped Korean workers employed. "During the early 1900s Riverside was one of the wealthiest cities in California. Korean workers came from San Francisco, Hawaii, and other parts of the country to work in the California citrus groves." said Professor Chang.

The Pachappa Camp was also known as "Dosan’s Republic" and the cooperative labor camp enabled economic prosperity for Korean workers in the US, which in turn funded the Korea independence movement.

Several Korean American organizations merged into the Korean National Association of North America in 1909, with chapters in many locations in North America including in Mexico.

The Korean National Association (KNA) in America enabled Korean immigrants to pay tax and support the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule during the darkest years in Korean history.

Eight years prior to the funding and organizing the provisional government in Shanghai, Dosan had already been an architect of the pan-Korean political gatherings of the Korean National Association in the United States in Riverside, California.

At the 1911 Korean National Association Convention in Riverside, California, delegates studied and discussed various issues for ten days, and passed the 21 articles of governance, institutionalized the idea of separation of powers through the three branches of government, and announced the establishment of the Central Council.

"At the time, Pachappa Camp, the first Koreatown in the USA, was the largest and perhaps most active center of the independence movement in the United States. Dosan Ahn Chang Ho lived in Riverside, California in 1904-1907 and in 1911-1913." said Professor Chang.

After establishing Korean American community organizations in the US, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho briefly returned to Korea to ignite independence movements and educate young grassroots leaders by forming the New People's Association (신민회 新民會) in 1906.

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho also launched the Heung Sa Dan (흥사단 興士團) or Young Korean Academy, an association founded in San Francisco in 1913 to develop Korena grassroots leaders.

The KNA raised funds with which Ahn Chang Ho launched the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai in 1919, only nine years after Japan annexed Korea and turned it into a colony of Japan.

Instead of just random independence movements, Koreans formed a provisional government with democratic republic principles less than a decade into the Japanese colonial rule, in the nearby port city of Shanghai.

Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, who was one of the founding fathers of the Shanghai Korean Provisional Government, served as the Minister of Home Affairs and Deputy Minister at the inaugural launch.

The 1919 declaration of the provisional government of Korea, has always been an academic mystery, given the nature of the constitution of the new government was a more democratic republic and less dynastic monarchy system of government which Koreans have been living under for several millennia.

Not too long ago in Korea the 500-year old Joseon dynastic monarchy executed Christians and persecuted Buddhism under Neo-Confucianism which dominated the politics and the government.

The constitution of the Korean Provisional Government articulates egalitarian values engraved in the U.S. constitution such as all men are created equal.

The articles in the constitution of the Korean Provisional Government include:
Article 2 The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea resides in the entire Korean people.
Article 4 The people of the Republic of Korea are all equal.
Article 8. The people of the Republic of Korea shall enjoy the following freedom.
1. Freedom of religion.
2. Freedom of possession of wealth and farming.
3. Freedom of press, publication, protest and assembly.
4. Freedom of privacy in mail.
5. Freedom of relocation.

All of the above democratic principles were later incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic of Korea promulgated in July 1948.

Ahn Pil Lip (필립), better known as the Hollywood actor Philip Ahn, was born as the first child of Dosan and Helen Lee in Los Angeles in 1905.

The first Hollywood Walk of Fame star for an Asian American actor was dedicated to honor Actor Philip Ahn in Hollywood on November 18, 1984, posthumously.

From picking oranges as immigrant workers to a next generation becoming a Hollywood movie star, the Ahn family certainly realized the American Dream.

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