Under the Black Umbrella

by Kang, Hildi

• ISBN13: 9780801472701
• ISBN10: 0801472709
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-20
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

In the rich and varied life stories in Under the Black Umbrella, elderly Koreans recall incidents that illustrate the complexities of Korea during the colonial period. Hildi Kang here reinvigorates a period of Korean history long shrouded in the silence of those who endured under the "black umbrella" of Japanese colonial rule. Existing descriptions of the colonial period tend to focus on extremes: imperial repression and national resistance, Japanese subjugation and Korean suffering, Korean backwardness and Japanese progress. "Most people," Kang says, "have read or heard only the horror stories which, although true, tell only a small segment of colonial life." The varied accounts in Under the Black Umbrella reveal a truth that is both more ambiguous and more human-the small-scale, mundane realities of life in colonial Korea. Accessible and attractive narratives, linked by brief historical overviews, provide a large and fully textured view of Korea under Japanese rule. Looking past racial hatred and repression, Kang reveals small acts of resistance carried out by Koreans, as well as gestures of fairness by Japanese colonizers. Impressive for the history it recovers and preserves, Under the Black Umbrella is a candid, human account of a complicated time in a contested place.

Table of Contents

Preface: Collecting the Interviews	xi
Acknowledgments	xvii
Conventions Used	xix
Introduction	1	(5)
First Encounters	6	(11)
PART I: CHANGE BY CHOICE
Shouts of Independence	17	(7)
A Map Changed My Life	24	(13)
Hong Ulsu
Choosing an Education	37	(12)
Through the Eye of a Needle	49	(12)
Kang Pyongju
Business Ventures and Adventures	61	(14)
I Almost Went to Canada	75	(12)
Yi Okhyon
PART II: CHANGE BY COERCION
A Red Line Marks My Record	87	(12)
Yi Hajon
Passive Resistance	99	(8)
Thought Police Stay for Dinner	107	(4)
Yu Hyegyong
Becoming Japanese	111	(12)
Drafted to the Kobe Shipyards	123	(7)
Chong Chaesu
The War Effort	130	(9)
Mansei Korea Forever--Ten Thousand Years	139	(18)
APPENDIXES
A. The Interviews	149	(1)
B. Bringing the Stories Up to Date, 1945--1997	150	(3)
C. Historical Overview, 1850--1945	153	(4)
Notes	157	(4)
Bibliography	161	(2)
Index of Proper Names	163