Bill Text: CA ACR5 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 5 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Day.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-28 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [ACR5 Detail]

Download: California-2019-ACR5-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 5

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk-Silva

December 10, 2018

Relative to Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 5, as introduced, Quirk-Silva. Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Day.

This measure would declare November 9, 2019, and each November 9 thereafter, as Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Day.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho is regarded as one of the most significant patriotic figures by Koreans at home and abroad; and

WHEREAS, Korean independence leader Dosan Ahn Chang Ho was born on November 9, 1878, in Korea. He is to the Korean and Korean American community as Mahatma Gandhi is seen to the people of India, for he is held in highest esteem; and

WHEREAS, As a teenager, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho’s desire for a modern education led him to enroll in an American missionary-run school, the Miller Academy, in Seoul, Korea, where he became a Christian and graduated at 18 years of age in 1897, and to establish the Jeom Jin School, which was the first modern school in the country, in 1899; and

WHEREAS, American missionary educated, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho wished to know more about America, especially its educational system. This desire led him to come to America, where he arrived in San Francisco on October 14, 1902; and

WHEREAS, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho spent thirteen years of his life in the United States, primarily in California. This experience led him to many observations of American life, including politics, economics, and education; and

WHEREAS, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho helped and organized the early Korean immigrants who came to the United States to work on Hawaiian sugar plantations into a self-help community. He established the first organized Korean American settlement, Korean National Association, and a labor agency. Dosan Ahn Chang Ho’s organizational leadership helped lead to the success of the Korean American community within California; and

WHEREAS, When Korea was annexed and occupied by Japan from 1910 to 1945, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho spearheaded the Korean independence movement. His goal was for Koreans to promote and adopt democracy. His influence and actions helped Koreans understand the importance of a free nation and today democracy is firmly rooted in South Korea; and

WHEREAS, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho founded the Young Korean Academy, also known as the Heungsadahn, in San Francisco in 1913. It is still a robust organization dedicated to training and educating Koreans to cultivate morals and ethics that help build inner strength, community consciousness, and good citizenship; and

WHEREAS, The Korean American immigrant experience was, then, vastly enhanced by Dosan Ahn Chang Ho’s leadership, and even today his pioneering and patriotic spirit still lives on in the minds of Korean immigrants; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California adopts and declares November 9, 2019, and each November 9 thereafter, as Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Day.