Soh Jaipil: the first Korean American

In honor of Korean-American Day, we wanted to highlight Soh Jaipil, perhaps better known as Dr. Philip Jaisohn. He was exiled from his homeland of Korea after the unsuccessful 1884 Gapsin Coup against the government.

Soon after his arrival to the U.S., Dr. Jaisohn became a man of many firsts: In 1890, he was the first Korean to become a naturalized citizen of the United States; in 1892, he was the first Korean to ever receive an American medical degree; in 1894, he married Muriel Armstrong (daughter of the U.S. Post Master General, and niece of President James Buchanan) which was the first known interracial marriage between a Korean and a U.S. American.

In 1896, he briefly returned to Korea and established Korea's first modern newspaper, Tongnip Sinmun (The Independent). The newspaper was written in vernacular script (Han’gul), making it possible for women, children, and people of all classes to access the information.

Dr. Jaisohn dedicated his life not only to medicine but he was also a leader in the continued fight for Korea’s independence, democracy, and modernization. His work earned him public recognition from Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, and the U.S. Congress in 1946. A statue of him is located outside of the Korean Consulate in Washington, D.C.

“He loved his native land, Korea; shook it from its slumbers, roused the young and thundered at the old. In exile, he embraced his adopted country, served it with true devotion, healed the sick, and advanced science. But, he never forgot his native soil, spared no effort for her freedom. And, to the end of his life, he remained a dedicated champion of the cause of humanity everywhere,” wrote Chong-Sik Lee, Korean American political scientist.

Sources: jaisohn.org and naka.org