Korean Picture Brides

About the Book

The Legacy of Korean Picture Brides is a collection of twenty-eight (28) oral history interviews conducted by Sonia Shinn Sunoo during the 1970s. A companion volume to her first volume of oral histories, Korea Kaleidoscope, this collection focuses on the trials and experiences of the first generation of Korean immigrant women in America. A particular focus was to capture the first-hand story of "picture brides." These women were so ready to escape the constricted Confucian society of early twentieth century Korea--and the tightening Japanese rule over their homeland--that they were willing to hand their fates over to marriage brokers seeking to find wives for Korean men who had left for Hawaii and the American mainland

About the Author

Helen Sonia Shinn Sunoo was born in San Francisco in 1915. Her parents were early Korean immigrants and her mother was a picture bride. She received her B.A. and M.A. at San Francisco State University. Further, she pursued her education at Stanford University, Vassar College, and the University of Washington. She taught at the University of Washington, University of Missouri, and Central Methodist College, where she was the Dean of Women. She is author of Kaleidoscope and many articles on Korean immigrants. She is married, has two sons and three grandchildren.