Nearly 60,000 Korean Americans live in the San Francisco Bay Area. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States, the Oakland Museum of California presents the exhibit In Our Own Voice: The Making of A Korean Community, a unique first-person exploration of the Korean American experience. The exhibit, created in collaboration with the East Bay Korean Centennial Committee, will be on display in the 20th-century section of the history main gallery from January 23 through November 28, 2004.

The installation will include photographs, historical artifacts, a video presentation, an illustrated time line and a mural incorporating images of the East Bay Korean American community. One rare artifact to be included is a flag from the Korean Independence Movement, circa 1920.

The content of the exhibit is informed by a series of oral history interviews conducted by nationally acclaimed filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem, whose award-winning autobiographical documentary, First Person Plural, has been featured in film festivals nationwide. The meetings and interviews--with recent immigrants, religious leaders of the community, Korean Americans born in California, Korean adoptees, and those of mixed-race backgrounds residing primarily in the East Bay--have yielded poignant artifacts for display and provided audio commentary for visitors to listen to as they go through the exhibit.

Since the first group of Koreans reached the shores of Hawaii to work in the sugar plantations, Korean Americans have played a key role in the economic, geographic, political, and cultural development of America. Koreans have come to the United States in three waves: in the early 1900s as agricultural workers and picture brides; in the 1950s and '60s as postwar immigrants; and in the last three decades as adoptees, low-wage workers, small-business owners and professionals.

In Our Own Voice: The Making of A Korean Community is part of the museum's innovative work to preserve and celebrate unique cultural traditions and to develop exhibits that focus on current issues and promote discussion in the community. The exhibit is curated by Aimee Klask, history researcher at the Oakland Museum of California.

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held January 23, 2004, from 7 to 9 p.m.

In Our Own Voice: The Making of A Korean Community is made possible by the generous support of the California Story Fund of the California Council for the Humanities, and the Oakland Museum History Guild.

For press information see www.museumca.org/press/

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