A Wedding Gift from Korea

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The Korean embroidered screen that now resides in my home was passed down to me by my mother, In Soon Kim. She was born in 1933 in North Korea during the Japanese occupation.

After World War II, she escaped to Seoul, South Korea. When communist forces invaded South Korea, her family fled once again, this time to Busan. They eventually made their way back to Seoul.

Her mother encouraged her to find a path to America. She sang in the choir at a U.S. Army base and eventually found a sponsor family in Montana.

She arrived in the United States in her early twenties and met my father, who was living in Michigan. They were married at her sponsors’ home in Montana.

Her family, unable to attend the wedding, sent several wedding gifts, including a framed embroidered artwork and a folding screen. My mother later passed the screen on to me. It represents my heritage and all that she and her family endured.

Photo caption if needed.

Lisa Bell

Lisa Bell is a second-generation Korean American who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania where her family was essentially the entire Asian community.

She learned her mother’s story only after her sister’s friend interviewed her mother for a high school history essay. Before then, her mother may have felt that the story was too difficult to explain to her young children. Lisa also believes that her mother learned to survive by looking toward the future rather than dwelling on the past.

The pieces of Korean heritage passed down from her mother connect Lisa to a country she is still learning about. They also represent her mother’s strength, resilience, and bravery at such a young age. Lisa is deeply grateful for her mother and proud to be Korean.