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George Jones's review about Koreans in Hawaii in 1906 paints a tranquil picture of Koreans that contrasts with the Korean experience in the United States at that time. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898, but did not share the anti-Asian sentiment of the U.S. mainland. In 1910, the U.S. Census reported that 4,533 Koreans remained in Hawaii and 461 were living in the United States. Violent discrimination against Koreans was practiced in San Francisco, where restaurants refused to seat Asian customers. In fact, California laws supported anti-Asian behaviors; for instance, the Webb-Heney Land Law made it illegal for Asians to own property. The anti-Asian bias across the United States resulted in the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924, which banned all Asian immigration to the United States for 30 years.

Koreans do not have a long history of immigration. Rather, the nations policy for centuries has been one of...