Dosan Media
도산 안창호 기록관
No. 4 of 4
Los Angeles
1902–1969
The First Korean American Family
Yi Hye Ryon and Dosan came to San Francisco on 14 October 1902, the first married couple to come to America from Korea. Five children, all born in America, four of them in Los Angeles. Not from Hawaii. Not a picture bride. Not from Pachappa. And the daughter UC Riverside put on its wall with my name under her.
The leader
Not from Hawaii. Not picture brides. Not from Pachappa.
Yi Hye Ryon came to San Francisco on October 14, 1902 with her husband Dosan Ahn Chang Ho. They were the first married couple to come to America from Korea. She lived in California for all 67 years. Her five children were all born in America, four of them near Bunker Hill in Los Angeles. The Ahns might be considered the First Korean American Family.
"Footsteps of Korean Americans" is propaganda, not history. Our families did not move to the US from Hawaii in 1905 or at any time. We were not sugar plantation slaves. Chang and Park just make "facts" up, and UC Riverside and the City of Riverside support this misinformation with no concern for the truth. Using our pictures without permission is against the law, besides being unethical.
I have always claimed to be a Cuddy first and an Ahn second. I never claimed to be the official representative of the Ahn family. When it comes to Dosan's history and Independence Movement history I am the most qualified of Dosan's family. I am not backhanded. Every criticism I have made was up front, in the public record, and what I firmly believe to be the truth.
Philip Ahn Cuddy
Look at these two
Document · Published by UC Riverside; date of the post not yet recorded
“Moved from Hawaii in 1905”: the claim, as published
A screenshot from “Footsteps of Korean Americans”, the UC Riverside YouTube post by Edward Chang and Carol Park, using a family photograph to say the Ahns came to the mainland from Hawaii in 1905.
Our families did not move to the US from Hawaii in 1905 or at any time. We were not sugar plantation slaves. This misrepresented photo is from the same family event as the 1956 photograph in this paper.
Chang and Park just make "facts" up, and UC Riverside and the City of Riverside support this misinformation with no concern for the truth. Using our pictures without permission is against the law, besides being unethical. Once is a mistake. More than once is a choice.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Screenshot of UC Riverside's published claim, reproduced for comment · Verified primary record
Photograph · December 1956 · Los Angeles, California
The Ahn family, December 1956
The family forty years after the Figueroa photograph, at Philip Ahn's Hollywood Bowl house in Los Angeles. Me, Yi Hye Ryon, Pamela Ahn (Philson's daughter), Susan Ahn Cuddy, Barbara Ahn Lee, Philip Ahn, Luciel Lee Ahn (Philson's wife), Soorah Ahn, Ralph Ahn and Philson Ahn.
Susan Ahn Cuddy and her two children were living with Yi Hye Ryon and Soorah Ahn at the Victoria Avenue house. Susan, whose home was in Virginia, was researching Indonesia on her National Security Agency fellowship at USC.
The web copy is 450 pixels wide. The original is in the family; a proper scan replaces this when I find it.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
The lead record
Photograph · 1917 · 106 N. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles
The Ahn family at 106 N. Figueroa, 1917
Philson, Dosan, Soorah, Philip, Susan and Yi Hye Ryon (Helen Ahn) outside the Victorian house on Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. Taken in 1917 before Dosan left California for Merida, Mexico.
This was one of my grandmother's favorite family photos. 106 N. Figueroa Street was Dosan's favorite home, and it was a far better living situation than Riverside labor camp life.
All five children were born in America. Philson is the only one not born in the city of Los Angeles; he was born in Riverside in 1912. The other four were born in Los Angeles between 1905 and 1926: Philip in Highland Park, the rest near Bunker Hill. The Ahns were Angelinos, and proud of their homes in Los Angeles.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
The rest of the file
Document · Published by UC Riverside; date of the post not yet recorded
“Picture bride”: the claim, as published
A second screenshot from the same UC Riverside video, applying the picture-bride label to the family. Yi Hye Ryon came to San Francisco on 14 October 1902 with her husband. They were the first married couple to come to America from Korea.
She was not a picture bride. She arrived with Dosan, married, in 1902, and lived in California for 67 years. Falsifying facts and making misleading claims: once is a mistake. More than once is a choice.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Screenshot of UC Riverside's published claim, reproduced for comment · Verified primary record
Photograph · 1907
Yi Hye Ryon, 1907
My grandmother in 1907, in a white dress, holding her first child. Dosan was in Korea; she was in Redlands.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Captioned '1907' on slide 32 of Press-Conference-Pachappa.pptx (Philip Ahn Cuddy) · Verified primary record
Photograph · 1943 · Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida
Susan Ahn Cuddy, Naval Air Station Pensacola, 1943
My mother, Susan Ahn Cuddy, United States Navy, at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, 1943. The first Asian American woman gunnery officer in the US Armed Forces. Photo credit: Philip Cuddy.
UC Riverside used this photograph in its 'Pachappa Camp Exhibition Walkthrough' video of 14 December 2021, credited 'Photo: Philip Cuddy'. They know whose picture it is. See the screenshots in this paper.
My Korean mother, the first Asian woman gunnery officer in the US Armed Forces, broke Japan's military codes during her US Navy service in World War II, and continued to monitor Japan at the National Security Agency.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Photo: Philip Cuddy (as credited by UCR Arts, 2021) · Verified primary record
Document · 14 December 2021 · Riverside, California
UC Riverside's exhibition, using my mother's photograph, credited to me
Screenshot of UCR Arts' YouTube video “Pachappa Camp Exhibition Walkthrough (English)”, 14 December 2021, at 8:29: “Susan Ahn Cuddy, 1943, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fl. Credit: Philip Cuddy.”
They put my mother on their wall and my name under her, in an exhibition built on a date they know is wrong.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Screenshot on slide 46 of Press-Conference-Pachappa.pptx (Philip Ahn Cuddy), reproduced for comment · Verified primary record
Document · Date to be read from the receipt · Cheonan, Korea
Receipt from the Independence Hall of Korea
인수증: the Independence Hall of Korea's receipt for a donated collection. Philip Cuddy organized and arranged the donation of Jacob Dunn's collection to Korea.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Captioned on slide 30 of Press-Conference-Pachappa.pptx (Philip Ahn Cuddy) · Held, not yet sourced