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Honoring fourteen of Philadelphia's most influential Asian Pacific Americans during Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month: Judge Marutani, Judge Ida Chen, Dr. Philip Jaisohn, In Ho Oh, Chief Inspector Wong, Vai Sikahema, Siani Lee, Grace Uyehera, Cecilia Moy Yep, Nick Shenoy, Julie Wong, Sarah Chang, Piquant "Skip" Voluntad Jr., and Reverend Peter Hwang.
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WHEREAS, Dr. Philip Jaisohn (January 7, 1864 - January 5, 1951) was a Korean American political activist and physician. He moved to the United States as a political refugee and was the first Korean to receive an American medical degree and the first Korean naturalized citizen of the United States. Jaisohn was a key organizer of the First Korean Congress in Philadelphia, which declared Korean independence from imperial Japan; and
WHEREAS, In Ho Oh was a 26-year-old graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania who was tragically bludgeoned to death by a group of West Philly youths when he was mailing a letter to his parents in Korea in 1958. The U.S. government issued a formal apology to the Oh family. Oh's family forgave the youth and raised money for their rehabilitation, education and spiritual guidance. The In Ho Oh story was reported nationally and internationally in such publications as Time, Life, and Guidepost. A film, "Epistle from the Korea," was made. Mayor Richard Dillworth served on the board of the In Ho Oh Memorial Center and Marion Anderson attended its Center. In Ho Oh is buried at Old Pine Church. His tombstone reads, " To Turn Sorrow into Christian Purpose"; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable William Marutani (March 21, 1923 - November 15, 2004) was the first Asian American judge in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During World War II, Marutani and his family were incarcerated at the Pinedale Assembly Center for 6 months in Fresno, California. As a second lieutenant, he served in the U.S. Military Counterintelligence Corps in Japan before finishing his under...
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