Kim Hye-won, the foremost female activist in the Americas, immigrated to Hawaii with her family as a labor immigrant in 1905. She was the sister of Kang Young-seung, who became the first Korean in the Americas to earn a Doctor of Law degree. In Hawaii, she bought a sewing machine and did sewing work, while her mother and sister-in-law worked in laundry to make a living. They earned 5 cents for each shirt they washed, starched, and delivered. Working hard together, they made about $50 a month, but after sending money for her brother’s tuition, they barely got by. While sewing, she began attending school and moved to San Francisco on the condition that her future husband would support her education.
In 1912, she married Kim Sung-kwon (who later served as the chairman of the Korean National Association) in San Francisco, officiated by Pastor Lee Dae-wi in 1913. After marriage, she continued sewing and took care of the household. When her child fell ill, she had to pawn her wedding ring to afford a hospital visit. After moving to Dinuba, California, she worked on a grape farm with her sister-in-law, Kang Won-sin, cooking for the farm workers while participating in the women’s independence movement.
On March 2, 1919, she organized the Shinhan Women’s Association in the Dinuba area and unified various women’s organizations in the Americas. On August 5, a joint founding meeting of women’s associations was held at the Korean Presbyterian Church in Dinuba, attended by representatives from the Dinuba Shinhan Women’s Association, Los Angeles Women’s Association, Sacramento Korean Women’s Association, San Francisco Korean Women’s Association, and Willows Women’s Association. They established the Korean Women’s Patriotic Organization, and she was appointed as the first leader.
After 1930, she moved to Los Angeles and actively supported the activities of the Korean Women’s Patriotic Organization and the Korean National Association’s national movement. In 1940, she was re-elected as the 8th leader of the Korean Women’s Patriotic Organization and actively assisted the finances of the Provisional Government and the National Assembly. She dedicated her life to providing ethnic education for the children of her compatriots and to the independence movement of her homeland. In 1995, the government posthumously awarded her the Order of National Foundation, Patriot Medal.
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