Finger Rings- Quote begins 4 lines down

Last week, we traveled back in time to a more defined, more segregated, Emory. We all discovered the influential power of a particular Korean student and how he identified the 1890’s as a time hugely influenced by whites. Yun Ch’i-ho documented his experiences in the United States and his experiences on our beloved Emory campus during the 19^th century. He carefully details his everyday relationships with the students of Emory and most intriguing of all, were his documented feelings of attraction to the lovely ladies of Atlanta and Miss Janice.

What I found most interesting from Yun’s writings was his sexual attraction to the white females of The South. The Caucasian female was and, perhaps still, can be fundamentally described as pure- in character and beauty. Their golden blond hair and soft eyes caught the attention of Yun as he studied at Emory during the 1890’s. I think that this fundamental “stereotype” of white females is most interesting in Yun’s case because then I wonder…is it love? Is this attraction to Miss Janice pure love or is there something else we can decode from his scriptures in his diary. Could his profound feeling be lust? Lust to obtain something he couldn’t “have.”

The dynamics between what one truly loves versus lust is something to be considered when reading these documents. Most of my colleagues and I can be defined as two kinds of people; those of us who like to be “chased” by lovers and those of us who live for the chase. What I have found in my experience is that if not sometimes, most of the time, the chase and fight are far more pleasurable than no chase at all. There is a sense of accomplishment once we obtain the unattainable won by our sweat and blood. Whether the strategy of the chasers includes romantic letters or mariachi serenades on a veranda; the struggle feeds sexual appetite.

Where am I going with this, you might ask? Well, if we take this notion that Yun is an outsider- an alien to the Emory females during the 1890’s and if you give him this fundamental idea that white females are the “best” of all women then, do you think that his sexual attraction to Miss Janice is valid for this time? Or do you think that he was a chaser and went against the notions that told him that he couldn’t have a white women so he sought out to prove everyone and himself wrong…. that yes, it was obtainable?

What I am struggling to believe is whether or not Yun was in love with Miss Janice for being Miss Janice or was it lust- to have that which he couldn’t have? Yun was unquestionably smitten with Miss Janice but was it more than that? Sprinkled throughout his section of dairy that I reviewed were romantic quotes to Miss Janice. My favorite quote from Yun’s dairy reads, “I wish I were one of her finger rings, so that I may be with her always.” Sweet huh?

Using Yun’s writings can we ask ourselves if this “love story” could have been avoided if the time period allowed for a more diverse campus? Would Miss Janice go against her social norms and consider Yun as a possible mate? Is Yun’s ideology of the white women enough to explain why he was so attracted to them? If Yun were to live on the Emory campus today, would he still strive to obtain the love of a southern belle?

A short description of Miss Janice. Last paragraph reads "She is so pretty (I think) so modest that it is simply impossible not to love her."

…You can’t always communicate your feelings.

In the first English entry of Yun Ch’i Ho’s journal, Yun acknowledges his desire to increase his understanding and proficiency in the English language. He says his “vocabulary is not as yet rich enough to explain all what I want to say. I am therefore determined to keep a Diary in English.” While his grammar and handwriting both appear to improve throughout the next few entries, a lack of understanding of the words of his peers is apparent. Within the first page Yun discusses the faith of both a white school friend, Jordan, and another young black man, Jacob. Yun defines during his discussion of faith, the problem he has with his surroundings. Jacob is extremely devout and happy, yet Yun’s white schoolmates are part of what keeps Jacob isolated and ignorant. Similarly he feels isolated by his own racial difference that keep him isolated and ignorant in many ways.

In describing the Methodist faith he has adopted, Yun describes his doubt in a society whose treatment and disregard for black people goes against what he believed was the very foundation of their religious beliefs. Just a few weeks later, Yun writes about a published Methodist missionary statement that condemns every aspect of his homeland, crushing the minimal hope he had in finding cultural acceptance in the Emory community. What’s worse, Yun goes so as far as to accept their insults and rationalize the critical view white people have of Korea. The paper said, “the missionaries would rather go hungry [in America], than be the president of Korea.”

Yun would later describe how opposed he was to removing a white woman from her privileged existence in Georgia, to a less stately home in Korea explaining that it would be an insult to her. Despite this conclusion that reached Yun much later in his life, as the time of writing his diary he was clearly hurt by the derogatory depiction of his homeland and which contributed to his lack of confidence in romancing women while at Emory. The second hand evidence published about Yun’s time at Emory suggests other influences of romantic suppression on him. This evidence stands out to me as a real blow to a man’s self esteem, especially one who is already so isolated and alone.

Due to cultural and social divides that still exist at Emory today, I have seen first hand how limiting these divisions can be. Even in an academic world where our professional networks cross all race, gender and religious barriers, there are still pronounced obstacles in social and romantic settings. There are ethnic groups that exist almost entirely independently on campus, gender equality groups that still avoid other social organizations and religious groups that recruit as competitively as Greek life.

There are still nostalgic cultural bounds that form the expectations many students face at home. Even in a place that brings Jews, Muslims and Christians together in droves, the possibility of pursuing a romantic relationship across those barriers is still questionable. Things that define our family’s past can make crossing the paths and boundaries almost impossible as it conflicts with our effort to seek our family’s approval. Even when the home we have here is open and accepting (which it certainly isn’t always) the homes that we go back to are often still isolated and underhandedly discriminatory.

Early History of Emory and Sexuality

Talks with S

09/15/2012

The word “Sexuality” broadly encompasses a jargon that includes terms such as biological sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Traditionally, this model expected a male having masculine-like features, to be attracted to women and a woman having feminine-like features to be attracted to a man. The foundation of this old model was questioned in the last few hundred years when males and females alike got attracted to members of their own gender. In addition, there existed individuals who got attracted to both men and women. These developments now lead to what some call “queer” trends and have resulted in birth of further jargon such as bisexual, transgender, cisgender, cissexual and more. This new and all-inclusive model came to light only in the 1800’s. As the entire world is yet to be developed, so are the thoughts of mankind yet to be synced as one. Thus this difference of opinion in accepting this new inclusive model is justified in some ways, as changing the traditional sexuality model that has been engraved in mankinds brain will take time. This does not however deny the fact that those who have synced their views to the modern inclusive model showed suffer consequences from others who have yet to admit and then accept this changed reality. What worsens the situation is that one’s race, ethnicity, religion and education level are involved in this scenario.

The two articles mentioned in the citations at the end, demonstrated this reality witnessed by the two lead characters, Kitty from “Kitty’s Cottage and the Methodist Civil War” and Yun Ch’i-ho from “Romance and Race in the Jim Crow South: Yun Ch’i-ho and the Personal Politics of Christian Reform.” The demeaning views and expressions of various characters in both the real-life stories, showed the existence of the traditional model co-existent with race and culture. In both the scripts respectively, Kitty and Yun underwent inferior treatment, due to religion, color, caste or sex. Several years later even today, we can see judgemental treatment of people towards one another. This can be broadly characterorized as insignificant treatment in the forms of racisim, inferior treatment towards women, not accepting and upholding fair treatment towards others who may be regarded as belonging to the queer group, etc.

Present day Emory does not experience such inferior treatment towards anyone; as today we can see students from all across the globe coming from diverse locations, cultures and heritages. This is not limited to just the students, but faculty and staff at emory is equally diverse and the concept of the white male being the most dominant specie is not witnessed. Well, atleast not in the wide open. Belonging to the Indian origin I can comment that the Indian society is distinctively divided, into what is regarded as the higher and lower strata, depending on caste, religion, race and even color of the skin. What further negatively adds fuel to this situation is the reluctance to accept the existence of an inclusive model. One example I personally consider a huge underdevelopment in the path towards accepting the inclusive model in India are the views of the most famous Indian Guru, Baba Ramdev. He states, “It can be treated like any other cogenital defect. Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayam and other meditation techniques,”in reference to India’s High Court legalizing gay sex. A leading Bollywood actress, Celina Jaitely opposes Baba Ramdev’s opinion that “homosexuality is a disease” by “With all due respects to Baba Ramdev he may have the so called ‘cure’ but the point is LGBT community does NOT see homosexuality as a disease. People should not be judged on basis of what they do in their bedroom because if it was only about that… some of our taxes would have to be deployed into a special bedroom vigilance force, which I am sure these babas would love to lead.”

While one is entitled to their own opinions, one should also be considerate towards the sensibilities of others around them. One can only hope that as the times change, all of mankind is able to broaden their minds to accept different sexualities as the new and evolved truth of today.

Urban, Andrew. “Romance and Race in the Jim Crow South: Yun Ch’i-ho and the Personal Politics of Christian Reform.”

Adams, Allison. “Kitty’s Cottage and the Methodist Civil War.”

The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: United States of America

Zee News. “Baba Ramdev to challenge HC verdict legalising gay sex”

Bollywood Mantra. “Celina Jaitley hits back at Baba Ramdev”

Race, love, and The South

I grew up the south, so I can relate to the story of Yun. White women were praised and held high and women of color were considered less than. I remember the black girls at my high school getting mad at my black best friend, who was also the football captain, for having all white girlfriends in high school. He was ostracized for it, but all of us understood. The black girls at our school were less than lady like so honestly it wasn’t us, it was them. Even my first love was a white girl, decent social standing and highly educated. I thought I just had a thing for white girls but I found out that Mrs. Chandler may have had a point. Its not about race but about grace..

In the culture of my hometown, it is easy for a person like me to over look the Black, Asian, Latino, and Arab girls. the white woman was sought after. It wasn’t ’til I met a girl, who is still a close friend till this day, that i realized that it was about grace. Years later, I find myself mostly attracted to a intelligent and graceful girl regardless of race. But as i go back to my hometown i do not often feel this attraction to most of the girls I meet. Grace is lost on most downtrodden minorities.

Mostly what i remember from my past was being different. Not white not black not Mexican or Asian, just different. And they are not considered Hispanic or Latino, just Mexican. Everyone whether they realized it or not was trying to fit into the picture without sticking out. I would get pulled over just because there weren’t any white people in the car. My best friend saw this, noticed the hate that is hidden beneath the surface, and felt as though he needed to mold into the melting pot that is The South. Today he is engaged to a white girl and three of his six brothers married white woman. I am not saying that these men just married these women because they were white, there is no doubt they do love their spouses. all i am saying is that it played more of an impact in the back of their mind that they thought it did. The most praised child in their next generation is the black skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed son, which also makes me wonder.

After coming to Emory I realized that the social pressures and prejudices that surrounded me growing up did not have to define my personal opinion on beauty as it relates to race Before, it seemed as though I should strive to find a woman of grace, which typically was only found with a white woman. After various experiences, however, I realized that beauty is unique to the person, and their own personality and characteristics should be the main criteria when judging a woman’s attractiveness. I should not subject myself to the same racism, bias, and bigotry that has plagued us minorities. The internal hate is greater than the external hate, and that is the true tragedy.

It is interesting to look back in history and see how sexuality and race structured everyday life. Reading excerpts from Yun Ch’i-ho’s journals gave a foreign insight that I have never come across in my student career. Seeing 19th century United States from the eyes of a Korean is not what you see in the history textbooks. Majority of Americans who think about those time would automatically think black or white perspectives to what is occurring. Yun gave an insight into how it is being part of Southern culture as well as how they intertwined and interfered with his Korean principles.

In Yun’s journal, he had a constant battle with his lust of American white women. Knowing his desires cannot be gratified in the 19th century south, it was a struggle to be an outsider with no acceptable women to court. I wonder if his desire was genuine or if it had to do with his pale surroundings. Did Yun favor Korean women in his country while he lived there? Was the fact that there was nothing else to see during his stay in America that drove him to an interest for white women? In my opinion, I believe that it was a mix of several situations. Yes, being a student at Emory showed no promise for anything but the presence of white males and females; but, there were also plenty of African American inhabitants in Georgia at this time that Yun had no option but to be exposed to. Seeing that he was very close with the Candler family and taught the differences in social class, I believe this is a reason why African American women may not have crossed his mind.

Recognizing social class as part of love and lust is imperative in this discussion. White male students had several sexual encounters with African American prostitutes. These were looked down upon more because of race, but class was also an issue. Yun hearing about these encounters could have turned him away from intentionally encountering African American women. In my opinion, the white students and Yun had more in common after all. They both longed for the comfort of someone socially unacceptable in their college years. White students had sex with African American women when there were women of their similar color at their disposal. The fact that they were prostitutes made the desire more hidden, but it was still there.

You can see these ideas in present day. Men having sex with male prostitutes, but think of themselves as strictly heterosexual to the public. The desire is gratified, known to others, but not accepted for dinner tabs conversation. This is an aspect of the 19th century that has not changed, but just evolved.

Sexuality, in many aspects, is a big topic in modern culture and society. It is a broad topic that can be looked at through many perspectives. However, in Yun Ch’i Ho’s experience, race was the most prevalent factor, and was the main cause of his insecurities. It was obvious that during Yun’s time here, United States of America was, for lack of a better term, white. Yun made it evidently clear that he was insecure about who he was genetically, which only added to his sexual frustration. By stating no one would have him for a sweetheart because he was Korean, Nettie Candler only made Yun’s sensitive situation far worse. Not only was Yun close to the Candlers, but he commented regularly in his journals about how beautiful the white women were, so one can imagine how deeply that comment hurt him. Things did change for Yun when he met Tommie, a white women that had “genuine affection for him that transcended race, even if it ran into the social class barriers that defined life in Oxford.” Yun stated in his journal “I was surprised at my own indifference to the girl. I couldn’t possibly persuade myself to love her”. It was almost as if from the beginning he thought there was too great of a-racial-cultural gap between them for anything to work.
Yun gave a great example of how racism was during the late 19th century. in 1892, a boy named M.T. Cleckley was to be dismissed from Emory due to association with paid sex workers in African American neighborhoods. Besides Yun’s hatred of how this event was handled, it is an interesting example of how strict Emory’s policies were at the time. It was apparent to me that the student was in trouble for having sex with the African American paid sex worker, rather than not getting permission to leave campus. When I think of racism up until the late 19th century, all I can think of is the unfair treatment of the Native Americans and African Americans. However, during the 20th and 21st centuries, one can see while immigration was increasing in numbers/diversity, the complexity in racism was increasing as well. Glazer and Moynihan once said “America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming!…German and Frenchman, Irishman and Englishman, Jews and Russians – into the crucible with you all! God is making the American.” Disregarding the religious aspect of this quote, Glazer and Moynihan’s words describe how the composition of an “American” is a impacted by the vastly diverse group of people who constitute the United States.
The term “American” has a completely different meaning now than it did during Yun’s time at Emory. Despite the on going debate on the true definition of term, when I think of “American”, I think of an amalgamation of various subcultures, ethnicities, religions; creating a complex societal structure. However, Yun’s time period yields a far less complex societal structure with little diversity. I think this is an interesting thing to think about how things have changed so drastically since 1890.

I’ve always heard about the segregation and slight racism my family experienced growing up. As they are originally from South Africa, my parents were raised during the apartheid. Populations were divided by color, and we fell under the category of “Asians”.  By no means did my parents bring this up regularly and I’m not suggesting that I’ve had to deal with the same situations, but it allowed me a parallel when reading Urban’s article on Yun Ch’i-ho.

Yun came to the US at the age of 24. He was considered an exiled politician from Korea because he was associated with a failed uprising in Seoul (Loftus). He spent two years at Emory with the purpose of helping the Church’s missionary expanding to Korea. Once here, Candler took him under his wing and we hear about all the experiences through Yun’s diary.

Surprisingly I assumed that Yun would have experienced more racism taking into consideration that he was at Emory in the 1890’s. It seemed like in an all white school, the only racism mentioned was when he became infatuated with a white woman and would hear that it was not appropriate by close friends. This happened on multiple occasions, for example, when Nettie Candler was quoted saying, “You didn’t stay there long enough, as if had you stayed long, you could have gotten one” which was interpreted as no white women would think of a Korean that way.

Yun was always in a position where he was overanalyzing everything that went through his mind subconsciously. If he said something, he would make sure it didn’t offend his peers. If he saw an attractive woman, he would think how it would affect her future. He was very cognizant of his interactions while at Emory, and I think his experience would have turned out completely different had he not.

I thought the article on Kitty’s Cottage was refreshing to read in which a person with important community standing makes a decision. In a time where black women had little rights, Andrew took a stance against popular beliefs. The end result was Andrew building a cottage near his house that allowed the black slave, Kitty, to stay in America as a free woman.  This cottage is now behind Oxford’s Old Church and holds a great deal of history.

Romance and Race in the Jim Crow South: Yun Ch’i-ho and the Personal Politics of Christian Reform

Kitty’s Cottage and the Methodist Civil War

http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/spring2004/korean.html

Here we are today in a class all about sexuality, one of the oldest and most controversial topics of all time. We can trace the history of sexuality and sexual relations back to Biblical times and even trace some of the benefits and repercussions stemming from these experiences. I find it particularly interesting that we sit in classrooms today discussing what would have made people shutter at the very thought of openly discussing no more than fifty of 60 years ago. Then it occurs, to me that there seems to be some cyclical trend that had evolved over time with the nature of sexuality and how one’s sexuality and one’s sexual relations is perceived. Going back to my reference of Biblical times, let’s think about sexuality was considered back then. During these times, we could similarities of today throughout the books of the Bible—people arguing and fighting over the abominations of sexual desire and sexual habits. Not unlike today, there was controversy over prostitution, over sexual desire, and over sexual orientation. Now fast forward several thousand years to the times of when Greece was the pinnacle of human nature and the epicenter for a model society, and consider how sexuality was viewed. During this time of Greece (which we exalt as a great society), homosexuality, bisexuality and what today would be considered pedophilia were everyday phenomena. Again, as time went on, the perception of sexuality reverted back to more conservative notions. This brings us to today, where again we see the acceptance of homosexuality and bisexuality, and where we now have begun attempting to explain these preferences and classify them with models such as the traditional model and the inclusive model.

From the perspective of this class, we are evaluating sexuality as it has pertained to Emory University. As shown in the previous paragraph, sexuality has been a complicated topic that society seems to periodically changes its levels of acceptance. Early in the history of Emory, the administration sought to control the behavior of its student through a rigorous set of rules that included banning “students from attending any ball, theatre, horse-race or cock-fight; from using intoxicating drinks; from playing cards; from playing at any game for stakes; from keeping fire-arms or any deadly weapon, a horse, a dog, or a servant; from engaging in anything forbidden by the Faculty; from associating with persons of known bad character; from visiting Covington or other near points beyond the limits of Oxford without permission of some member of the Faculty, and from visiting points more distant without written permission from parents or guardians and the permission of the President of the College; from visiting any place of ill-repute, or at which gaming is practiced, or intoxicating liquors are sold; from engaging in any ‘match game,’ or ‘intercollegiate’ game of football, baseball, whatsoever.”¹ By extension of these rules and considering the time-period, we can assume that Emory would have frowned upon sexual promiscuity and homosexuality. By implanting such rules, Emory seemed to believed they could influence their student’s lives and repudiate such “ill” temptations through these rules, but upon, evaluating the excerpts of Yun Ch’i-ho’s journal we can see the effectiveness of these rules. In the very first sentence of the excerpts we reviewed, we can see Yun Ch’i-ho’s opinion of American women when he states, “if there are some things in America that I envy more than others, they are, first, it’s beautiful women.”² In another portion of Yun’s journals he fell into a “vortex of seductive pleasures” where he would frequently seek the companionship of prostitutes and drunkenness.²  Yun shows us today that even though Emory had implemented these rules, they obviously failed in effectively altering their students overall opinion of such actions.

1. Urban, Andrew. “Romance and Race in the Jim Crow South: Yun Ch’i-ho and the Personal Politics of Christian Reform.” n. page. Print. <https://classes.emory.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1641960-dt-content-rid-262268_2/courses/FA12_AMST_385_DTROKA_Combined/Excerpts from Romance and Race in the Jim Crow South.pdf>.

2. Huak, Gary. “A Brief History.” Emory History. Emory University, 16/9/2010. Web. 16 Sep 2012.