History
Realizing the imperative need for a learning institution for women created by the Korean people themselves, the Royal Family of King Go-Jong of the Joseon Dynasty founded Sookmyung on the vast grounds of Yong-Dong Palace in 1906. The fact that the very first Korean principal was appointed to this innovative institution under Japanese colonization holds important historical meanings in itself. To furnish the necessary fund to establish the school, the Royal Family bestowed Kyung-Sun Palace, and the son of King Go-Jong, Young Chin, granted the harvest coming from 6 districts (including Shin-chun, Eun-Yul, Wan-Do) from 3 Provinces (Hwang-Hae, South Cholla, and Kyunggi), so began the pioneering effort to erect a truly nationalistic learning ground for women without any external help. Sookmyung first opened its doors to five young women between the age of 11 and 26. Thirty-two years later, the nation was about to be embroiled in World War II. The intellectuals of the time who yearned for independence and the sovereignty of the people, recognized the paramount need to endow women with opportunities for learning. This recognition led to a nationwide fund-raising campaign for the foundation of Sookmyung Women's School in 1938. The predecessor of Sookmyung Women's University, Sookmyung Women's School, therefore opened a new chapter in the educational history of the nation, with a rich and unique legacy created by the Korean people and the last Royal Family.
Read more about this topic: Sookmyung Women's University
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made of millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.”
—Ellen Battelle Dietrick, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)