History of Koreans in Houston
aspect of history
As of the 2010 U.S. Census there were 11,813 ethnic Koreans in Harris County, Texas, in the Houston area, making up 4.2% of the county's Asian population. In 2015 Haejin E. Koh, author of "Korean Americans in Houston: Building Bridges across Cultures and Generations," wrote in regards to the census figure that "community leaders believe the number is twice as large."
History
In 1970 the official census figure for people of Korean origins in the entire state was 2,090. Bruce Glasrud, a historian, stated that the real figure may be higher as some previous Korean immigrants were counted as Japanese, as Korea was then under the Empire of Japan. Kristopher "Kris" Ahn, who immigrated to Houston in 1975, recalled that, at that time, there was one travel agency and grocery store each operated by ethnic Koreans in Houston and that a cohesive Korean ethnic community had not yet formed. Gigi Lee, another immigrant in that era, stated that her family went to a store owned by ethnic Japanese people to get ethnic Korean products, and that the ethnic Korean community at the time numbered about 500. Dr. Sam Jae Cho also stated that in the early 1980s that a Korean community had not yet solidified, and that a Korean church had a relatively small meeting area.
As of 1983 there were about 10,000 ethnic Korean people in Houston. In 1990 there were 6,571 ethnic Koreans, making up 6% of the county's Asian population. In 2000 this figure had increased to 8,764, making up 4.5% of the county's Asian population.
“History of Koreans in Houston” enters the record as aspect of history. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what History, Koreans and Houston can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“History of Koreans in Houston” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, History, Koreans and Houston provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 11, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q85766829. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010, 2015, 1970 and 1975.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “History of Koreans in Houston”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow History of Koreans in Houston primary sources, History of Koreans in Houston archive and History research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “History of Koreans in Houston”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “History of Koreans in Houston” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.