Hello, my name is Elaine Cho; and I am a Digital Humanities Scholar. I am passionate about uncovering information that depicts the multiple layers of American history and culture. I began my journey with a curiosity to learn more about the histories of minorities and their communities in America. The history of the Japanese Americans during World War II caught my attention when I was in high school, and many years later, my curiosity led me to research more about it when I was teaching a novel by John Okada. I visited several sites in which Japanese Americans were incarcerated during that time period in American history, which is partially mentioned in most American history textbooks. To make the connection between history and a novel written by John Okada, I designed a digital humanities website.
Then, I began to research my own part of American history: Korean American history in Texas. From this point, I have expanded my research to Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland. I am meeting interesting people and recording their stories in a form of oral history. I also capture the images of the present and connect them to the past. My continued interest in researching more about American history and culture has given me various opportunities to seek the unknown and uncover the eclipsed stories of communities and individuals.
