Read a guest blog from our TEACH partner, the Korean War Legacy Foundation! 

 

Out of the Shadows: Teaching the Korean War Through Veteran Voices, Inquiry, and Memory

By: Eliel Hinojosa, Jr., Ph.D.

A Legacy Left Untold

Some stories come too late. My grandfather, Alvin G. Padilla Jr., was a proud Marine who fought in one of the most harrowing campaigns of the Korean War: the Chosin Reservoir. He later became one of McDonald’s largest Hispanic owner-operators, building a legacy of resilience and family. But I never got the chance to formally record his story. What I know comes from family memories, old photographs, and the fragments of conversations passed down through the years.

It’s a painful truth. His is just one of many untold stories from the Korean War. That’s why the Out of the Shadows project matters so deeply.

The Launch of Out of the Shadows

In March of 2023, funded by the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Eastern Region grant, Out of the Shadows: A Spotlight on Underrepresented Korean War Veteran Groups from the Library of Congress Veterans History Project was launched by the Korean War Legacy Foundation (KWLF). Its aim, to help preserve, elevate, and teach the stories of underrepresented Korean War veterans, especially those whose voices have been historically marginalized or overlooked. These included African American, Native American, Asian American, Hispanic, and women veterans, whose firsthand accounts were drawn from the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP).

Our goal was simple but urgent: to bring more of these stories out of archival obscurity and into the hands of teachers and students. The VHP is an extraordinary repository and center for learning. Since its congressional authorization in October of 2000, tens of thousands of oral histories have been collected and published on the Library’s website. Many have been further curated and processed for classroom use – meaning veterans longform interviews have been segmented by theme, making them more accessible by teachers and students.

Yet given the depth of Korean War material within the VHP, the Out of the Shadows team was committed to focus intentionally on underrepresented groups often left out of mainstream narratives.

Over the course of the project, our team of Teacher Fellows analyzed more than 160 veteran interviews, identifying emergent themes, timestamping clips, and organizing over 200 interview segments. Thanks to the work of a dedicated transcriptionist, 14 of those interviews are now fully transcribed, providing rich material for both classrooms and communities. The content is available at koreanwarlegacy.org, where a dedicated Veterans History Project filter directs users to individual veteran pages. Each page includes video clips with descriptions and timestamps, as well as direct links to view the full interviews on the Library’s VHP website. Clear attribution to the Library of Congress is provided throughout.

From Archives to Inquiry

But this project was never just about preservation, it was about engagement. Under the mentorship of C3 Teachers co-founder Dr. John Lee, the Out of the Shadows team developed an inquiry centered on the essential question: “How did service in the Korean War shape views of discrimination?” Grounded in oral histories that reveal experiences of segregation, integration, and equity within the U.S. military, the inquiry invites students to examine these complex issues through authentic veteran voices, offering a human perspective that textbooks alone cannot provide.

To introduce the inquiry to educators, we hosted two professional development webinars, one in March 2024 and the second, funded by a TPS Eastern Mini Grant, in April 2024. Both filled to capacity in less than 24 hours, reaching 53 teachers from 24 states—most of them veteran educators with over 15 years in the classroom. The message was clear: educators are hungry for meaningful, ready-to-use content that connects students to lived human experience.

Impact

What teachers discovered in these interviews went far beyond military tactics or geopolitical timelines. They encountered stories of young men and women confronting racism, redefining patriotism, and reflecting on service in ways that deeply resonate with today’s students.

The Out of the Shadows project was also featured at the 2023 and 2024 TPS Eastern Region conferences, where I had the privilege of sharing our progress alongside colleagues from across the consortium. In 2023, we introduced the project through a poster presentation; in 2024, we were honored to present our results as part of a panel highlighting related initiatives. Looking ahead, we’re hopeful that a future proposal will allow us to complete the review of more than 100 additional underrepresented veteran interviews and develop asynchronous teacher training modules focused on inquiry-based instruction and the use of oral history in the classroom.

In Spring 2025, with support from a TPS Eastern Region Mini Grant for Impact Investigation, three Texas teachers implemented the Out of the Shadows inquiry with their students—one in an 8th grade U.S. History class and two in 11th grade U.S. History. In every case, the results confirmed what we anticipated: both teachers and students are eager for richer, more comprehensive approaches to history. The Korean War, and South Korea’s remarkable transformation into a thriving democracy and global economic power, deserves far greater attention. No other modern conflict has produced such dramatic political and developmental change. Overlooking this history is more than an academic gap, it’s a missed opportunity to teach global citizenship, resilience, and civic responsibility.

History That Deserves to be Remembered

My personal connection to this work began in 2018 when I came across a Korean War Legacy Foundation exhibit booth at the National Council for the Social Studies conference. Learning about the work of KWLF and seeing those archived stories reminded me of the one I lost - my grandfather’s. That moment solidified my resolve to help others capture and teach these legacies while there’s still time.

The KWLF began with a simple but profound realization: that the voices of Korean War veterans, many of whom had never shared their stories publicly, were quietly disappearing. Founded by Dr. Jongwoo Han, KWLF emerged from a 2005 encounter with a group of Syracuse-area veterans who brought personal photographs and memories to a lecture series on U.S.–Korea relations. Moved by the urgency of preserving their experiences, Dr. Han launched an ambitious digital archive project. With initial support from the South Korean government in 2011, KWLF has grown into a global effort. Today, KWLF houses over 1,600 interviews, with a least one from each of the 22 United Nations participating countries. In addition, KWLF, and its sister foundation, World History Digital Education, works in partnership with educators to ensure these firsthand accounts not only survive, but shape how future generations learn about war, peace, and the power of memory.

As Dr. Han, once told me in an interview published in The Texan, the official magazine of the Texas Council for the Social Studies, “A digital archive sitting idle would be a haunted place on the internet—a graveyard of voices rather than a living legacy.” That line stays with me. Through Out of the Shadows, we help ensure these voices speak, and are heard, in classrooms across the country.

Sustaining the Legacy

In July 2025, the Korean War Legacy Foundation received major support from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to help honor Korean War veterans laid to rest in VA national cemeteries. The project, Honoring the Forgotten War: Educational Resources on National Cemeteries and the Korean War will support educational efforts that preserve and share the stories of those who served—further ensuring their sacrifices are remembered by future generations.

Our previous and our upcoming work is critical because history isn’t just about what happened. It’s about who remembers. By preserving and teaching the stories of Korean War veterans, especially those whose voices have too often gone unheard, we not only honor their service, but invite students to engage with history as something living, human, and deeply relevant. Through projects like Out of the Shadows and Honoring the Forgotten War: Educational Resources on National Cemeteries and the Korean War, we ensure that remembrance becomes action, and that the legacies of these veterans continue to shape how we understand service and sacrifice.

We’re proud to offer the Out of the Shadows inquiry free of charge at koreanwarlegacy.org/out-of-the-shadows-inquiry. The full inquiry is available for download in both PDF and Word formats, and also accessible in full text directly on the site—ideal for teachers and students who prefer digital access. We invite you to explore, adapt, and implement the inquiry based on your classroom needs. We also welcome your feedback and would love to hear how you bring Out of the Shadows to life with your students.

I am deeply grateful to Barbara Kirby and Jana Kyle at TPS Eastern for their unwavering support and guidance. I also extend sincere thanks to the dedicated staff of the Veterans History Project, whose work stands as a leading model for veterans oral history preservation. Finally, heartfelt appreciation goes to the Out of the Shadows team—your dedication, insight, and commitment made this work possible.

 

Bio

Dr. Eliel Hinojosa, Jr. is a teacher educator and serves as an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Tarleton State University. With nearly two decades of experience, Dr. Hinojosa designs and executes learning opportunities that connect pre-service teachers with local communities through projects like the Teacher Conference of the Study of Korea and the Korean War, Voices of Service: Erath County Veterans Legacy Project and Voices of Community: Erath County Oral History Project. His scholarship has appeared in Educational Studies, Educational Considerations, Curriculum History, and the Journal of Social Studies and History Education. Dr. Hinojosa also serves as the Grant Coordinator for the Korean War Legacy Foundation and World History Digital Education. He can be contacted at ehinojosa@koreanwarlegacy.org.