In many ways, the movement to free Chol Soo Lee started with a single spark: a college student named Ranko Yamada. Along with her sister Reiko, who worked at a pearl store in Chinatown, Yamada met Chol Soo about a year before his arrest. Knowing the nineteen-year-old Chol Soo to be a loner, they would sometimes invite him out to dinner. “We had developed a friendship of respect and trust,” Yamada said. “He had always been honest with Reiko and me.”¹

It was this friendship, plus her own strong sense of humanity and justice, that drove Yamada to become a fierce advocate for Chol Soo after he was charged with murder. Her early efforts would make a profound impression on journalist K. W. Lee, who brought Chol Soo’s story to a national audience.

This module traces the seeds of the Free Chol Soo Lee movement to the actions of activist Ranko Yamada and journalist K. W. Lee. We will learn how their courage and commitment laid the groundwork for a grassroots pan-Asian American movement.