Homer Hulbert

Homer Bezaleel Hulbert (January 26, 1863 – August 5, 1949) was an American educator, missionary, historian, journalist, linguist, and Korean independence activist. Although a U.S. citizen, much of his professional life and scholarly work was devoted to Korea, where he became closely involved in education, language reform, historical scholarship, and diplomatic advocacy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Hulbert played an active role in Korea’s early modern educational reforms, teaching at several of the country’s first modern institutions and promoting education as central to Korea’s future. He also contributed to the early development of Korean studies through his research on the Korean language, history, and culture. He authored Saminpilji (1891), Korea’s first modern-style textbook written in Hangeul, as well as major English-language works on Korean history, including The History of Korea (1905) and The Passing of Korea (1906).

Hulbert twice served as a special envoy of the Korean emperor, traveling to the United States in 1905 and to the 1907 Peace Conference in The Hague to represent Korea’s sovereignty. After his participation in the Hague mission, he was unable to return to Korea and instead settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, from where he continued to advocate for Korea until its liberation in 1945.