Founder of Duksung Women's University and Geunhwa Girls' School; women's educator and independence activist
| Life | 1879 ~ 1955 |
| Era | 일제강점기·현대 |
| Clan | 연안 차씨 |
Cha Mi-ri-sa (1879-1955) was an educator and independence activist of the Yeonan Cha clan, active under Japanese rule and after liberation. 'Mi-ri-sa' (Melissa) is her Methodist baptismal name. Born in Hwa-dong, Jongno-bang, Hanseong, her registered domicile was Ahyeon-ri, Goyang, Gyeonggi, and her birth year is given as 1879 or 1880. Her parents had lost five children before she was born when they were in their fifties, so she was first called 'Seopseopi'.
She married at 18 but was widowed after three years and, without remarrying, became a Methodist. In 1905 she traveled to China with a missionary's help and graduated from Virginia School in Suzhou in 1909, and took part in patriotic activities overseas, such as helping to found the Daedong Education Society in the United States in 1906. After hearing of the annexation she collapsed and is said to have lost her hearing for life.
Returning in 1917, she worked as a teacher and dormitory matron at Baewha School and helped with secret liaison during the March 1st Movement. From the night school and Joseon Women's Education Association of 1919 she founded Geunhwa Girls' School in 1921, running it without tuition and without help from the Government-General or missionaries. She set up the Geunhwa foundation in 1934 and in 1935 emphasized vocational education by renaming it Geunhwa Women's Vocational School. After liberation she founded Duksung Women's Junior College in 1950, and in 2002 she was posthumously awarded the Patriotic Medal (Aejok).
Geunhwa means the rose of Sharon, so the very name of the school carried a national meaning. Cha Mi-ri-sa raised funds through lectures, concerts, plays and bazaars, and sent figures such as Heo Jeong-suk and Kim Il-yeop on lecture tours to spread the case for women's education.
When the Government-General objected after the Sino-Japanese War that 'Geunhwa' symbolized the rose of Sharon, she renamed the school Deokseong in 1938 but kept the Geunhwa emblem. In 1940 she stepped down as principal under pressure and is said to have refused the name-change order.
After a 1997 campus dispute, Duksung Women's University corrected its founder from Song Geum-seon to Cha Mi-ri-sa in 2000 on the basis of audit materials. She was posthumously awarded the Patriotic Medal on 15 August 2002, and a memorial hall was built on campus.
She is recorded as buried in 1955 in Ui-dong, Yangju-gun (now Ui-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul).