Milton Washington, a man of mixed African American and South Korean descent, transitioned from an orphanage in South Korea to a new life in the United States after being adopted by an American military family in the 1970s. Born to a South Korean mother and a Black U.S. soldier, Washington spent his early childhood in a village near the North Korean border. He reported facing social exclusion and lacked a birth certificate due to South Korean laws at the time, which did not grant citizenship to children of non-Korean fathers.
After being pressured to leave their village, Washington and his mother moved near a U.S. military base, where he became involved with groups of street children known as 'slickyboys' who survived through theft and solicitation. Following his mother's disappearance and a period in St. Vincent’s Home for Amerasian Children, Washington secured adoption by locking himself inside the vehicle of a visiting American military couple, Captain and Mrs. Washington.
The Washingtons adopted both Milton and another child, relocating them to the United States. Washington's account outlines the challenges faced by 'Amerasian' children born after the Korean War, many of whom faced statelessness and social stigma in South Korea. There are currently approximately 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense treaty established after the 1953 armistice.