It has been nearly 60 years since the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 that started the immigration boom of Koreans to the United States. At the peak of this boom, 30,000 Korean immigrants came into the United States every year, which resulted in 1.9 million Korean Americans living in the United States today. Philadelphia is no exception. Since the 1960s, there has been an active Korean American community represented by the Korean American Association of Greater Philadelphia (KAAGP). This thesis adds to the growing field of Korean American studies by introducing a historian’s perspective on a field that has been dominated by anthropological and sociological studies. This thesis shows the challenges the Korean associations face to their legitimacy to represent the Korean community and how they retain it. Utilizing the internal documents of the KAAGP, the thesis shows three distinct periods of the organization’s history and how it fits into the history of the Korean community in Philadelphia. Following the development of the association, the thesis shows that the rhetorical device adopted by the association changes from a national and patriotic tone focused on the Korean identity to a practical one that focuses on the daily lives in the United States. This shift in ideological background for legitimacy manifests itself in the type of project the association undertakes, but also the challenges it faces as well. While the initial community was built on the shared culture and identity of being Koreans in the United States, this shifts as the necessity to gain access to the United States political system increases. At a time when Korean immigrants had limited access to electoral politics, the Korean community used the KAAGP to gain official recognition from the South Korean and American governments. This official recognition was practical for the community as it meant they had a direct line of communication to officials that were previously unavailable. It also showed their growing understanding of the importance of political representation in the United States. The work attempts to understand how the KAAGP retains its legitimacy to represent the Korean community over the years, but also to collect and document the primary sources of the Korean community.