A murder nearly 60 years ago that still casts a long shadow over neighborhoods around the University of Pennsylvania today will be remembered Friday when the 3600 block of Hamilton Street in Powelton Village, will be named “In-Ho Oh Memorial Way” in a special ceremony.

In-Ho Oh was a 26-year-old Penn graduate student who was beaten to death by a group of nearly a dozen young men and boys on his way to drop a letter in a mailbox at about 9 p.m. near 36th and Hamilton on April 25, 1958. The murder exacerbated racial tensions in the city and became national news. Oh lived with his aunt and uncle in a small apartment at 36th and Hamilton and planned to return to Korea and his family after his studies at Penn.

Law enforcement’s reaction was swift and severe. Nine people were charged with murder, many juveniles, and prosecutors pushed for the death penalty. In the end, five were sentenced to terms ranging from life in prison to 10 years. 

Oh’s murder also sparked a sense of urgency in the plans of the West Philadelphia Corporation, an organization founded by Penn, Drexel, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences (now the University of the Sciences) and a couple of other local institutions to “redevelop” West Philadelphia, including the purchasing of much of the “Black Bottom,” the mostly African American neighborhood that ran from roughly 32nd Street to 40th Street and from University Avenue to Lancaster Avenue.

“The university was originally expanding west, but the murder got the attention of the [Penn] administration,” Penn history professor Eric Schneider told Philadelphia Neighborhoods back in 2012. “They began consolidating land purchases.”

But in sharp contrast to the vengeful mood in the city following the murder was the reaction from In-Ho Oh’s parents back in Korea. They wrote a letter to the court that read in part:

“Our family has met together and we have decided to petition the most generous treatment possible within the laws of your government be given to those who have committed this criminal action . . . In order to give evidence of our sincere hope contained in this petition our whole family has decided to save money to start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational and social guidance of the boys when they are released. In addition, we are daring to hope that we can do something to minimize such juvenile criminal actions which are to be found, not only in your country, but also in Korea, and, we are sure, everywhere in the world.”

Councilman David Oh, In-Ho Oh’s cousin, wants to honor the family expression’s of forgiveness in the ceremony Friday and through the street renaming. Here is a copy of the resolution: In-Ho Oh Memorial Way

The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday at 36th and Hamilton.

– Mike Lyons