Narrators
Narrators are the interview subjects of oral histories contained in the Densho Digital Repository. Our interviewees, or narrators, share their life histories to preserve history, educate the public, and promote tolerance. We urge our users to approach these materials in the same spirit.
981 narrators
981 narrators
Yoshiko Asakura
Japanese female. Born November 29, 1930, in Shizuoka, Japan. Attended school during World War II. After the war, entered the nursing profession and became involved …
Setsuko Izumi Asano
Nisei female. Born March 3, 1932, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. During World War II, removed to the Santa Anita Assembly …
George Azumano
Nisei male. Born June 9, 1918, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Portland where parents ran a hotel and grocery business. Was drafted into the …
Peggie Nishimura Bain
Nisei female. Born March 31, 1909, in Vashon Island, Washington. Raised in Vashon Island and Des Moines, Washington, before being removed with her two children …
Sarah Baker
Brent Seto and Bill Tashima interviewed Sarah E. Baker. Baker was a four-time Chapter president from 2016-2019, two-time National JACL Vice-President from 2018-2022, local activist, …
Dennis Bambauer
Male of Japanese and French-Irish descent. Born October 7, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. As a child, resided in the Children's Home Society Orphanage in …
Kathryn Bannai
Elaine Kim and Bill Tashima interviewed Kathryn Bannai. Kathryn Bannai was the lead counsel in Gordon Hirabayashi's coram nobis case (1983 – February 1985). Among …
Lorraine Bannai
Sansei female. Born 1955 in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Gardena, California, surrounded by a large Japanese American community. Influenced by father's role in …
Paul Bannai
Nisei male. Born July 4, 1920, in Delta, Colorado. Grew up in small mining and farming towns in Colorado, Utah and Arizona, until his family …
Yone Bartholomew
Nisei female. Born July 15, 1906, in Bedderavia, California. Was given for adoption by her parents to a couple who could not have children of …
Gerald L. Beppu
Sansei male. Family owned Linc's Tackle, a longtime Japanese American business in Seattle, Washington. Prior to World War II, father became the owner of Togo's …
June Yasuno Aochi (Yamashiro) Berk
Nisei female. Born October 17, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Los Angeles, and was involved at an early age with traditional Japanese …
Marion Michiko Bernardo
Nisei female. Born July 25, 1930, in Walnut Grove, California. Grew up in Walnut Grove. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, removed with family to …
Angela Berry
Female of Filipino American descent. Born in 1979 in Seattle, Washington, but grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Granddaughter of Felix Narte, one of the …
Bob Berry
White male. Grew up in Pasadena, California, where parents had a flower growing business. Provided flowers for the Santa Anita racetrack for over fifty years. …
Ernest Besig
White male. Born May 30, 1904, in Albany, New York. Founder and Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California from 1934 …
Theo Bickel
Elaine Kim and Joy Misako St. Germain interviewed Theo Bickel. Theo's introduction to JACL was as an intern at the National JACL. At a JACL …
Kazuko Uno Bill
Nisei female. Born June 5, 1921, in Seattle, Washington. Raised in South Park, Washington where family operated a small produce farm. Attended Cleveland High School …
Mabel Shoji Boggs
Nisei female. Born August 3, 1920, in Portland, Oregon. Lost father at an early age, and mother and siblings set up a family farm and …
David R. Boyd
White male. Born February 2, 1937, in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Seattle, where his father, Gene Boyd, worked for the Seattle Parks Department. Gene …
Robert "Bob" Bratt
Born in Bethesda, Maryland. During the Redress Movement, worked for the Department of Justice's Office of Redress Administration (ORA), which was established to identify and …
Bill Braye
Male of Spanish and Irish descent. Born March 31, 1917, in Santa Monica, California. Moved to Salinas, California, as a teenager, and enlisted in the …
Nikki Bridges
Nisei female. Born February 2, 1911, and grew up in California. During World War II, removed to the Poston (Colorado River) concentration camp, Arizona. After …
Harold "Hal" Champeness
White male. Born in 1923. Grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Joined the navy during World War II and eventually returned to Bainbridge.