Agriculture

Many Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) began as sharecroppers. Others sought to buy land, but the Issei had to overcome obstacles preventing them from competing with white farmers. California and other states passed alien land laws prohibiting Asian immigrants from purchasing or leasing agricultural land. There were ways around the discriminatory laws: an Issei father could put the property in the name of his American-born child, or issei could form corporations in which a majority of the shareholders were American citizens. Despite the alien land laws, Issei farmers played a significant role in West Coast agriculture. In the years just prior to World War II, Japanese American families grew 35 percent of the produce in California. By the 1920s, Japanese Americans supplied 75 percent of the produce and half the milk to the Puget Sound region.

Industry and employment (586)
Agriculture (805)

Related articles from the Densho Encyclopedia :
Seabrook Farms

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805 items

img Doctored image of crowd interspersed with giant vegetables (ddr-densho-255-117)

Doctored image of a crowd watching a parade float interspersed with giant vegetables. The image is doctored so a man appears to be sitting on a giant onion watching the orator. On reverse: "Post Card."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-117/

img View of farmland (ddr-densho-432-123)

Caption in album: "Scene from the [illegible] / December 24[?], 1934."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-432-123/

img Laborers on mounds of hay (ddr-densho-255-137)

Laborers standing on and around mounds of hay, with a pipe being channeled into the hay.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-137/

img Beans growing in front of a greenhouse (ddr-densho-255-56)

Plants, probably beans, growing on poles in front of a greenhouse.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-56/

img Japanese American man and girl with cow (ddr-densho-255-141)

A Japanese American man and young girl standing in the snow with a cow.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-141/

img Threshing machine and team of horses (ddr-densho-255-188)

Men with a team of horses surrounded by hay. A thresher (threshing machine) is poised in the background, with "The Massillon Farmer's Friend, The Russell & Company" printed on its side.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-188/

img Japanese American family on horse-drawn cart (ddr-densho-255-161)

Japanese American man and three children sitting on a horse-drawn cart in an orchard. A Japanese American woman stands to the left, while another Japanese American smoking a cigarette sits in the foreground.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-161/

img Farmhouse and barn (ddr-densho-255-173)

Matted photograph of farmhouse and barn with snow on the ground.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-173/

img Laborers on mounds of hay (ddr-densho-255-138)

Laborers standing on and around mounds of hay, with a pipe being channeled into the hay.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-138/

img Chickens in a coop (ddr-densho-255-52)

Chickens in the doorway of a chicken coop.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-52/

img House and greenhouse (ddr-densho-255-91)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-91/

img Man and girl with pigs and cows (ddr-densho-255-143)

A Japanese American man and young girl standing in the snow with cows and pigs.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-143/

img Man and girl with pigs (ddr-densho-255-142)

Japanese American man standing on a snowy hillside. A young girl sits in the foreground. Pigs root through the snow.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-142/

img Man in snow with pigs (ddr-densho-255-87)

Man standing behind a pile of snow with pigs in the foreground.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-87/

img Japanese American family in an orchard (ddr-densho-255-164)

A Japanese American man on a ladder in an orchard, with a woman at his side. Another man sits on the ground, and another man sits on a horse-drawn cart with three children on his lap.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-164/

img Man driving a team of horses (ddr-densho-255-103)

Unidentified Japanese American man driving a team of horses. On reverse: "Post Card."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-103/

img Men and children in orchard (ddr-densho-255-163)

Japanese American man sitting in the grass in an orchard with three children on his lap, and other men beside them.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-163/

img Japanese Americans outside a barn (ddr-densho-255-149)

Japanese American men, women, and children standing outside a barn with a team of horses pulling a cart.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-149/

img John Deere parade float (ddr-densho-255-119)

John Deere parade float. Signs on the float read: "Ogden Br. Quality first. C.W. & M Co. Largest retail implement dealers in the world. John Deere. Don't you remember the C.W. & M Co. gave us credit & helped us to start over 50 years ago. Yes I remember Deere. Our daddies used them, so will …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-255-119/