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 (482)
Agriculture (778)

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778 items

doc Letter from Shoji Nagumo, Agriculture Committee, Heart Mountain, to Mr. Glen Hartman, Agriculture Division, May 1, 1944 (ddr-csujad-55-928)

Correspondence from Shoji Nagumo to Glen Hartman regarding the presence of witnesses at the "poultry project" hearing. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_0930

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-55-928/

doc Notice from Harry Tateishi, Foreman, Canal Project, to the residents of Heart Mountain, 1943 (ddr-csujad-55-670)

Notice from Harry Tateishi, foreman on Canal Project, to incarcerees at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp regarding a forthcoming agricultural program and irrigation project. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: sac_jaac_0672

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-55-670/

img Japanese American farmers prior to mass removal (ddr-densho-151-124)

Original caption: San Leandro, California. Family labor transplanting young tomato plants under canvas about ten days prior to evacuation of residents of Japanese ancestry to Assembly Centers.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-124/

img Japanese Americans working in fields (ddr-densho-151-228)

Original caption: Centerville, California. Japanese field laborers packing cauliflower in field on large-scale ranch owned by white operator (L.E. Bailey).

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-228/

img 7 men around a trough (ddr-densho-495-45)

Photo caption states, "Building irrigation troughs. Both Yoshida and Nagai were carpenters; they didn't work in the fields but built these troughs."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-495-45/

img 3 men building a trough (ddr-densho-495-46)

Photo caption states, "Building irrigation troughs. Both Yoshida and Nagai were carpenters; they didn't work in the fields but built these troughs."

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-495-46/

img Berry Association Committee building (ddr-densho-34-64)

Mr. Geo T. Masukawa and his dog in front of the building where the Berry Association Committee met. The berry cannery would later occupy this site.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-64/

img Berry cannery (ddr-densho-34-91)

This berry cannery was located at the end of Weaver Road on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Front (left to right): J. Nakata, S. Moritani, O. Koura, I. Hayashida, Mr. Masukawa, S. Sakai, Mrs. Moritani, and T. Moritani. Back: Nels Christensen, unidentified, and Mr. Matsumoto. The La Blanca is at the dock, ready to be loaded with berries …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-34-91/

doc Report on Rohwer Relocation Planning Commission trip to Rio Grande Valley (ddr-densho-379-240)

Chimata Sumida puts forward to the Rohwer community that the Lower Rio Grande Valley would be a good place for resettlement especially for Japanese Americans interested in farming.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-379-240/

img Photo of a horse and a boy working in a field (ddr-densho-483-161)

Sepia photo of a boy with a harnessed horse in the middle of a recently ploughed field.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-483-161/

img Farmhouse with lane leading to it (ddr-densho-483-629)

Inscription on photo front: August, 1936. Caption below photo: Aki

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-483-629/

img Three people on a farm (ddr-densho-2-9)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-2-9/

img Two Japanese Americans picking strawberries (ddr-densho-2-26)

Shown here are Peggie Yorita and Sho Nakagawa of the Yamashita Shipping Company in a strawberry field.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-2-26/

img Woman in a tomato field (ddr-densho-2-21)

Peggie Yorita holds a bucket of tomatoes from her parents' farm.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-2-21/

img Photo of two women (ddr-densho-483-163)

Sepia photo of two women standing in a field. Caption on album page: "1930" written in white ink

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-483-163/

doc Form No. CL. 1: Claim for Damage to or Loss of Real or Personal Property by a Person of Japanese Ancestry (ddr-densho-483-67)

Claim filed by Fukuyama family for damages and lost property during World War II incarceration. Claim filed for $1106. Approved for $829 on 11/1/25.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-483-67/

doc Christmas letter (ddr-densho-483-132)

Christmas letter from Tsutomu Fukuyama to family friends. The letter describes Christmas at Minidoka, housing conditions following transfers from Tule Lake and Manzanar, the agricultural impacts of the boll weaver, and the resettlement of Nisei Christians.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-483-132/