PARTNER

INTERVIEW ID

ddr-densho-1000-137

NARRATOR

Mitsuye May Yamada

INTERVIEW TITLE

Mitsuye May Yamada Interview

04:29:53 — 45 segments

DESCRIPTION

Female, child of Issei parents. Born July 5, 1923, in Fukuoka, Japan while her mother and two older Nisei brothers visited relatives. Named Mitsuye Mei Yasutake at birth. From age 3, grew up in Seattle, WA. Father employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until separated from family on December 7, 1941 and interned as an enemy alien. Attended Cleveland High School before being removed from Seattle with mother and three brothers in 1942, and incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Allowed temporary leave from Minidoka, to travel with brother William Toshio Yasutake to visit their father, Jack Kaichiro Yasutake, incarcerated at U.S. Department of Justice internment camp in Lordsburg, NM.

Released from Minidoka in 1943 to work and attend college in Cincinnati. Received B.A. in English and Art from New York University. M.A. in English Literature and Research from University of Chicago. Married and had four children. Moved to Southern California in 1960. Taught for 23 years at community colleges in Southern California and other institutions, retiring from Cypress College as Professor of English in 1989. Author of Camp Notes and Other Poems, first published in 1976; Desert Run, (1988); writer of numerous other essays, short stories, and poems widely anthologized in collections such as This Bridge Called My Back (1981) and Women Poets of the World (1983). Featured in "Mitsuye and Nellie: Two American Poets," documentary film on Asian women in the United States, aired on national public television, 1981.

Founder of MultiCultural Women Writers (MCWW), member of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS), and active in many community, arts and cross-cultural programs. Elected to National Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA in 1987 and served for six years. Recipient of numerous awards and honors recognizing her professional and volunteer contributions to society.

(Mitsuye Yamada was interviewed together with her two surviving brothers, William Toshio Yasutake and Joseph Yasutake, in group sessions on October 8-9, 2002. She was interviewed individually on October 9-10, 2002.

Before being contacted by Densho, the Yasutake siblings had planned to conduct their own family history interviews. Individually and jointly, they and other family members had written and gathered material documenting their family history. They shared much of this with me to assist with research and preparation for the Densho interview. Mitsuye's daughter Jeni had coordinated much of the family history work. Jeni participated as a secondary interviewer during the group sessions, October 8-9, 2002.

The group interview sessions were conducted in Seattle at the home of Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho. The oldest Yasutake sibling, Reverend Seiichi Michael Yasutake, had passed away less than a year before the Densho interviewing, in December, 2001. The remaining siblings emphasized that his absence left a gap in their discussion of family history. In addition to Jeni Yamada and videographers Dana Hoshide and John Pai, also present during some portions of the group interview were Tom Ikeda, and Mitsuye Yamada's son Kai Yamada.)

PRODUCTION

Alice Ito, interviewer; Dana Hoshide, videographer

PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS

CONTRIBUTOR

Densho

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of Densho

RIGHTS