Jimmie Omura Interview Segment 7

Family background: father was a stowaway at age nineteen on a ship from Japan to the U.S. (ddr-densho-1002-11-1) - 00:04:26
Prewar Japanese American community on Bainbridge Island, Washington (ddr-densho-1002-11-2) - 00:03:15
Description of father (ddr-densho-1002-11-3) - 00:04:26
Brother's banishment from the Japanese American community at age eleven (ddr-densho-1002-11-4) - 00:04:31
Leaving home at an early age (ddr-densho-1002-11-5) - 00:03:06
Mother's passing (ddr-densho-1002-11-6) - 00:02:00
Description of siblings in Japan; working as a schoolboy in Pocatello, Idaho (ddr-densho-1002-11-7) - 00:02:50
Getting a start in writing through an incident as editor of school newspaper (ddr-densho-1002-11-8) - 00:04:35
Memories of working in an Alaska salmon cannery as a teenager (ddr-densho-1002-11-9) - 00:04:02
First experience with Nisei journalism: editor of the New Japanese American News in Los Angeles, California (ddr-densho-1002-11-10) - 00:08:31
Memories of childhood: mother's telling of a ghost story, and a frightening experience (ddr-densho-1002-11-11) - 00:13:58
Becoming involved in a conflict between the New World Daily newspaper and the Japanese American Citizens League (ddr-densho-1002-11-12) - 00:10:27
Description of the prewar Japanese American Citizens League and Tokie Slocum (ddr-densho-1002-11-13) - 00:08:14
Discussion of political views prewar (ddr-densho-1002-11-14) - 00:06:07
Involvement in a conflict over editor position and internal politics within the New World Daily newspaper (ddr-densho-1002-11-15) - 00:05:12
Community newspapers (ddr-densho-1002-11-16) - 00:00:53
Publishing a Nisei magazine and working in a flower market when World War II broke out (ddr-densho-1002-11-17) - 00:07:06
Testifying for the Tolan Committee as an outspoken critic of the JACL, and an opponent of mass removal (ddr-densho-1002-11-18) - 00:06:19
Avoiding mass removal by moving to Denver, Colorado (ddr-densho-1002-11-19) - 00:04:29
Becoming the editor of the Rocky Shimpo newspaper in 1944, publishing an editorial in support of the Fair Play Committee in Heart Mountain (ddr-densho-1002-11-20) - 00:09:31
Investigated by the FBI as a result of pro-resister editorials in the Rocky Shimpo (ddr-densho-1002-11-21) - 00:08:36
Arrested and put in jail along with the Heart Mountain resisters (ddr-densho-1002-11-22) - 00:10:18
Acquitted of government's charges; returning to Denver, Colorado (ddr-densho-1002-11-23) - 00:04:04
After returning to Denver, working as a truck driver (ddr-densho-1002-11-24) - 00:02:36
Experiencing ostracism from the Japanese American community postwar; reflections on life (ddr-densho-1002-11-25) - 00:09:53
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PARTNER

Densho
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SEGMENT ID

ddr-densho-1002-11-7 (Legacy UID: denshovh-ojimmie-01-0007)

SEGMENT DESCRIPTION

Description of siblings in Japan; working as a schoolboy in Pocatello, Idaho

This interview was conducted by sisters Emiko and Chizuko Omori for their 1999 documentary, Rabbit in the Moon, about the Japanese American resisters of conscience in the World War II incarceration camps. As a result, the interviews in this collection are typically not life histories, instead primarily focusing on issues surrounding the resistance movement itself.

00:02:50 — Segment 7 of 25

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DATE

March 21, 1994

LOCATION

PARENT COLLECTION

Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection

TOPICS

FACILITY

PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS

CONTRIBUTOR

Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of Emiko and Chizuko Omori

RIGHTS

PARTNER

Densho
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INTERVIEW ID

ddr-densho-1002-11

NARRATOR

James Omura

INTERVIEW TITLE

Jimmie Omura Interview

02:29:25 — 25 segments

DATE

March 21, 1994

LOCATION

San Francisco, California

DESCRIPTION

Nisei male. Born November 27, 1912, on Bainbridge Island, Washington. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, moved to Denver and took a job as English Editor of a Japanese American vernacular newspaper, the Rocky Shimpo. As editor, wrote about and supported the Fair Play Committee in Heart Mountain concentration camp. Was charged and tried for conspiracy to counsel draft evasion, and was acquitted on the grounds of the First Amendment and freedom of the press. Mr. Omura was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Journalists Association.

(This interview was conducted by sisters Emiko and Chizuko Omori for their 1999 documentary, Rabbit in the Moon, about the Japanese American resisters of conscience in the World War II incarceration camps. As a result, the interviews in this collection are typically not life histories, instead primarily focusing on issues surrounding the resistance movement itself.)

PRODUCTION

Chizu Omori, interviewer; Emiko Omori, interviewer; Emiko Omori and Witt Mons, videographer

TOPICS

FACILITY

PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS

CONTRIBUTOR

Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of Emiko and Chizuko Omori

RIGHTS

API