<Begin Segment 37>

AI: [Eng.] Continuing our interview with Marian Asao Kurosu. And I'm Alice Ito, with the Densho project, with Tomoyo Yamada, interviewing. And John Pai, videographer.

TY: [Jpn.] Well, during our session yesterday, we were discussing the late 1930's.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] In April 1939 your fourth son Donald was born.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Well, in 1939, your oldest daughter Lilly was seven years old and so your children all started school.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh, yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, in those days your children all had U.S. citizenship because they were born in the U.S., but you and your husband didn't. Were you worried about it in any way?

MK: [Jpn.] What?

TY: [Jpn.] The first generation Japanese could not get citizenship, could they?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, we couldn't.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you worry about that?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, that's the reason we couldn't buy land.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] I mean the first generation. So all of us rented the land from Caucasians.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Many of us did farming. That was fine. But if you wanted to own land yourself, then you couldn't buy it.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So some people borrowed names of American-born persons and used them to buy land. Also if you want to start your own business, you couldn't.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Unless you borrowed a name. Some people did that. Not everybody. Some people. Uh-huh.

<End Segment 37> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.