<Begin Segment 4>

MA: What was the ethnic make-up of this area that you lived in during that time? You said there was Japanese...

SO: Well, it was mixed. Oh, let's see. I don't believe there (were) as many blacks, I think, as there are now. (Yes), I don't think there (were) quite as many at that time, during those days.

MA: What about, like, Chinese families?

SO: There were not too many, there (were) a lot of Chinese restaurants, too -- not a lot, but there was a few. If it was restaurants, that's what the Chinese did mostly, they ran restaurants, and the Japanese ran hotels or hand-laundries. A couple, three restaurants, but very few. They were run by Chinese, mostly.

MA: Do your remember interacting with any Chinese kids?

SO: No, not Chinese. I had a good, real good friend, what was his name? Tucson, I think, was his name. He was a black kid, you know, I met him in school, and we became good friends.

MA: Do you remember going over to his house?

SO: No, I met him mostly at church. We used to play, I don't even know where he lived, actually. We used to meet at school and then go from school, we'd go to the stores or whatever, you know, played together.

MA: What sorts of things did you do when you played?

SO: Nothing much, just go around and visiting stores, mainly. [Laughs] Bat, baseball or something like that, played baseball. Not very much to do in those days.

MA: And so you met him at...

SO: At school.

MA: Was this grade school?

SO: Grade school, uh-huh.

MA: And which, which school was that?

SO: Well, now, I got a long story on that. I told you I went to Millwood one year.

MA: Right.

SO: Right, then I moved to Spokane, then I went to a school called Hawthorne School, and that burned down after my first year. [Laughs] I guess they saw me coming. It burned down.

MA: What happened?

SO: Well, they had a big fire and it just burned to the ground. So they transferred all the students to what they called the Lincoln School, and that's where I finished up my education here.

MA: Was Lincoln where most of the other Niseis went to school?

SO: I think the majority of 'em went to Lincoln School, and then Lewis & Clark, that's the high school. I think the majority of 'em.

MA: So then you met your, your friend at Hawthorne, right?

SO: No, I didn't have very many friends there, 'cause I wasn't (there) long enough to, I wasn't there long enough to actually make what you call real good friends, you know. I don't think I was there a year and it burned down. Burned to the ground. I don't know why, how it burned down or why it burned down. So they transferred us all to Lincoln School.

MA: What are your memories of Lincoln School?

SO: Lincoln School was all good, the teachers were all real nice. I didn't like the principal, she was real strict, I remember that. Mrs. Bradley. But other than that, it was a good school.

MA: What sorts of things did Mrs. Bradley do that made the students not like her?

SO: Oh, I don't know. I was in there so often -- [laughs] -- I don't know what I thought. But yeah, (she) gave me a whack on the fanny, and hit (the back of) your hand. Those days, they allowed it, the teachers to whack you on your fanny. I got quite a few of those, I don't know what I used to do. But the teachers were all very nice, good, good teachers, very good teachers.

MA: Were the teachers mostly Caucasian?

SO: All, all Caucasians.

MA: And then the students, it sounds like, some, some Niseis attended the school.

SO: Oh, yes. I think the majority of the Niseis went to Lincoln School, if I'm not mistaken. Then I think the majority of 'em went to Lewis & Clark High School. Not all, but majority of 'em, I guess.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.