<Begin Segment 26>

RP: Now, Bridgeton, was Bridgeton located south of Seabrook, or north?

SK: Let's see, wait a minute now. I believe it was south, because you had to go Camden the other way, and Camden would have been north, going north. I'm going to guess at it being south.

RP: What type of community was Bridgeton?

SK: You know, it was a small city, it wasn't what you'd call a big city. I would say it was smaller than the town of Rockland. I mean... well, you don't know Rockland. Let's see, I'm going to say someplace in the neighborhood of fifteen, twenty thousand, maybe more. It wasn't a very big city.

RP: Was it an agricultural community or a working class?

SK: It was working class, but I don't know what type of industry drove the city. That I'm not sure.

RP: And was it predominately Caucasian or were there other minorities?

SK: No, I think it was primarily Caucasian. Because when I played football on the... I played in my, that's right, I played in my ninth grade, tenth grade, I played three years at Bridgeton High School. And I remember most of the people were all Caucasians except one black. I remember him because he was something like about 6'7" or 6'8", but they recruited him from another high school to play football. But otherwise, it was primarily Caucasian. And one of my best buddies was a Caucasian person that lived in Seabrook, and his name was Harry Hoffman. So there weren't, I don't think there was any other nationalities that I remember then.

RP: Talking with Lester about his experience in that area, he said that that area was below the Mason-Dixon Line and that he saw outward evidences of separation between blacks and whites in the community. In other words, the blacks sat in the balcony in theaters, they were not allowed... well, on the buses they had to take back seats and that type of thing.

SK: See, I don't remember that. You know, Lester's about four years older than I am. I don't remember running into those kind of situations, because like I said, when we lived in Seabrook, I worked right along with the Jamaicans who were black and the Puerto Ricans who were, I think they were considered blacks, too, at that time. And we all worked together, and I don't remember them having to ride on the back of the bus. But he probably has a better memory than I do. [Laughs]

RP: Did you have access to medical service at Seabrook at all? Was there a hospital or some type of...

SK: Well, I don't remember there being a hospital per se in Seabrook. I think we had to go to Bridgeton. There may have been a clinic, but I sure don't remember it or I never had to use it.

RP: And were there organizations that developed at Seabrook specifically embracing Japanese Americans? I was thinking of Buddhist church or JACL chapter, do you recall?

SK: You know, this is the thing. I never paid attention to, like I said, to religion that much, and the JACL was never even part of my... yeah.

RP: How about Boy Scouts? Were you involved in...

SK: Yeah, well, they did have Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, but I never, I was not one of those kind of people, that's all.

RP: Did you have an opportunity to, during the time you were in Seabrook, did you have an opportunity to travel around on the East Coast, visit Washington, D.C. or New York or get around and see the sights?

SK: Yes. You know, that was one of the things about going to school, and grammar school especially, okay. They always had field trips, and we were able to go Washington, D.C. and see the capitol, see all the buildings, went there. I don't... we never went to, I mean, they never went as far as New York, I don't remember that, but I do remember Washington. They always had those field trips every year.

RP: And that was in grammar school?

SK: Yes, that was grammar school, and I'm pretty sure that was up to sixth grade that they had that, because it wasn't in high school. I don't know, see, this is the thing. The space between, we'll say, sixth and ninth grade, is blank. I can't remember if that grammar school went all the way up to eighth grade, it may have gone all the way up to eighth grade, but I can't remember that. It must have gone to eighth grade because, like I said, I played football for the freshmen in Bridgeton High School.

RP: So your world opened up a bit while you were there.

SK: Yeah.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.