<Begin Segment 10>

RP: Tell us a little bit about your school experiences. You first attended this integrated grammar school, it was Elder Creek?

CH: Yes.

RP: Did you have to walk to that school?

CH: Oh, yes. The only time we got a ride was if a neighbor down the road would give us a ride, or when it rained.

RP: And what was the ethnic makeup of that school?

CH: Well, I would say it's ninety, ninety percent Caucasian, or white. I think we had one Mexican, one American Indian, and the other percentage was Japanese American, about ten or twelve.

RP: Ten or twelve Japanese Americans?

CH: Yeah. The whole school. [Laughs]

RP: And so how were you, how were the, quote, "minorities" accepted by the majority of the Caucasian student body?

CH: Oh, they were good. They were very nice. We never had any, I never had any problems. There was one, one lady, one young gal, she had a fight with this white gal. [Laughs] And of course, it takes place after school. I remember that. But I don't know what, what they're fighting for, or fighting about. We didn't have any problems.

RP: Did you, in attending grammar school, did you get a sense that you were different than the majority of the kids there? How did you relate to your Japaneseness?

CH: Oh...

RP: Did you embrace it?

CH: I thought we were better, you might say. [Laughs] But then, of course, they would retaliate. Not retaliate, but tell us that they had learned something else. And that's a little farther advanced than what we were learning, so I guess it was kind of a... I don't know. I know they spoke a lot of Japanese during recess and all that, during that. Even in, during the school hour. But that's what they wanted to discourage kids to do, not to do. So I know that a lot of the kids were held back about one year, the beginning of the school, starting from the first grade. Were held back one year.

RP: Oh, as far as the language...

CH: Yeah. Not all of them, but some of them, yeah.

RP: What else do you recall about your grammar school experiences? Any particular teachers that stand out?

CH: Well, every teacher is different, you know. I remember Mrs. Jesperson. She got married, and her name was Jesperson. She was our... we had three, three rooms, and she was our second teacher. And tragic thing happened, her husband passed away, and we thought it was awful, you know. We didn't know what to do, actually. As kids, we didn't know what to say to her or anything like that. I remember that all the teachers were so tall, and we were so little, you know.

RP: And they were all Caucasian?

CH: Yes. Mrs., there were Mrs. Penny, Mrs. Jesperson, and Mrs. Johnson. They all came from Sacramento, someplace.

RP: Can you describe the schoolhouse for us?

CH: Oh, it was a beautiful brick, brick house. One long, long this way, and that's it. They had to tear it down, though, after the war, I guess. There's another school standing there right now in the same place.

RP: Beside the fact that your father went to a segregated, your father and other Japanese Americans from the Florin community went to a segregated school, as you grew up, were you aware of other subtle expressions, or not so subtle expressions of racism or prejudice in the area?

CH: No, actually, I didn't feel any of that.

RP: You didn't feel like you were treated any differently for your ethnicity?

CH: No. We just, bunch of happy kids. [Laughs]

RP: And then you got, you went to Elk Grove, where most Florin folks went to?

CH: Yes. That was the only high school around. Now, there are so many that you can choose one of 'em.

RP: In talking with Tom just earlier, he said that almost, nearly half the student body or the senior class was Japanese American.

CH: Student body?

RP: The senior class of the high school was primarily Japanese American.

CH: Oh, yes. We left a great big void in the class, you know.

RP: When you went. What are your vivid memories of high school?

CH: Well, we liked to dance a lot. And during the noon hour, after we'd had our lunch, they'd have the records playing, like I don't know if you remember Frenesi.

RP: Is that a song?

CH: It's a, you know, record. I don't think there's any music, I mean, voice to it, it's just, I don't know what group would play that. There was a lot of... let's see, what was that guy's name? See, I can't remember some of these old, old people.

RP: You would just have dances after lunch hour.

CH: Yeah. Yeah, keep us out of trouble. [Laughs] I remember that.

RP: You also were involved in the Girls Athletic Association?

CH: Oh, yes. That was more or less after... I think it's sixth period, taking up basketball, field hockey, softball. No, it was baseball. It was a smaller ball, but not softball. So it was overhand. I was a catcher. Tough job.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.