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RB: So I have a couple more questions related to, I guess, the cultural entities of Seabrook. And I'm not sure if you know this information or not, because I think that some of this developed while you were living outside the Bay Area. But Shofuso has this sort of longstanding relationship with both the Seabrook minyo dancers and Odaiko. And I was just curious if you had any information about that. My understanding is that it was something that Ellen Nakamura had been involved with over the early decades that the Friends group was being led by the Nisei in the 1980s. It seems like there was a lot of conversation happening.

MA: Yeah, I never realized that. It did not, as you mentioned, I was away during that timeframe, so I did not know the connection between Seabrook and the Japanese American community and Shofuso. It doesn't surprise me that Ellen Nakamura was engaged and involved. She was a pioneer that, and a leader that was well-respected. And I'm sure she sought out trying to establish these relationships. And so I'm glad it happened, and I guess I'm also here to support furthering how we can establish those bridges, if you will.

RB: It seems that there was actually a kimono exhibition that was orchestrated by Seabrook Farms that Ellen was part of. And I'm just curious, since she seems to be a figure that has come up in our research as well, can you describe her a little bit and just talk about who she was as a person?

MA: Yes. Ellen Nakamura was one of the pioneers, one of three Japanese Americans, and she was, her family was incarcerated in Rohwer, I believe, in Arkansas. But in 1944, just prior to the influx of the Japanese Americans to come here, she and two other individuals, one was, the family name was Sasaki, and I forget the other name. But three of them came to Seabrook, and I forget the other name. But three of them came to Seabrook, again, this is in 1944, to see if what Mr. Seabrook was offering would be amenable to the Japanese Americans. Once they were released from the camps, each of them had twenty-five dollars in their pocket, but Mr. Seabrook was offering transportation to come here and work for him. He'd offered a job and a place to live. So that's pretty hard to beat when knowing that, if you had lived on the West Coast, that you were not going to go back to anything, probably. Or if you were, they'd face much discrimination and challenges. So Ellen Nakamura was instrumental. I called it the reconnaissance team. She and these two other individuals, they came here, they scoped out the area, they talked to... if it was not for Jack Seabrook or someone else in the Seabrook family about what is that you're offering, what is it you're expecting, what are the conditions, and what are your expectations? So I'm thinking she did all the hard legwork, came back with a favorable perspective and was able to pitch that so that other Japanese Americans were not nervous. It's going to be anxious enough to come here. But I think without her stamp of approval, that would have been a hard sell, so I think she was very instrumental. So that allowed the Japanese Americans to come, she was looked upon as a leader. She was a senior, I mean, not senior, she was very articulate. And so she was educated, she was able to understand the situation, and she was able to sort of be the go-between between the Issei and the Nisei who were younger and able to kind of understand what was going on. The Issei, again, would just kind of follow in these footsteps. So the Niseis, who kind of were leading, Ellen Nakamura was one of the leaders, so she was instrumental. And so, again, I mentioned the Seabrook Educational Cultural Center, she was a leader and established a co-founder of that institution. She was a major leader in the Buddhist Temple. So she was, within the community she was looked upon as someone who we could trust, and who was competent in executing those various responsibilities.

RB: Thanks for that.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2023 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.