Narrators

Narrators are the interview subjects of oral histories contained in the Densho Digital Repository. Our interviewees, or narrators, share their life histories to preserve history, educate the public, and promote tolerance. We urge our users to approach these materials in the same spirit.

927 narrators

George Azumano

Nisei male. Born June 9, 1918, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Portland where parents ran a hotel and grocery business. Was drafted into the …

Peggie Nishimura Bain

Nisei female. Born March 31, 1909, in Vashon Island, Washington. Raised in Vashon Island and Des Moines, Washington, before being removed with her two children …

Dennis Bambauer

Male of Japanese and French-Irish descent. Born October 1, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. As a child, resided in the Children's Home Society Orphanage in …

Lorraine Bannai

Sansei female. Born 1955 in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Gardena, California, surrounded by a large Japanese American community. Influenced by father's role in …

Paul Bannai

Nisei male. Born July 4, 1920 in Delta, Colorado. Grew up in small mining and farming towns in Colorado, Utah and Arizona, until his family …

Yone Bartholomew

Nisei female. Born April 12, 1904, in Bedderavia, California. Was given for adoption by her parents to a couple who could not have children of …

Gerald L. Beppu

Sansei male. Family owned Linc's Tackle, a longtime Japanese American business in Seattle, Washington. Prior to World War II, father became the owner of Togo's …

June Yasuno Aochi (Yamashiro) Berk

Nisei female. Born October 17, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Los Angeles, and was involved at an early age with traditional Japanese …

Marion Michiko Bernardo

Nisei female. Born July 25, 1930, in Walnut Grove, California. Grew up in Walnut Grove. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, removed with family to …

Angela Berry

Female of Filipino American descent. Born in 1979 in Seattle, Washington, but grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Granddaughter of Felix Narte, one of the …

Bob Berry

White male. Grew up in Pasadena, California, where parents had a flower growing business. Provided flowers for the Santa Anita racetrack for over fifty years. …

Ernest Besig

White male. Born May 30, 1904, in Albany, New York. Founder and Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California from 1934 …

Kazuko Uno Bill

Nisei female. Born June 5, 1921, in Seattle, Washington. Raised in South Park, Washington where family operated a small produce farm. Attended Cleveland High School …

Mabel Shoji Boggs

Nisei female. Born August 3, 1920, in Portland, Oregon. Lost father at an early age, and mother and siblings set up a family farm and …

David R. Boyd

White male. Born February 2, 1937, in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Seattle, where his father, Gene Boyd, worked for the Seattle Parks Department. Gene …

Robert "Bob" Bratt

Born in Bethesda, Maryland. During the Redress Movement, worked for the Department of Justice's Office of Redress Administration (ORA), which was established to identify and …

Bill Braye

Male of Spanish and Irish descent. Born March 31, 1917, in Santa Monica, California. Moved to Salinas, California, as a teenager, and enlisted in the …

Nikki Bridges

Nisei female. Born February 2, 1911, and grew up in California. During World War II, removed to the Poston (Colorado River) concentration camp, Arizona. After …

Harold "Hal" Champeness

White male. Born in 1923. Grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Joined the navy during World War II and eventually returned to Bainbridge.

Connie Thorson Chandler

White female. Born 1938 in Denver, Colorado. Father worked for the Bureau of Reclamation at the time WWII broke out, so family lived in Minidoka …

Joanne Chiedi

Born in Washington, D.C. During the Redress Movement, worked for the Department of Justice's Office of Redress Administration (ORA), which was established to identify and …

Michiko Frances Chikahisa

Nisei female. Born January 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Los Angeles where father ran a successful produce business. During World War II, …

Ben Chikaraishi

Nisei male. Born September 10, 1921, in Colusa, California. As a child, family moved to Stockton, California, where parents owned a hotel. Was attending the …

Helen Harano Christ

Sansei female. Born August 26, 1934, in Berkeley, California. Removed to Tanforan Assembly Center, California, and Topaz concentration camp, Utah. Family resettled in North Platte, …

Diana Morita Cole

Nisei female. Born May 26, 1944, in the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Prior to World War II, parents lived in Hood River, Oregon. After the …
API