689 items
689 items
Narrator Nancy Nakata Gohata
Sansei female. Born October 16, 1940, in Compton, California. As an infant, taken with family to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After the government issued the so-called "loyalty questionnaire," family was transferred to the Tule Lake concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, lived for ten years at a farm labor camp on an island outside of …
Narrator Yo Shibuya
Nisei male. Born August 23, 1927, in Los Angeles, California. Went to Japan for a time as a child with family before returning to California. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. While in camp, learned the saxophone and played with the Jive Bombers band. After leaving camp, attended college and began …
Narrator Arnold T. Maeda
Nisei male. Born July 17, 1926, in Santa Monica, California. Grew up in the Santa Monica area where parents ran a nursery business. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, worked as a chick sexer, technical illustrator in the aerospace industry, and a life insurance salesman. Returned to California …
Narrator Shimako "Sally" Kitano
Nisei female. Born April 6, 1932, in Bainbridge Island, Washington. Grew up on Bainbridge, and was eight years old when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Removed with family to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. Before the war was over, moved to Chicago, Illinois. Returned to Bainbridge Island after World War II.
Narrator Mary Blocher Smeltzer
White female. Born in 1915 in Texas. Grew up in La Verne, California, where family was active with the Church of the Brethren. During World War II, lived in the Manzanar concentration camp, California, and worked as a teacher there. Along with husband, established a hostel in Chicago, Illinois, for Japanese Americans leaving the camps.
Narrator Fumiko Hayashida
Nisei female. Born January 21, 1911, in Winslow, Washington. Grew up in Japan and the Fletcher's Bay area of Bainbridge Island, Washington. Member of the first group of Japanese Americans to be forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated. Incarcerated at Manzanar concentration camp, California, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, while pregnant and caring for two …
Narrator Dennis Bambauer
Male of Japanese and French-Irish descent. Born October 7, 1934, in Los Angeles, California. As a child, resided in the Children's Home Society Orphanage in Los Angeles. During World War II, was transferred to Manzanar concentration camp's "Children's Village" for orphans. Was adopted out of camp by a family from Bishop, California. Eventually became a teacher.
Narrator Roy Murakami
Nisei male. Born January 15, 1931, in Los Angeles, California. Prior to World War II, father was a community leader who helped to establish the first judo dojo in Los Angeles. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. Following the war, served in the military during the Korean War, and eventually returned …
Narrator Clyde Taylor
White male. Born February 16, 1930, in Hollywood, California. Grew up in Oregon before family moved to Big Pine, California, prior to World War II. Was involved in a high school football game with Japanese American students from the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After the war, served in the military and eventually settled in Sacramento, California.
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Yuki Shimoda: Asian American Actor (ddr-densho-1024-87)
The thirty-year acting career of the late Yuki Shimoda reflects the achievement and career disappointments that faced the minority actor. Only offered limited roles by the Hollywood establishment during certain points of his career, Shimoda persevered on for challenging dramatic roles, such as in the television movie, FAREWELL TO MANZANAR. Shimoda’s journey from Sacramento’s “J-Town,” to …
Narrator Iku Kiriyama
Sansei female. Born November 12, 1939, in Los Angeles, California. During World War II, removed as a small child to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, returned to California with family, where parents established a nursery business in Torrance, California. Graduated from the University of Southern California, and worked as a teacher. Integral in …
Narrator Robert Katsuto Fujioka
Nisei male. Born in Los Angeles, California. Grew up in Los Angeles, where parents ran a farm and then father became a gardener. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. Left camp to finish high school in Chicago, Illinois, and attend college in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Drafted into the military. Eventually returned to …
Narrator Sachiye Okamoto
Nisei female. Born 1937 in Terminal Island, California. Grew up in Terminal Island, where father was a fisherman. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI, and the rest of the family moved to Compton, California. Removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, lived for several years in the …
Narrator Miho Shiroishi
Nisei female. Born 1932 in Terminal Island, California. Grew up in Terminal Island, where father was a fisherman. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI, and the rest of the family moved to Compton, California. Removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, lived for several years in the …
Narrator Noboru Kamibayashi
Nisei male. Born June 23, 1930, in Fairfax, Washington. Grew up in Venice, California, where parents had a produce farm. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. Parents signed "no-no" on the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" and decided to return with the family to Japan to live. After several years in Japan, came …
Narrator George Matsumoto
Nisei male. Born July 19, 1924, in San Francisco, California. At a young age, family moved to Ocean Park, California, where father ran a concession stand in an amusement park. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, removed with family to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. While in camp, had numerous jobs, including as part of the …
Narrator Mas Akiyama
Nisei male. Born May 19, 1917, in Eastport, Idaho, and spent childhood in Spokane, Washington. In 1933 traveled to Japan with family where father became ill and died. Attended school in Japan for three years and then returned to Spokane in 1936 and worked on a farm. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, volunteered for military …
Narrator Robert A. Nakamura
Nisei/Sansei male. Born July 5, 1936, in Venice, California. During World War II, removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. After leaving camp, lived for a time in Denver before returning to Los Angeles. After the war, became a pioneering filmmaker. Founder of Visual Communications, the oldest community-based media arts center in the United States. Along …
Narrator Charlie Matsubara
Nisei male. Born June 3, 1920, in San Francisco, California. Grew up in the Los Angeles area. When World War II broke out, Charlie stayed in California with his brother to help take care of property and belongings while the rest of the family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Charlie and his brother were then sent …
Narrator Ron Osajima
Nisei-Sansei male. Born July 8, 1935, in Gardena, California. Spent childhood in Gardena, where father had a wholesale produce business. During World War II, removed with family to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. Returned to Southern California after leaving camp, living briefly in a hostel set up at the Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles. Moved …
Narrator Hank Shozo Umemoto
Nisei male. Born October 12, 1928, in Florin, California, a small community outside of Sacramento, California. Lost father at an early age, and was raised primarily by older brother. During World War II, removed with family to the Manzanar concentration camp, California. While in camp, snuck out of camp to spend time in the surrounding hillside. …
Narrator Takeshi Minato
Nisei male. Born July 13, 1922, in Park City, Utah. Family moved several times prior to World War II, and was living in Terminal Island, California, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Removed to the Manzanar concentration camp, California, during the war. After the war, lived and worked in Chicago, Illinois, and Seabrook, …
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Paul Bannai Interview I (ddr-densho-1000-128)
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 moved to Boyle Heights in the Los Angeles, California area. After graduating from high school, he tested discrimination and employment practices and eventually succeeded in obtaining a job at a bank. …
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Paul Bannai Interview II (ddr-densho-1000-150)
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 moved to Boyle Heights in the Los Angeles, California area. After graduating from high school, he tested discrimination and employment practices and eventually succeeded in obtaining a job at a bank. …
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Stand Up For Justice (ddr-densho-1024-86)
A collaboration of VC and National Coalition for Redress and Reparations (now Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress), funded by grants from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, this narrative drama and accompanying curriculum guide were produced following more than 5 years of extensive research and interviews with …