741 items
741 items
Narrator Shig Oka
Nisei male. Born July 28, 1930, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Portland, where father worked for the railroad and then as an apartment building owner. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, returned to Portland, completed school, and became a pharmacist.
Narrator Masuko Oyama
Nisei female. Born February 21, 1927, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Portland where parents ran a hotel business. During World War II, removed with family the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, attended high school for a time in Salt Lake City, Utah, before returning to Portland.
Narrator Albert A. Oyama
Nisei male. Born April 10, 1926, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Montavilla, Oregon, where father ran a Japanese-language newspaper. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After the war, served in Korea in the U.S. military. Returned to Oregon and became a physician.
Narrator Taylor Tomita
Nisei male. Born February 17, 1922, in Odell, Oregon. Grew up in Odell, where parent ran a farm. During World War II, removed to the Pinedale Assembly Center, California, and the Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Transferred to the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Served in the military before returning to the Hood River area.
Narrator Kenji Onishi
Nisei male. Born April 24, 1927, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in the Portland area, where father worked for the railroad. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, served in the military and eventually returned to Portland and became a teacher.
Narrator Ed Tsutakawa
Nisei male. Born May 15, 1921, in Seattle, Washington. Spent much of childhood in Japan, returning to the U.S. at the age of fifteen. Began attending the University of Washington before being removed to Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Created a series of art pieces depicting camp life. Moved to Spokane, Washington, …
Narrator Hannah Lai
Nisei female. Born April 11, 1923, in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Seattle, where parents ran a hotel. Went to live in Japan for several years prior to World War II. During the war, removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. While in Minidoka, recruited to teach elementary school, and …
Narrator 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 bombing of Pearl Harbor, they were removed to the Pinedale Assembly Center, California, and the Tule Lake concentration camp, California, before transferring to Minidoka. After leaving camp, the family resettled in …
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 Frank Kitamoto
Sansei male. Born May 28, 1939, on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Incarcerated with parents at Manzanar concentration camp, California, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Returned to Bainbridge Island after end of World War II. President of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community (BIJAC), a community organization dedicated to the preservation of Japanese American history on Bainbridge Island.
Narrator Chiye Tomihiro
Nisei female. Born December 20, 1924, in Portland, Oregon. Incarcerated at the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Resettled first in Denver, Colorado and later in Chicago, Illinois. Former witness chair for Chicago area hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) and former chairperson of the JACL Chicago …
Narrator 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 to the Pinedale Assembly Center, California. Later transferred to Tule Lake concentration camp, California, and Minidoka, Idaho, before resettling in Chicago, Illinois. Lived and worked in Chicago before eventually returning to …
Narrator Tosh Tokunaga
Nisei male. Born January 2, 1925, in Selleck, Washington. Grew up in the Selleck logging camp before moving with family to Seattle, Washington, for high school. During World War II, removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Volunteered for the military as a paratrooper, and served in Europe. Eventually returned to …
Narrator Don Maeda
Nisei male. Born November 28, 1924, in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Seattle prior to World War II. During the war, removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Drafted into the military while in camp and received a deferrment in order to help relocate family. Resettled in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Narrator Mae Hada
Nisei female. Born July 5, 1922, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Portland where father owned a clothing store. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, lived for a time in Ames, Iowa, and Detroit, Michigan, before returning to Oregon and raising a …
Narrator Ami Kinoshita
Nisei female. Born October 3, 1919, in Enumclaw, Washington. Family moved to Nahcotta, Washington, and ran an oyster farm. Married prior to World War II and lived on husband's family's farm in Gresham, Oregon. During the war, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, returned to Gresham.
Narrator Sumi Ikata
Nisei female. Born March 3, 1918, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Independence, Oregon, where parents ran a farm. Married and was pregnant with first child before World War II. During the war, was removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, returned to the Gresham, Oregon, area.
Narrator George Tsugawa
Nisei male. Born June 20, 1921, in Everett, Washington. Grew up primarily in Hillsboro, Oregon, where family ran a produce business and farm. During World War II, removed with family to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, returned to Oregon and eventually moved to Woodland, Washington, establishing a …
Narrator Lily Kajiwara
Nisei female. Born July 26, 1924, in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in the Gresham/Troutdale area of Oregon, where parents had a farm. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. While in camp, worked as an assistant teacher. After camp, lived in New York before returning to …
Collection
Dr. Keizaburo Koyama Family Collection (ddr-one-5)
The collection consists of English and Japanese correspondence written primarily to Dr. Keizaburo "Kei" Koyama while he was detained at Department of Justice detention facilities (Fort Missoula, MT, Fort Sill, OK, Camp Livingston, LA, and Santa Fe Detention Center, NM). The letters were sent by his friends and family in Portland, friends detained at other Department …
Collection
Densho Collection (ddr-densho-35)
The Densho collection consists of historic photographs of early Seattle and surrounding areas, as well as current photographs of historical sites and community events. This collection includes photographs of Tule Lake, California; Minidoka, Idaho; the Nisei veterans Memorial Day service in Seattle, Washington, and photos of the Golden Potlatch festival in Seattle, Washington, c. 1911. Also …
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Bob Suzuki Interview (ddr-densho-1000-452)
Nisei-han male. Born January 2, 1936, in Portland, Oregon, where father worked for the railroad. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, family moved to a small community outside of Spokane, Washington, to farm. Went to UC Berkeley and Caltech, then taught at …
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Jim Akutsu Interview (ddr-densho-122-12)
Nisei male. Born 1920 in Seattle, Washington. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Resisted draft, with the rationale that the U.S. government had classified him 4-C, an enemy alien, and he was therefore under no obligation to serve. Imprisoned at McNeil Island Penitentiary, Washington. Vocal critic of JACL. Resettled in Seattle, …
Narrator Robert Coombs
White male. Born May 26, 1918, in Visalia, California. Attended school in Sacramento, California, and then enrolled in the University of Southern California. Involved in the development of the new progressive education theory at Stanford University in the 1930s, and was teaching high school in Sacramento, California when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Worked as a teacher …
Narrator Yosh Nakagawa
Nisei male. Born December 27, 1932, in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Seattle, and was in the third grade during mass removal to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington. Moved with family to Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho, before returning to Seattle to attend middle and high school. Found a lifelong job at Osborn & Ulland, a retail …