Nisei female. Born November 3, 1918, in San Francisco, California. As a young woman, entire family visited Japan for ten months, where she acquired the skill of Japanese typing at the Kumahira Typist Yoseisho in Hiroshima. Returned to the U.S. with most of her family (eldest brother remained in Japan) and was working at the Japanese …

Nisei female. November 25, 1909, in Seattle, Washington. Father established one of the largest oyster companies in the United States prior to World War II. Graduated from Garfield High School, the University of Washington, and then the Pacific School of Religion where she earned a master's degree in religious education. At the outbreak of WWII, assisted …

Nisei male. Born November 30, 1918, in Yakima, Washington. Spent two years of childhood in Japan. Returned to Seattle and became an active participant in Japanese American community life. Was attending the University of Washington when World War II started. Avoided incarceration with the help of the Friends (a Quaker organization), which hid him and helped …

Ni-ten-gosei (Nisei/Sansei) male. Born April 16, 1936, in Tacoma, Washington. During World War II, was incarcerated with his family at the Tule Lake concentration camp, California. After the war, resettled in Seattle's Nihonmachi, where his father reestablished the family business, Uwajimaya, selling Japanese foodstuff and other items. Worked at Uwajimaya throughout his childhood -- along with …

Born February 23, 1927, in Lakeland, Florida. Left home at age fourteen to live under the educational supervision of Dr. William H. Gray, Jr., attended Florida A & M, and graduated with a degree in business administration from Temple University. Graduated from University of Washington Law School in 1955, then served as law clerk for Supreme …

Sansei male. Born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio. During World War II, father was incarcerated the Pomona Assembly Center, California, and the Heart Mountain concentratin camp, Wyoming. Mother came to the United States from Japan in 1950. Frank grew up in Cleveland, where his parents owned a boarding house. Earned a B.A. in theater directing from the …

Ana Tanaka and Dr. Kyle Kinoshita led a conversation with Joy Misako St. Germain, detailing how she became involved with JACL and became a Seattle leader. Being one of just a few Japanese American families where she grew up, she felt a deep longing for a sense of community. Her love for Japanese American culture is …

Male of Italian and Irish descent. Born 1919 in Baltimore, Maryland. Grew up in the countryside outside of Baltimore with his parents, younger sister, and maternal grandmother. Raised Catholic, he attended public schools until graduating in 1936 at age seventeen. Began working for the Baltimore News Post in 1937 until the draft of 1940 when he …

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. …

Elaine Kim and Joy Misako St. Germain interviewed Theo Bickel. Theo's introduction to JACL was as an intern at the National JACL. At a JACL National Convention in Las Vegas, Bill Tashima invited Theo to work with and collaborate with the Seattle JACL Chapter. Theo's focus has been to strengthen communications among JACL members, executive JACL …

Nisei male. Born May 15, 1922, in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii. Grew up in Kahului, where parents ran a hotel. Was attending the University of Hawaii as a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. As a member of the ROTC, was inducted into the newly formed …

Nisei male. Born May 25, 1932, in Seattle, Washington. Father employed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as interpreter for twenty years, until separated from family on December 7, 1941 and interned as an enemy alien. Removed from Seattle with mother, sister and two brothers in 1942. Attended school (fifth through sixth grades) while incarcerated …

Keiko Shinmoto's father migrated from Hiroshima to Portland, Oregon, where his brother was an owner of a grocery store. After returning to Hiroshima to see his ailing father, Keiko's father found it impossible to return to America as his mother hid his passport to keep him in Japan. Shortly, Keiko's mother joined him in Hiroshima, also …

Yuriko Furubayashi was born January 20, 1927, in Waimea, Hawai'i, as one of the ten children of the family. Her father had come to Hawai'i from Hiroshima in the mid-1910s as a contract worker on a pineapple plantation. He grew vegetables and kept chickens around the house to help feed the family. Her mother cooked Japanese …

Nisei male. Born in Seattle on January 30, 1915, and attended Washington grade school, Garfield High School and the University of Washington. He grew up as a typical Nisei, working summers in Alaska salmon canneries and Western Avenue produce brokerages to pay for his education. He became interested in writing at Garfield where he was sports …