The Internment of Japanese Americans in United States History by David K. Fremon Page A
Authors: David K. Fremon
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made by individual states. In 1913, California enacted the Alien Land Law. Aliens ineligible for citizenship were prohibited from owning land. They could rent land for no longer than three years at a time.
The Alien Land Law mainly affected the Issei. The Federal Naturalization Act of 1790 allowed “any alien, being a free white person” to immigrate and become a United States citizen. After the Civil War, “aliens of African nativity” were also included. But Asians, including the Japanese, could live most of their lives in the United States without hope of attaining citizenship.
Their American-born Nisei children, however, were United States citizens. Many Issei avoided the Alien Land Law by putting their property in their citizen children’s names. A 1920 revision to the law barred immigrant parents from serving as guardians for their minor citizen children and from renting their children’s land.
These Japanese Americans faced countless other varieties of discrimination. Some were economic. Unofficial but very real restrictions kept them out of many professions. Japanese-American teachers, for instance, had a hard time finding work because many white parents did not want Japanese-American teachers instructing their children. Most trade unions blocked Japanese Americans from membership. Property owners in many neighborhoods would not rent or sell homes to the Japanese Americans. Shops, restaurants, and hotels would not cater to them.
In Bakersfield, California, where Earl Warren grew up, telephone directories used the word “Oriental” instead of an Asian’s name before a listed telephone number. Writer Yoshiko Uchida, growing up in Oakland, California, always asked new barbers, “Do you cut Japanese hair?” She recalled an incident in which a photographer tried to crowd her, the only Japanese American in her class, out of a Girl Reserves picture. Only when a white friend insisted did the photographer include her in the picture. 5
Image Credit: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Unfriendly neighbors of Issei and Nisei put up signs discriminating against Japanese Americans. 4
Sometimes treatment became violent. An Issei who opened a store had reason to fear picketing or rock throwing. In 1921, a band of white men in Turlock, California, rounded up fifty-eight Japanese Americans, put them on a train, and shipped them out of town.
Despite anti-Japanese sentiment, many Issei prospered. In California, only about sixteen hundred Issei owned farms in 1940, but those farms produced between 30 and 35 percent of all the fruits and vegetables grown in the state. They had a virtual monopoly on snap beans, celery, and strawberries. The average value per acre of farmland in California, Oregon, and Washington was $37.94. The average value of Nisei farmland, much of which was worked by Issei parents, was $279.96.
Not every Japanese-born resident was a farmer. Issei worked as domestic servants, merchants, gardeners, florists, and commercial fishermen. Many were drawn to urban life. Several West Coast cities had neighborhoods called “Little Tokyo.”
The Japanese Americans helped themselves by setting up ethnic unions such as the Japanese Association. This group provided translation and information, legal services and loans, and community events. Japanese-language newspapers, with local items and news from the homeland, provided a unifying force. Religious institutions, both Christian churches and Buddhist temples, also brought the Japanese Americans together.
Anti-Japanese agitators accused Japanese Americans of driving whites out of California. If anything, the opposite was true. Japanese-American farmers often took land rejected or ignored by whites. They supplemented, rather than competed, with other farmers on the West Coast. If Japanese-American farmers had chased whites away, the population of the West Coast would have dropped. However, the population of the West Coast states more than quadrupled, from 2.4 million to 9.7
The Alien Land Law mainly affected the Issei. The Federal Naturalization Act of 1790 allowed “any alien, being a free white person” to immigrate and become a United States citizen. After the Civil War, “aliens of African nativity” were also included. But Asians, including the Japanese, could live most of their lives in the United States without hope of attaining citizenship.
Their American-born Nisei children, however, were United States citizens. Many Issei avoided the Alien Land Law by putting their property in their citizen children’s names. A 1920 revision to the law barred immigrant parents from serving as guardians for their minor citizen children and from renting their children’s land.
These Japanese Americans faced countless other varieties of discrimination. Some were economic. Unofficial but very real restrictions kept them out of many professions. Japanese-American teachers, for instance, had a hard time finding work because many white parents did not want Japanese-American teachers instructing their children. Most trade unions blocked Japanese Americans from membership. Property owners in many neighborhoods would not rent or sell homes to the Japanese Americans. Shops, restaurants, and hotels would not cater to them.
In Bakersfield, California, where Earl Warren grew up, telephone directories used the word “Oriental” instead of an Asian’s name before a listed telephone number. Writer Yoshiko Uchida, growing up in Oakland, California, always asked new barbers, “Do you cut Japanese hair?” She recalled an incident in which a photographer tried to crowd her, the only Japanese American in her class, out of a Girl Reserves picture. Only when a white friend insisted did the photographer include her in the picture. 5
Image Credit: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Unfriendly neighbors of Issei and Nisei put up signs discriminating against Japanese Americans. 4
Sometimes treatment became violent. An Issei who opened a store had reason to fear picketing or rock throwing. In 1921, a band of white men in Turlock, California, rounded up fifty-eight Japanese Americans, put them on a train, and shipped them out of town.
Despite anti-Japanese sentiment, many Issei prospered. In California, only about sixteen hundred Issei owned farms in 1940, but those farms produced between 30 and 35 percent of all the fruits and vegetables grown in the state. They had a virtual monopoly on snap beans, celery, and strawberries. The average value per acre of farmland in California, Oregon, and Washington was $37.94. The average value of Nisei farmland, much of which was worked by Issei parents, was $279.96.
Not every Japanese-born resident was a farmer. Issei worked as domestic servants, merchants, gardeners, florists, and commercial fishermen. Many were drawn to urban life. Several West Coast cities had neighborhoods called “Little Tokyo.”
The Japanese Americans helped themselves by setting up ethnic unions such as the Japanese Association. This group provided translation and information, legal services and loans, and community events. Japanese-language newspapers, with local items and news from the homeland, provided a unifying force. Religious institutions, both Christian churches and Buddhist temples, also brought the Japanese Americans together.
Anti-Japanese agitators accused Japanese Americans of driving whites out of California. If anything, the opposite was true. Japanese-American farmers often took land rejected or ignored by whites. They supplemented, rather than competed, with other farmers on the West Coast. If Japanese-American farmers had chased whites away, the population of the West Coast would have dropped. However, the population of the West Coast states more than quadrupled, from 2.4 million to 9.7
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