Losing job with railroad because of being Japanese American
I even got a job driving a car to post what trains were coming through Spokane: freight, passenger. And I got the job, but they found out I was Japanese, and, “Hey, you can't have a Japanese delivering train schedules.” They were afraid the Japanese would bomb or whatever these railroad and freight, freight cars loaded with war goods. I've seen tanks going through Spokane, you know, army tanks. I was fired immediately, on the spot. They found out I was Yamada, Japanese, and I couldn't have that kind of sensitive job delivering. I used to have to go into Hillyard Station and post arrival of a freight train coming through Spokane and that. And it was a job that was a good job, but they fired me on that.
Date: March 15 & 16, 2006
Location: Washington, US
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.
Explore More Videos
Dancing in Japan as an American, in the US as Japanese
(1918-2023) Nisei Japanese kabuki dancer
Discrimination in San Francisco
(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader
Collection of artifacts depicting racial stereotypes influences art
(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor
Encountering racial discrimination at a public swimming pool
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
His testimony has more credibility because of his race
(1922 - 2005) Former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer
Gender discrimination in education field
(1925 - 2018) Nisei educator from Hawai‘i
Learned what it meant to be called “Jap” in Heart Mountain
(1934–2018) Japanese American designer, educator, and pioneer of media technologies
First impression of New York City during war time
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement
The day Pearl Harbor was bombed
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Not bringing shame to family
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Past ties to present situation in Middle East
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Didn't have rights that whites had
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Californians didn't know about evacuation
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Idealism before war, being red, white and blue
(1922–2014) Political and civil rights activist.
Her experience as a Japanese-American schoolchild in Oceanside, California, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
(1924-2018) Artist and playwright.