Interviews

1. Early Childhood

2. Camp as a Young Boy

3. “Something ominous in the background…”

4. On Joining the Marine Corps

5. Racial Antagonism in the Marine Corps

6. “I was never an exceptional student…”

7. Being 1 out of 4 Asians at Harvard Law School

8. Asian American Lawyers as Victims of “Overt Racial Discrimination”

9. “I could never get a job offer from a private law firm”

10. Being Denied as a Japanese American Lawyer

11. “The Best Seat in the Courthouse”

12. The First Japanese American on the U.S. Court of Appeals

13. On the Increase in Asian American Representation

14. The Intersection between Internment and Judgeship

15. Leaving a Legacy

A. Wallace Tashima

(b. 1934) The First Japanese American Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

“I could never get a job offer from a private law firm”

I know when I got out of law school, well when I was still at Harvard, I remember interviewing for jobs, and nobody would hire me- none of the big firms. And one of the parts is, I talked to someone, “Well,” he said, “Well, we would like to hire you; your grades are pretty good, but our clients would never stand it.” So he said, “I’m sorry, I just can’t help you out.” I wanted to go into private practice, but I could never get a job offer from a private law firm. So it was quite apparent that the reason was racial discrimination. You see, this was of course before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which completely in the years after that changed the landscape on discrimination hiring. But in those days, it was okay and quite well accepted.

discrimination interpersonal relations Japanese law law firms lawyers racial descrimination

Date: July 2, 2014

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sakura Kato

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

Interviewee Bio

Born in Santa Maria California, Judge Atsushi Wallace Tashima is the first Japanese American and the third Asian American in history to serve on a U.S. Court of Appeals. He was born to Issei immigrants and spent three years of his childhood in the Poston War Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona. When Tashima entered his first year of Harvard Law School in 1958, he was one of only 4 Asian American students at Harvard. Nevertheless, Tashima went on to lead a 34 year-long career as a federal judge. In 1980, Tashima was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by President Carter. After serving 15 years on the U.S. District Court, President Clinton elevated Tashima to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers the nine western states on the West Coast. As as 2004, Tashima assumed senior status and currently sits in the Ninth Circuit Pasadena Couthouse in Pasadena, CA. (August 2014)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

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