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Postwar sponsorship (Inglês)

(Inglês) Peru was...we lost everything, my father, all the business, everything we owned. I'm sure people, they left camp, they had homes here already, or they had some friends, but we didn't have anywhere to go. Reverend Fukuda is a reverend that teaches Shinto, Konko church in San Francisco, he had a lawyer, attorney general, right? Took all care of all his business. He wrote a letter to the INS saying that they'll sponsor us if we come to San Francisco and find them a job. And so that was the reason we came to San Francisco.


California postwar San Francisco sponsorships United States World War II

Date: September 20, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda and Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Jimmy Naganuma was born in Callao, Peru to his Issei parents in 1936. He was eight years old when his family were forced to board a ship, to be incarcerated at Crystal City, Texas, during World War II. They remained there even after the war had ended, without a place to go. They were able to leave via a sponsorship by a reverend in San Francisco, California, where they were able to find jobs and housing.  (June 2020)

James Hirabayashi
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Involvement with theater

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Seiichi Tanaka
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Dedicated to the frontier spirits

(b.1943) Shin-issei grand master of taiko; founded San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968.

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Jean Hamako Schneider
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Masao-san (Japanese)

(1925-2024) War bride

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Tamio Wakayama
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Resettling in Chatham

(1941-2018) Japanese Canadian photojournalist and activist

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George Kazuharu Naganuma
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Feeling of foreigness

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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George Kazuharu Naganuma
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First Boy Scouts troop in San Francisco

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Kazumu Naganuma
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Help received in fighting deportation

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Kazumu Naganuma
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Checking in with Immigration once a month

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

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Mia Yamamoto
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Influence of Mexican culture after returning from camp

(b. 1943) Japanese American transgender attorney

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Allyship after camp

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Ben Sakoguchi
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Coming back from camp

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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Ben Sakoguchi
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“I did what I wanted to do”

(b. 1938) Japanese American painter & printmaker

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