From the year of 1853 to 1885, Japan restricted it’s foreigners from entering and it’s citizens from traveling abroad. After signing the Treaty of Kanagawa and fourteen years later in 1885 only students, traders, laborers and performers who were employed by another country were able to leave Japan. Nine years later more than 29,000 emigrants from the Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi went to Hawaii and the United states. Many of the people who had migrated to the United States told stories to their families of the great opportunities that were available to them and as a result, many more Japanese families migrated to Hawaii and North America. These people were given assistance as to where and how they can go to to be able to emigrate with steamboats to Hololulu or San Francisco. Most of the Japanese workers were employed to farm and produce vegtables or fruits in the local orchards. This large community of Japanese workers and their families had started being segregated against.
In San Francisco the school boards decided to segregate its schools and began to separate only the Japanese students from having any interaction with the American children. They have endured other forms of discrimination in housing, shopping, dining and in recreational activities.
This is a picture of an anti-Japanese book
In 1908 President Roosevelt worked out an agreement with the Japanese government known as the Gentlemen’s Agreement. Initially, most of the workers were comprised of single men looking for employment and had to leave family and friends at home. The agreement stated that only the family members of the migrated workers or students who were still in Japan would be granted an American passport. So many wives and children of Japanese laborers were able to migrate to the United States. The arrival of the families had a great impact on the men who were living in the United States alone. As families they were trying to establish family run businesses, grocery stores, clothing stores and later opened a new community in a new environment called Japan town.
After 16 years of emigration, the migration of the Japanese population grew explosively. In 1921, the United States prohibit female immigration and made a marriage between Caucasians and Asians illegal in California. The United States government did this to disconnect any relationship that would have been formed in the Japanese community.
On December 7, 1941 the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place and the Japanese living in the United States quickly became the new enemy. Not only did it lead to the relocation of the Japanese communities on the West Coast, but they had to be placed in internment camps despite how long they had been living in the United States. They were forced to evacuate from their homes and businesses and enrolled into internments under Executive order 9066. There were many signs posted in Santa Clara county and as many as 10,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to camps far from their hometowns.
Aerial photo of Granada Center from the Water Tower- Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. Photo by Joe McClelland, 6/20/1943
World War II became a turning point in generational control of Japanese American businesses, churches and community politics. It was not until December of 1944 when the internment policy was revoked.
Sources: Google - public data. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved March 31, 2010, from www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/wwcod/granada.htm
http://brownvboard.org/brwnqurt/03-4/03-4a.htm
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