Copyright status unknown. This work may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, its reproduction may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. This work is accessible for purposes of education and research. Transmission or reproduction of works protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. California State University, Sacramento Library attempted to find rights owners without success but is eager to hear from them so that we may obtain permission, if needed. Upon request to info@csus.edu digitized works can be removed from public view if there are rights issues that need to be resolved.
Rights Notes
Copyright status unknown. This work may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, its reproduction may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. This work is accessible for purposes of education and research. Transmission or reproduction of works protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. California State University, Sacramento Library attempted to find rights owners without success but is eager to hear from them so that we may obtain permission, if needed. Upon request to [info@csus.edu] digitized works can be removed from public view if there are rights issues that need to be resolved.
Description
Kibei female, born in Loomis, California on November 18, 1918 to farm laborers. The family returned to Japan in 1921 to be with Ai’s ill maternal grandmother. Parents were unable to return to the U.S. under the Oriental Exclusion act of 1924 which prevented Japanese laborers from entry. Ai was educated in Japan and after high school went to sewing school, then became a telephone operator. Eager to see her hometown of Loomis, Ai returned to California in March 1937 when she was 19. While working on a Loomis farm, she met and married Mitsuyo Tanaka. He became a motion picture projectionist and found jobs in Japanese and Caucasian theaters. In 1942, When Ai was twenty-four, Mitsuyo and two daughters went to Walerga Assembly Center but Ai remained in Sacramento for the imminent birth of a third child. The family was reunited, then sent to Tule Lake, California and finally, to Amache, Colorado where Mitsuyo made cloth flowers for funerals and memorial services. The family returned to Sacramento in the fall of 1945 and lived briefly in a Buddhist Church hostel in very crowded conditions. They eventually found better housing and Mitsuyo found a projectionist job, later became a mechanic at McClellan Air Force Base. Ai did domestic work for seven years but continued her artistic interests: teaching Japanese dancing, sewing kimonos for family members, arranging flowers, and won prizes as a poet of the Senryu style.
Type
sound
Format
Copy Audio cassette
Form/Genre
Oral histories
Extent
3 Tapes of 3
Identifier
css_000135_t01; css_000135_t02; css_000135_t03
Subject
Japanese Americans Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945 Japanese Internment Camps World War, 1939-1945--California--Japanese Americans World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--California Internment
Provenance
California State University, Sacramento California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.
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