We Came to Grow

Production of we came to grow is made possible by the Henry end to Moya talk Ohashi charitable foundation. Union Bank of California Chevron Corporation East Lawn Memorial Park and the members of TV i.e.. This is the dream that everyone has that every immigrant they like to come to the United States and they hope that they can become rich and enjoy life like you. We came to grow Japanese-Americans in the Central Valley eight hundred sixty nine thousand nine hundred forty one. Their story begins here in the foothills east of Sacramento where goal was discovered. This site is now marked by a monument honoring the first group of Japanese settlers who came to gold here. Out to our county in 1869 they form the walkin lots of tea and so farm colony hoping to seek their fortune in agriculture as a business it was doomed to fail. Yet in a

way it did succeed by planting the seeds that grew into the Japanese-American experience in California. Their journey began aboard the Pacific Clipper China. They were a group of Japanese political refugees from eyes who walk Matsu fleeing civil war. They were led by a German named John Chanelle who served as an advisor to the Lord of eyes to walka Matsu the group which included some what I came here to establish a refuge for their Lord and home. He had given them more than Johnson out so much. Across the forty thousand dollars at that time. Now use it to buy 160 acres of land which included this home known as a Grainer house. It is still standing today. Over the years the walk amounts of Colony story has reached legendary status inspiring many stories based on speculation few documented facts existed much of what we do know is based on the recollections of Henry deer camp whose family farmed in

nearby. The colonists wanted to cultivate Selke bring it in 50000 mulberry trees and soak worms in addition to tea seeds bamboo roots and other plants from Japan. SCHNELL also brought his wife a Japanese woman said to be a summerize daughter. According to the census report they had two daughters were born in America. This dog is believed to belong to them. Local newspapers hailed their arrival expressing excitement at the new venture they praise now and welcome the colonists. Walker is the first organized immigration to the United States and this is the start of the agricultural economy. At first the farm prospered but the Enterprise was ill fated. A combination of drought lack of irrigation water and farming inexperience doomed the colony and their funds dwindled. Snell announced he would go back to

Japan to get more money. He packed up his family and left volleying to return with help. He never did. The people they abandoned their farm while over there they scattered and no one knows just where all the other 22 people have gone. Some are said to have returned to Japan but others stayed and became the first Japanese Americans. We know the fates of only three of the settlers could be no Souquet known as Cooney was a carpenter by trade after the colony failed. He took work where he could find it. He married an African-American woman. They had four children and their descendants still live in the Central Valley. Near the end of his life he wandered to Colusa north of Sacramento where he's buried. I remember going to uni but I knew him for about a half a year because he was ill. I used to meet him as

he was at a boarding house and cried. Boarding House and Cooney also helped out in interpreting and remember his. Interpreting when I had to go. Dr Watson No suitcase soccer guy known as Matsue was believed to have been a somewhat I after the colony failed. He found work with a neighboring family. He stayed with them for 30 years until his death in one thousand one. They offered to help him go back to Japan but Matsu always refused. Some speculate that it had to do with a young girl in the colony named OK who came from I think a lot so went to Japan to bring her. As a nurse maid to the two girls. Who were born after the colony disbanded. She died of fever.

Although there are those who speculate it was heartbreak she was only 19 and who came to her and was very unhappy because the condition was there and the climate was there for. Those around they were thrown different. Her grave rests alone in this hillside in Gold Hill matzah himself provided the headstone. Some say he never returned to Japan because he couldn't face OKs parents when trusted her care to him. By 1885 the Japanese government was allowing more people to leave for Hawaii and California. Still many were sojourners a spectrum from somewhat eye to students to laborers expecting to make their mark and return home. The Japanese were coming to terms us go. They heard of opportunities. And so they began to move into places like Vacaville. So

many of them took the riverboat from San Francisco to Sacramento and Sacramento became sort of a hub of a wheel if you can imagine a few then dozens came into the valley north to Colusa and beyond to Floren the delta and further south planting and harvesting strawberries potatoes rice onions and other crops. By the turn of the century there were thousands of Japanese immigrants in the Central Valley. Almost all of them single man they were looking for their care because if you were not the. First. Song. You cannot inherit. And if if if they were farmers or they had a. Store or anything the first son gets the daughter if things get anything they felt their future would be better in America. Immigrants from the same area in Japan often turn to each other for support.

Once they arrived in America landed in San Francisco a lot of them didn't know where to go there and they found out there's a family in Fresno from here it seems. And at our store the lower level was like a hotel and they all slept on the floor. Five says the night many found opportunities as farm laborers in the burgeoning agricultural economy. Around 18 80 people here in California realized that they had the soil water climate to grow the best fruits and vegetables in the world in large quantities but the consumers were all back east so how do you get a back there. Well somebody came up with the bright idea of building a refrigerator car basically an icebox. They had formed this cooperative and they bought a packing house in town. And we bring all our fruits into the packing house and they would pack them. All together and then we load up refrigerator car right there.

So that kind of. Made the agricultural industry growth significantly all of a sudden. And of course that required a lot of labors and the Chinese were supplying this labor. But then the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 cut off the supply of labor and American industry looked at Japan as a replacement source. Not only they were they needed for the railroads and agriculture they were also needed for lumbering mining fishing and other industries that were needed for a growing West by 1910 Japanese man with the largest ethnic population group among field workers in California. Some were able to lease or buy their own land. Most Japanese American farms were small less than 20 acres and everyone in the family was expected to pitch in.

I remember cutting bagus before I went to school in the morning and. It's summertime if you go in a pick up and 50 pound boxes and we were paid about 10 cents a box for apricot. In 1900 Japanese farmers controlled forty five hundred acres less and 20 years later they controlled 10 times that amount. That was just one percent of the total farmland in California yet it produced sixty seven million dollars in crops over 10 percent of the dollar volume of California agriculture. They accomplished this by finding innovative ways to boost productivity. What they had figured out in the Florida area was they had rows and rows of vineyards and what they did is then plant strawberries down between those empty rows of vineyards. So actually what they were doing is getting twice the production out of the land and being twice as successful. And of course which meant they were brain in twice the money. Japanese American farmers also introduced new crops and they turned what was considered undesirable earth into productive farmland. One

example is Ken Kuta who pioneered the commercial rice growing industry in California. He could have known as the rice King in Iran there were a group of. Agricultural specialists there are interested in rice. They were growing it on very good land. And they were not using the right kind of seeds or something. Well Japanese farmers came. And they started growing it on bad land. And they found they're very very successful. George is another success story. He reclaimed thousands of acres of swamp land in the San Joaquin Delta and converted them into fertile farmland or he decided to grow potatoes and before you know it he was monopolize the potato farming for

quite some time. And he was known as the potato King. By the time of the famous 19 0 6 earthquake Japan towns we home Laci's are present in many towns in the valley and right here in Vacaville next to Chinatown there was a thriving business district 70 or 80 percent of the businesses you know were taken out of me had his stores you know go through stores that had about three stores to talk some all Japanese farming communities developed most notably your moto colony in mayor said county it was started. Through all you kind of a dream. Mr. WEIL Biko of the times the school and the star because the entrepreneur he had all kind of businesses and he was the Divell Christian and one of the things that bothered him about. Japanese

life in California was that. So many young men. Seem to kind of go through life in aimless sort of a way wasted their money you know and drinking and gambling and stuff and he decided that he was going to try to buy some property somewhere. And start a Christian colony in 1904 Biko bought 3000 acres in the Central Valley town of Livingston and began selling lots to the Japanese community to begin with. Mr. R. because a newspaper man. So he had a lot of some of the main writers. Were also columnists here. There were always articles and and times as the paper about links and you know the first column this came during 19 06 their work was cut out for them. Livingston was almost desert like at the time. It took years of experimenting

before economists found crops that would prosper. It became a very good area because people learned how to. Farm it. But in the at the beginning it was not. The colony closely regulated its members in order to avoid racial hostilities and competition with the non-Japanese community. The rector went out from the association. We were not going to any farming and everybody but it's kind of strange you know nowadays I don't think you could ask that you know it is believe that your motto colony is the only Japanese American community without a Buddhist church. That's an interesting growth. Most people had a major influence in Sacramento and many other cities. The Protestants were the first to establish a mission.

Christian missionaries won over many pieces by Minister into their social needs as well as their spiritual needs. Some Christian churches offer the English classes employment services and even child care. Buddhism remained a stronghold in many communities though. Religion was one of the main focus if it was more social more community center type of situation. Every year we would have what they call a Christian there and there are young people Christian conference in Fresno. And then when we were a little older we would like junior highs to go to the one in the Bay Area where they came from all parts of California. But always in the shadows of success lurked racism against Asians dating back to anti-Chinese sentiment in the earliest days of California statehood

and resulting restrictions on immigration and for the Japanese who did come to the Golden State. Citizenship and ownership of property. Those exclusion also applied to the Japanese with like force in 1913. However the first alien exclusion. Of ownership in and California agricultural land was fairly definitely aimed at the Japanese. The literature of the times pretty well establishes that what happens when we are successful is it tends to generate this kind of envy that is very negative. Agricultural groups begin to politic again with legislators to put up roadblocks to. Stifle any kind of Japanese American success. One of the early attempts to get around the prohibitive effect of these laws was to place the land in the names of the children of the immigrants who are in fact American citizens by virtue

of birth. Another way to circumvent the intention of the land law was developed by lawyers sympathetic to the him against dilemma. The favorite ploy then was that they would form corporations. And we were a part of the Livingston orchard and vineyard Company Incorporated which had I think three members. And the man father's friend was one of the. Members. And my father was the number two and we had given number three and we had this lawyer from. San Francisco and he was one of the officers my father's recollection is that it was Jewish and Irish lawyers that helped the Japanese in California. A significant reason for the desire of farm hands to become farm owners was the influx of picture brides which greatly affected the gender balance of the Ysaye and then in 1910 we see a dramatic shift

9000 so-called picture brides coming in and by 19 20 there's almost a 2 to 1 ratio which really affected the way the Japanese community developed the gentlemen's agreement of 19 0 7 to 19 0 8 limited the immigration of Japanese laborers to America but due to a loophole in the law. Wives and children were allowed to join laborers who are already here who said that they put in their Japanese kimono interfere if they got to the hotel then they never married there and then the next day they're when stopped and got all these American clothes. And I wanted to come to the United States because everybody else was coming. So I join the crowd. The husbands would send somebody else's picture you know so handsome That's a picture and so these women would look at that and say Oh yeah very heaven. So they came here

and then they look around and they couldn't you know you're not to have been you know got a good day. You've painted it. Yeah like she's so damn rosier than what the actual situation. And women played really a major role in not only the transmission of the culture but also as unpaid workers the good you terrible. I found that I was having to do all kinds of women which I had never done before like drive a horse. Heavy work that I had never. Been exposed to area the wife was thinking to in one thousand twenty one due to pressure from the United States. Japan agreed not to issue any more passports to picture brides. Those who are already here continue to adjust to their new lives. Although it was often with a sense of duty and obligation I had no regrets. In those days

for a wife to terminate the marriage because you didn't like your husband was considered a great name and for that reason. You just made the best of a difficult situation. The Japanese-Americans formed the highly developed communities based on associations the kanji chi where prefecture groups formed with others who came from the same area in Japan. Their function was largely social with the highlight being a lavish annual picnic. But the kanji Khai also served economic functions such as providing financial help and employment services to those trying to get established. Other groups strengthen the sense of community. The Japan association was a community building force closely linked to the Japanese government. It was later replaced by the Japanese American Citizens League as a primary community organization. So the community learned to take care of its own rather than seek mainstream help

even when it came to health care. You know all of this was due to the fact that Japanese-Americans weren't really welcome in the normal medical establishment. Fortunately doctors trained in Japan were part of the early immigrant flow to America shortly after the turn of the century Dr. Brancato Okanogan opened a small facility in Fresno. It is said to be the first Japanese hospital in California. When I was through thought my mother became sick with typhoid and she was taken to the hospital for a third to the hospital. Whether hospitals close or that with only Japanese health Stockton as well as Sacramento had hospitals and most larger communities also had Japanese dentists along with acupuncturists and throughout the state there were hundreds of practicing midwives for that reason. Very few second generation babies were actually born in hospitals. Japanese American communities also form their own

sports leagues. Sports was always a major part of our lives. We had everything I ever felt right there in their rehab bathtub will open as planned. The Nisei baseball leagues were well organized and popular and those boys could play. Another meeting place for young Japanese Americans was that Japanese language school. We went to the Americans we already are. Three. Books will go to get girls who are not our parents relied on Japanese language schools to reinforce Japanese values in addition to linguistic

skills. Children were encouraged to pursue American education as well of course and I will go. Well no because you might not have an opportunity now but in your role what does comes there will be where public school is presented a mixed experience. Some Japanese American children faced little or no prejudicial treatment others felt subtle discrimination. Even the second high school all the fraternities and sororities there hope you find anybody of color whether Chinese Japanese Hispanic or black. And. You might say that we are place so others faced outright discrimination including racially segregated schools in 1921 California actually legislates laws that allow for segregation. And one of the places there's four places in

California that is practice and one of them is floor. The others were Cortland and Walnut Grove all in Sacramento County and all communities with a large proportion of Japanese-Americans in places where there was the anti-Japanese of anti-Asian sentiment. Segregation was one way to keep the population apart. Still the numbers were small in one thousand twenty nine there were a total of five hundred seventy five Japanese students in the four segregated school districts combined. In 1932 I thought of first grade at Pine grammar school. And I didn't know it of English. Neither they had all the other kids. So you know being that segregated school. That means American. We get along we had a fully. Vibrant Japanese American areas grew in the valleys the biggest cities here in Sacramento there was a nearly self-sufficient community that may have seemed like a

world unto itself. Right before the war in 1941 the 475 Japanese American businesses you could survive without even going outside of the gate on the spite the financial problems of the Depression and the beginnings of war in Europe and Asia. They say the first generation of Japanese Americans were watching their children grow up go to college get ready to take over family businesses and farms and give them grandchildren what they had so have grown. It was every immigrant stream that hard work would mean a better life for their children. We all know that the dream was shattered by Pearl Harbor and our government's response to it. But what cannot be forgotten is this very American story of first generation pioneers who came to grow.

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