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Oral history interview with Misuyo Nakamura

 Digital Record
Identifier: SR 981

Summary

Digitized audio recording of an interview with Misuyo Nakamura (1903-1993) conducted in 1986, with abridged English transcript. Nakamura discusses her early life in Hiroshima, Japan; her marriage to Hitoshi “Henry” Nakamura; and their journey to the United States in 1921. She describes adjusting to life in the Hood River Valley, discusses her experiences raising a family while also working without child care, and describes how that led to the death of one of her children. She shares her experiences after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. She describes her preparations before the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans by the U.S. government during World War II; the train ride to the Pinedale Assembly Center in Fresno, California; living conditions at Pinedale and at the Tule Lake incarceration camp; and her reasons for choosing to work on a sugar beet farm in Ontario, Oregon, rather than remain in the camp. She closes the interview by reflecting on her experiences as a first-generation Japanese American woman.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

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