6 Construction of race for Japanese Oregonians

Japanese immigrants who arrived in the U.S. after the Chinese also experienced discrimination, including property rights. As a result of the Civil War, the right to citizenship for people born in the U.S. regardless of race was established in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Property rights afforded to citizens could therefore apply to the children of immigrants. Japanese immigrants were able to bring wives to the U.S. which enabled future generations.  There were urban and rural Japanese populations.  In the city of Portland, housing was restricted to the area known as Chinatown.  Some Japanese families worked in rural areas of Hood River and Gresham, often gaining land ownership in exchange for clearing land owned by whites.  A lot changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in WWII.  Many families with Japanese ancestry lost their land and property and were forced into prison camps called Internment camps during the war.  After the War, many communities fought to keep the Japanese Americans from returning to their property.  For example, in Gresham, 1000 residents gathered in a town hall meeting at the end of the war to demand that Japanese not be allowed to return to their homes.  Often, the land and property had been taken over by whites.  Those families that did return, including decorated war heroes for the U.S., often experience harassment, discrimination, and violent resistance to their return.  Some ended up at Vanport (now Delta Park) which flooded in 1948, destroying all housing in the city of Vanport.

The Oregon Experience episode details important aspects of the history of Oregonians whose ancestors were Japanese

Oregon’s Japanese Americans Beyond the Wire

What did you learn from the film?

How does this history inform your understanding of race in Oregon?

Does this history relate to the racial demographics of your census tract? How so?