Entrevistas

1. Early Childhood

2. The meaning of his middle name Yaichio

3. Discrimination in San Francisco

4. Life in Yamato Colony

5. Social life in Livingston versus San Francisco

6. Becoming head of the family at age 8

7. Advice from his mother

8. Attending San Francisco City College

9. Celebrating his birthday on December 7, 1941

10. Starting a YMCA program in camp

11. Leaving Topaz

12. Leaving a camp to attend college

13. Getting a job in Honolulu

14. Feeling free and accepted in Hawaii

15. Getting fired from a job

16. Marriage and Family

17. Becoming involved at JANM

18. Volunteering at JANM

19. Defining “Nikkei”

Hoshiyama,Fred Y.

(1914-2015) Líder nisei de la YMCA y de la comunidad japonesa americana

Discrimination in San Francisco

I did feel some discrimination in San Francisco, although, probably, it was much less than at the time the conflict took place back in early 1900’s. I was there 1929 to 1942. During that time we still had prejudice, jobs were hard to come by, and in fact I remember one time when there was a Dean Churnin, at the University of California. He was head of the graduate school for Social Work. I had applied and I got accepted. He calls me in and says, “Mr. Hoshiyama, why do you want a masters in social work, when there is no job for you out there. It’s much better that you take a job that will look better on your resume, than to have a masters which people won’t even accept, or even recognize for you.”

So, 1941, it indicates that even Dean Churnin was aware of the prejudice. The kind of job we used to get after getting college degree, 1941 Berkeley, was that all my co-graduates, unless they had a home or had a business of their own, worked for $50 a month at Grand Avenue as a clerk, or at a flower stand downtown, or at produce market, at $50 a month. That was not very open in terms of employment for the Japanese Americans at that time.

California discriminación relaciones interpersonales preguerra San Francisco Estados Unidos

Fecha: March 4, 2005

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: Florence Ochi, Art Hansen, Yoko Nishimura

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Fred Yaichio Hoshiyama fue el primero de seis niños nacidos de trabajadores agrícolas inmigrantes issei, quienes fueron miembros de la pionera Colonia Yamato de Livingston, California. Su padre murió cuando él solo tenía ocho años de edad, y su familia luchó para conservar su granja, la cual eventualmente perdieron por lo que se mudaron a San Francisco en 1929. Tras obtener el grado de Bachiller en Artes de la Universidad de California, Berkeley en 1941, fue confinado en el “Campo de Reubicación” Topaz, Utah en 1942, con miles de otros japoneses americanos inocentes –víctimas de su parecido racial con el enemigo que había atacado la Base Naval Estadounidense en Pearl Harbor, Hawái.

Aun en confinamiento, Fred continuó su relación de por vida con la YMCA (Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes), ayudando a establecer los muy necesarios programas recreacionales, educacionales y sociales. Luego de ser anticipadamente puesto en libertad de Topaz para obtener su Maestría de la Universidad de Springfield en Massachusetts, trabajó como director del programa juvenil de la YMCA en Honolulu antes de regresar a California, en donde continuó trabajando en programas juveniles urbanos. De 1976 a 1983 ayudó a formar la Asociación Nacional de Estudiantes YMCA. En retiro, él contribuyó con su experiencia y conocimiento en la planificación financiera, desarrollo y gestión en varias organizaciones sin fines de lucro. (Febrero de 2016)