Related
Oakland, Calif., Mar. 1942. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war
San Francisco, California. Customers buy merchandise in a store operated by a proprietor of Japanes . . . - NARA - 536042
Oakland, California. Baggage of evacuees of Japanese ancestry piled on the sidewalk. The Greyhound . . . - NARA - 537701
San Yo Maru, Japanese merchant ship WWII - 80-G-100270 (31590895796)
Sacramento, California. A resident of Japanese ancestry seen in front of the grocery store of which . . . - NARA - 537882
190326-N-TP832-1054 OKINAWA, Japan (March 26, 2019)
Florin, California. In front of grocery store owned by resident of Japanese descent, two days befor . . . - NARA - 537886
Oakland, California. Evacuee family of Japanese ancestry leaving Wartime Civil Control Administrati . . . - NARA - 537893
190324-N-HI376-1045 WATERS EAST OF JAPAN (March 24,
Japanese-American owned grocery store, Oakland, California, March 1942 - 3a24566v
Summary
The full caption for this photograph reads: Oakland, Calif., Mar. 1942. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at [401 - 403 Eighth] and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war
Summary: Photograph shows the Wanto Co. store located at 401 - 403 Eighth and Franklin Streets in Oakland, California. The business was owned by the Matsuda family. Tatsuro Matsuda, a University of California graduate, commissioned and installed the "I am an American" sign. (Source: researcher R. Yee, Oakland Museum of California, 2017) Lange took this photograph while working for the War Relocation Authority, and the OWI acquired a copy for its own files.