>>> I'm Tinabeth Pina.
During World War II, thousands of incarcerated
Japanese Americans became migrant farm workers out east -
it was a way to escape the internment camps and start
a new chapter in their lives.
>>> Walk down any frozen food aisle and you’ll find
America’s favorite creamed spinach for sale -
behind this popular dish is a little known Japanese
American history that dates back to 1944.
>>> Farmers save the world! >>> More beans!
>>> Farmers save the world! >>> More milk!
>>> More. >>> More rhubarb.
>>> More. >>> More spinach.
>>> Facing a shortage of farm laborers during World
War II, Charles Franklin Seabrook enlisted nearly
2500 Japanese Americans from concentration camps,
to live and work on his farm and processing plant
in Cumberland County, New Jersey. It was part of the
U.S. government’s war relocation authority effort.
Families like Theodora Yoshikami didn’t have much
of a choice. Either stay imprisoned behind barbed
wire fence or head east and move from one cramped
barrack to another.
>>> You had to have a job to leave the camp,
so I think they agreed to go to work.
It’s a place to live, you can get away,
you have a job, many people started to go there and
then that's when we decided, my father said fine, so the whole
family decided to go.
>>> As part of the war effort, Seabrook partnered
with Birdseye foods and became the world’s largest
supplier of frozen foods to the military, earning
him the title “the Henry Ford of agriculture.”
The Yoshikami’s were joined by 25 other ethnic
groups including Japanese Peruvian, Estonians,
Italians, Carribeans and even German
prisoners-of-war. They clocked in 12 hour days,
7 days a week at fifty cents an hour.
>>> My mother worked on the line there, which was hard.
I think for the parents it was difficult because
the work for women was really hard.
They were on a line packing vegetables all day.
My father was fortunate because he had
managerial skills from his own business he was able to work
in the stockroom where people would come in and order
certain supplies.
>>> Life for the Yoshikami’s wasn’t always full of hardship
and struggles. Her father George was an entrepreneur
and her mother Midori sewed dresses in Hollywood.
Then in 1942, they lost everything and were
interned at Tule Lake, California where Theodora
was born and raised. To avoid deportation to
Japan, her parents were interrogated and had to
prove their allegiance to the United States.
>>> Our family said we’re U.S. citizens and we’re
going to stay here. A lot of people had never been
to Japan, why are they asking these questions,
we’ve never seen Japan, we don’t even know who this
emperor is.
>>> Giving the right answer meant a second
chance and a job out east. The family moved in 1943.
>>> We lived on MacArthur Drive, who ran the war basically.
And then there was a Jefferson Street so it was almost like, 00:03:27.974,00:03:26.973 let’s remind you this is America. Yet I think
our parents were trying to raise us to be more American.
That was the criticism, why the Japanese were put in to camps.
Although, that wasn't necessarily true.
But they said, "oh the Japanese aren’t learning
the language, not learning the way America is,
it's more like the way white America is."
They tried to make us become more white Americans.
>>> The Yoshikami’s adapted to their new life
of limited freedom - yet despite their harsh reality,
they did achieve the American dream -
their son’s became a doctor, lawyer and dentist.
Theodora formed the first Asian American dance
company and became a dancer and choreographer.
>>> I used to belong to this childrens theater group.
>>> Today Teddy is imparting her knowledge on
to the next generation by preserving the memory of
her family’s internment.
>>> It wasn’t a great place to live. It wasn't the
best place. I think we wouldn’t have never of been there
except for the war.
>>> Seabrook Farms closed its doors in the 1980’s -
but many of the Japanese American workers stayed behind.
Fourteen years later, residents reopened the Seabrook
Educational and Cultural Center, remembering its history.
As hundreds of visitors stop by each year, one important
lesson can be learned.
>>> Let’s hope it’s never repeated where Japanese
Americans are put into camps. Just like what’s
happening now with the Muslim registry.
Let’s just hope that never really happens.
The government itself has apologized to the
Japanese community that this was an unjust situation and
should never have happened too.
>>> I'm Tinabeth Pina for Asian American Life.