Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105i/Section 22/Kosaku Sawada

Overview
Kosaku Sawada was a Japanese man who immigrated to the United States. He opened Overlook Nurseries in Mobile, Alabama and was interviewed as part of the Federal Writer's Project on January 20, 1939.

Early Life
Sawada was born in Osaka, Japan on October 21, 1882 to a family of six and as a son to an orange grower. In 1906, Sawada moved to the United States. He started working in the rice fields of Texas, where he worked for four years. Sawada realized that growing different plants made more profit, so he moved to Alabama to grow orange trees like his father. However, a seasonal freeze killed his orange trees. In 1916, Sawada returned to Japan and married Nobu Yoshioka. They moved back to Alabama and had four children: Tom, George, Lurie, and Ben, all of whom attended college in the United States. Nobu died in 1929.

Life as a Nurseryman
When the couple moved back to Alabama from Japan, Nobu brought 500 camellia seeds and these were to be the first plants to be planted in Sawada’s Overlook Nurseries. Over the years, Sawada and his nursery gained massive popularity and support from locals. The nursery became the center of flower production in Alabama and New Orleans. During World War II, the U.S. government planned to shut down Overlook Nurseries because Sawada was Japanese. However, local citizens testified for Sawada and he was able to keep ownership of the nursery. Sawada died on April 15, 1968, but his family continued to run his nursery.

Japanese Exclusion in the early 1900s
The start of the 20th century saw an increase in the number of immigrants from Japan. Within 25 years, that number increased from about 25,000 to over 125,000 nationwide. Many Japanese immigrants were able to start businesses that catered to their own community, but gradually started serving the general public. Japanese farmers were also able to buy their own land by utilizing crop-growing methods from their homeland. By 1920, 450,000 acres of California land was controlled by Japanese farmers, along with 10 percent of California's crop revenue.

The increase of Japanese immigration and businesses led to calls for their exclusion from the rest of the United States. Samuel Gompers, the leader of the American Federation of Labor, rejected all Asians a membership to his organization. Legislators also called for Japanese exclusion. A newspaper from 1905 had the title, "San Francisco's Mayor Wants Exclusion Act to Bar the Japs."

In 1907, the Gentlemen's Agreement was reached between the American and Japanese governments. This legislation stated that Japan would limit emigration into the U.S. while the U.S. would allow immigration of relatives of Japanese people who have already immigrated. In 1913, California passed the Alien Land Law, which disallowed all noncitizen immigrants from owning land in California. As a result, all Asian immigrants had to give all of their land to the California government. Finally, the Immigration Act of 1924 placed severe restrictions on immigration from non-European countries, which ended Japanese immigration. This act would be revised in 1952.

Japanese Internment during World War II
On December 7, 1941, within hours after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government arrested over 1000 Japanese community leaders along the West Coast and over 1500 Japanese residents in Hawaii. The arrestees were sent to facilities in Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota.

In February of 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the relocation of over 100,000 residents of Japanese descent to government-run facilities. The order focused on Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, where most of them resided. A government organization, the War Relocation Authority, was formed to aid with the relocation. 10 permanent relocation centers were set up in states along the West Coast and in Arkansas. People who resisted were sent to a special camp for dissidents in Tule Lake, California.

In 1944, Mitsuye Endo, a daughter of Japanese immigrants, was released from a relocation center after filing for a writ of habeas corpus. This case was known as Endo v. the United States, and the Supreme Court ruled that the War Relocation Authority cannot detain U.S.-born citizens if they have proven their loyalty to the U.S. After this ruling, relocation centers began to close and the internees were allowed to leave.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford repealed Executive Order 9066. In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act and rewarded $20,000 each to over 80,000 Japanese Americans as reparation.