Sept. 2, 2023: Tribute to Farm Workers

In the leadup to Labor Day, we salute all those who work to produce and harvest/process food to keep us fed.

During WWII, labor shortages motivated agricultural growers to turn to Japanese American concentration camps for cheap labor. Many answered the call, if only just to get out of the camps. Almost half had farming backgrounds, but many were city dwellers, often with college educations but no experience at hard labor.

It’s estimated that about 33,000 Japanese Americans participated in the farm labor program between 1942-1944, harvesting thousands of acres of sugar beets in the western states.¹

(L): A closeup of a young Japanese American woman in a straw hat, standing in a beetfield, both hands resting on the handle of a farm implement. (R) A Montana farmer demonstrates how to top beets to a group of Japanese American men who appear to be wearing knit caps. — ^(L):*^{May Uchiyama at Nyssa labor camp in Oregon, July 1942. Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration photographer. Library of Congress USF34-073699-E.}* ^{(R): 2: Montana farmer demonstrating sugar beet topping to Japanese Americans. Tom Parker, War Relocation Authority photographer, September 1942. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California.}

A March 6, 1943 recruitment poster published in the Minidoka Irrigator, targeting Japanese Americans behind barbed wire for agricultural labor, states, “You don’t need to wait any longer to get out.”

The promised “rewards” included “adequate housing.”

(L): A recruiting poster with a large illustration of an aerial view of a WWII U.S. concentration camp and the title, "You don't need to wait any longer to get out." (M): "Rewards" listed include "Freedom to work for yourself at prevailing high wages..."; "Adequate housing"...; and "A new chance to make friends..." (R) Two Japanese American women rest inside a tent (the "adequate housing"). — ^{A recruiting poster for farm laborers that targeted Japanese Americans in detention camps. Minidoka Irrigator, March 6, 1943. (R): Nyssa, Oregon farm labor camp, July 1942. Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration photographer. LC-USF34-073602-D.}

More rewards are listed on the recruiting poster: "A stepping stone to permanent year-round employment in agriculture..."; "Healthful employment..."; "An opportunity to produce more food for freedom..."; "A means of earning money for education..."

Another featured reward was that fieldwork was “a stepping stone to permanent year-round employment in agriculture…”

Is this the 1943 version of “Learn new skills”?

As a seven year old, Jon Yatabe accompanied his mother to a labor camp in Provo, UT, where she worked picking apples. Read Jon’s story, “The Wizard of Provo,” on our website.

The Topaz Stories Team

Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)

Sept. 2, 2023: Tribute to Farm Workers

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