Japanese Americans at the Portland YWCA

In pre-World War II Portland, the Japanese and Japanese-American population constituted a community in transition as younger members laid claim to citizen rights and privileges in U.S. society. ¹ Scholars have documented the development of mutual support associations among Japanese immigrants (issei) and their children (nisei). ² By 1928, this web of associations had consolidated under an umbrella organization, the Japanese Association of Oregon (JAO). ³ The JAO offered community leadership and helped integrate prominent Japanese spokesmen within the dominant society. ⁴ The intergenerational practice of mutual support fostered the growth of the Portland Japanese-American Citizens' League (JACL) which, by 1933, claimed 300 members and still exists today. ⁵ This organization strove for Japanese-American integration by linking niseiwith mainstream religious, civic, and recreational organizations. According to historian Eiichiro Azuma: "Many in the organization felt that the only way to gain acceptance in the United States was to become 100 percent American and to discourage anything that might cast doubt upon their loyalty." ⁶ The JACL responded to racial discrimination in Oregon (like the Alien Land Laws) and tackled such issues as citizenship rights, which could sometimes separate the niseifrom the issei. ⁷

In Portland, the YWCA stood alone as a female-centered organization that offered niseigirls and young women structured opportunities for mainstream community integration. Nisei participated through a national YWCA cultural agenda that encouraged both missionary activity at home and abroad, as well as the through exploration of international connections and interests expressed by white women. The Portland YWCA leadership actively encouraged Japanese-American affiliation with the various YWCA clubs that served multiple age groups and interests. In 1936, the Girls' Cultural Guild reported that they had recruited thirty niseigirls. ⁸ By 1938, the Girl Reserves recorded a noticeable increase in participation among niseihigh school girls. ⁹ In 1941, the Business and Industri-al Department reported sixty-three niseimembers. Additionally, there were four exclusively Japanese-American groups: the Japanese Girls' Cultural Guild; the Japanese Girl Reserves; the Japanese Girl Reserves Alumnae; and the Japanese Young Women's Guild. At the same time that they provided a gendered space structured by Christian ethics for Japanese-American integration, the Portland YWCA accented differences, often by exoticizing Asian American women through the appropriation or performance of culture. For example, the Fe-Lo Club (an umbrella group for the YWCA cultural guilds) reported on the YWCA Japan Day in their newssheet. "All those who failed to attend the Japan Day Program [on March 3, 1940] missed something wonderful. The hall was decorated with pink cherry blossoms, and girls in lovely Japanese kimonos." ¹⁰ The media also reinforced the stereotype of sexualized Asian exoticism, announcing "Geisha Entertainers" as the caption to the YWCA Girl Reserves' Silver Tea invitation in 1938. ¹¹ In addition to creating their own clubs and groups, niseiparticipated in joint activities with white and Chinese members at the main branch and in summer activities at Camp Westwind during the 1930s.

Before World War II, the Portland YWCA began to face increasing pressure to examine the quality of their efforts to achieve the interracial goals setby the national YWCA in 1919. The Portland YWCA reflected existing racial segregation in the city in terms of housing, employment, and religious worship. In the 1920s, African American members worked hard to establish a successful "colored branch" of the Portland YWCA. African American members affiliated through the Williams Avenue Branch, located across the river in Northeast Portland, and remained physically distant from the downtown building. While remaining in closer proximity to white members, niseiwomen, through their Japanese American groups, were able to preserve their cultural identity; indeed, they were often expected to perform that identity in dance programs or such rituals as teas. YWCA reports indicate white leaders' attempts to grapple with questions of identity and inclusion. For example, in 1940, Girl Reserves administrative coordinator Betty Britton (who was white) recorded that there was "joint planning by Japanese, Negro...