Oya, Merry (10/5/2018)

Oya, Merry (10/5/2018)

Merry Oya, a nisei born in Montana in 1924, spent her early childhood in the railroad town of Whitefish before moving to Seattle, WA and later to Portland, OR. She shares memories from her childhood, including the early death of her father and the many jobs her mother pursued in order to provide for her three children. She also recounts the experiences of forced removal first to the Portland Assembly Center, then Tule Lake, and finally Minidoka. With encouragement from friends who had already resettled in Chicago, Merry's mother moved the family from Minidoka to Chicago as quickly as possible, settling initially on the South Side. Merry describes the challenges of cramped housing conditions and discrimination, but also assistance assistance received from the Chicago Resettlers Committee and her mother's success as a seamstress in the Chicago garment industry.The family eventually moved to Chicago's North Side, first near Wrigley Field and later in the Ravenswood neighborhood. Particularly notable are her memories of helping her mother, an issei with limited English abilities, learn to navigate the public transit system in their new city, and her memories of kind neighbors who stored the family's furniture during the war. At the end of the interview, Merry expresses her desire for young people to remember the history of incarceration but also to learn about the contributions Japanese Americans have made to the city of Chicago.

2018-10-05

video

Takada, Anna

Oya, Merry

Nisei

Great Northern Railway

Whitefish, MT

Seattle, WA

Gresham, OR

Portland Assembly Center

Stables

Tule Lake

Dust

Housing Conditions

Employment

Chicago Resettlers Committee

6500