California Story Fund
Castroville Japanese School Oral History Project
Castroville Coalition
Castroville
Project Director: Meg Clovis
Capturing the stories of Castroville’s former Japanese residents
Today almost 90 percent of Castroville’s residents are of Mexican descent, but at one time Castroville had a sizable Japanese population. That was before World War II and Executive Order 9066, which forced Californian’s Japanese residents into internment camps.
This project will collect the stories of former students and teachers at Castroville’s Japanese school, which closed in 1942 when Japanese residents were forced to leave. Among those to be interviewed are surviving Nisei students and a teacher at the school. Stories will also be gathered from non-Japanese individuals who helped preserve the school, which is being transformed into a youth cultural enrichment center
A culminating exhibit will be held in the restored school building. The exhibit will include interpretive panels about Castroville’s early history and the arrival of Japanese immigrants, the building the Japanese school, the internment and destruction of Castroville’s Japanese community, and Japanese residents in Monterey County today.
To involve students in the project, historian Sandy Lydon will conduct a workshop for teachers to introduce them to the project and to provide them with materials for use in their classrooms. “The aim is to have the students write about or produce art work about their experiences of living in Castroville,” said Clovis. The student work will be juxtaposed with the oral histories of Japanese students describing life in Castroville three decades earlier.
“People who visit the exhibit will be able to gain access to the stories and art work of Castroville’s young people today as well as to the oral histories of past students.”
“We hope that the project will inform people about the contributions of the Japanese community in Castroville and help people see links between generations and cultures.”