{"id":42,"date":"2020-12-02T15:10:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T23:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2026-06-22T11:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:32:19","slug":"bauman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/episodes\/bauman\/","title":{"rendered":"Bauman What is an American?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wsu-decorator  wsu-overflow--hidden wsu-decorator--style-lines-gray\" style=\"top:0;right:0;height:100%;width:20%\"><\/div>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is An American?\u2019: World War II Internment in Pasco<\/h1>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-row wsu-row--sidebar-right\" >\r\n    \n<div class=\"wsu-column\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"545\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-792x545.jpg\" alt=\"Historic photo of store counter with man and woman with baby and goods behind counter and three children in white dresses sitting on stools in front of counter\" class=\"wp-image-202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-792x545.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-396x273.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-990x682.jpg 990w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res-1188x818.jpg 1188w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Figure-1-Harry-and-Chika-Yamauchi-and-daughters-Lower-Res.jpg 1291w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">George Yamauchi and his family in a store they owned. Courtesy of Peter Bauman WSU\/Yamauchi family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1943, U.S. soldier Sgt. George Yamauchi from Pasco asked: \u2018What is an American?\u2019 Yamauchi penned the question in the local newspaper after his family was persecuted and imprisoned in internment camps at Heart Mountain, Wyoming and Minidoka, Idaho during World War II. In this installment of the \u201c<em>Past as Prologue<\/em>\u201d series, Historian Robert Bauman discusses how the question defining who is an American is as relevant today as it was then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Audio Recording:<\/h2>\n\n\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-42-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2020\/12\/R-Bauman-Yamauchi-Take-One.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2020\/12\/R-Bauman-Yamauchi-Take-One.mp3\">https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2020\/12\/R-Bauman-Yamauchi-Take-One.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-spacing-after--default wsu-spacing-before--large\">Transcription of Audio:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sueann Ramella:<\/strong> What is an American? In 1943, Sergeant George Yamauchi of the Tri-Cities penned the question in the local&nbsp;newspaper, and it\u2019s relevant today as it was then. Here\u2019s&nbsp;WSU&nbsp;Tri-Cities History Professor Robert Bauman, who&nbsp;studies the American West through&nbsp;experiences of&nbsp;Native,&nbsp;African and Japanese Americans&nbsp;for today\u2019s Northwest History segment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Robert Bauman:<\/strong>&nbsp;Sergeant&nbsp;George Yamauchi\u2019s&nbsp;family settled in Pasco in 1907.&nbsp;His parents,&nbsp;Harry and&nbsp;Chieka&nbsp;Yamauchi,&nbsp;came to the Tri Cities with&nbsp;their oldest daughter, Lou,&nbsp;and for nearly&nbsp;four decades the&nbsp;Yamauchis&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;and their nine children&nbsp;&#8211; were viewed as&nbsp;exemplary American citizens. They&nbsp;opened&nbsp;several successful businesses.&nbsp;But,&nbsp;WWII changed things.&nbsp;&nbsp;Home on furlough from the army,&nbsp;George Yamauchi&nbsp;became&nbsp;frustrated that the community had changed.&nbsp;His family faced persistent discrimination and hostility.&nbsp;His older sister, Mary, had been denied the renewal of a business license to continue the&nbsp;caf\u00e9 that their family had been operating for almost three decades.&nbsp;In addition, his parents and family members were imprisoned in the internment camps at Heart Mountain, Wyoming,&nbsp;and Minidoka, Idaho.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>George Yamauchi&nbsp;wrote&nbsp;a letter to the editor&nbsp;f&nbsp;the local newspaper&nbsp;and asked, \u201cWhat does it mean to be an American?\u201d He wrote he was&nbsp;\u201cvery much disappointed in the seemingly narrow outlook on life that so many\u2026 citizens have adopted since the war began\u2026.The&nbsp;neighborly attitude of the people had changed to that of distrust and suspicion.\u201d&nbsp;Yamauchi warned&nbsp;against \u201cfalling victim to the very thing against which Americans are giving their lives!\u201d&nbsp;He&nbsp;asked the readers \u201cWhat is an American? Is he white, black, yellow, red, or any other certain color?&nbsp; It is generally conceded that he is any one of these or a mixture of them all.&nbsp; That is one of the principles of our Constitution, is it not?\u201d&nbsp; When George Yamauchi penned his letter in December 1943, his family had been torn apart&nbsp;by&nbsp;war and the internment&nbsp;camps.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>George Yamauchi\u2019s plea&nbsp;was for&nbsp;fellow Pasco citizens to&nbsp;remember&nbsp;both&nbsp;the Yamauchi family\u2019s&nbsp;central&nbsp;role in the community&nbsp;and to remember&nbsp;what it meant to be an American citizen.&nbsp;To Yamauchi, being an American citizen meant, in part, fighting for his country,&nbsp;exercising&nbsp;his freedom of&nbsp;speech,&nbsp;and using the freedom of the press at a time when he and other family members had experienced hatred, imprisonment, and bigotry.&nbsp;His poignant plea, \u201cwhat is an American?\u201d&nbsp; and his answer demonstrate ways nonwhites in Pasco and the Tri-Cities&nbsp;challenged&nbsp;racial prejudice.&nbsp;His eloquent words and heartfelt message remain just as relevant and important in the twenty-first century, when migrant children are held in prison camps and racial discrimination and violence&nbsp;remain central to the experiences of nonwhites,&nbsp;as they were in 1943.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sueann Ramella:<\/strong> That\u2019s professor of history, Robert Bauman, of WSU Tri-Cities. His recent book is&nbsp;Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland to 1943. His&nbsp;commentary and others about the history of the Northwest can be found at&nbsp;NWPB.org.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container  wsu-position--relative\" >\r\n    \n<div class=\"wsu-decorator wsu-zindex--level-2 wsu-spacing-before--xmedium wsu-spacing-after--large wsu-position--relative wsu-decorator--style-block-gray\" style=\"top:40px;left:-100px;height:3px;width:260px\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wsu-decorator  wsu-decorator--style-lines-crimson wsu-zindex--level-3 wsu-position--relative\" style=\"top:-40px;left:-40px;height:25px;width:63%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About the Author:<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"190\" height=\"228\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2020\/12\/bauman_robt.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Bauman.\" class=\"wp-image-101\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Robert Bauman is an associate professor of history and the academic director of arts and sciences at Washington State University Tri-Cities. He is an award-winning scholar whose research and teaching interests are in 20th century U.S. social policy, religion, and race in the American West. He is the author of a number of articles and book chapters and two books, <em>Race and the War on Poverty: From Watts to East LA<\/em>, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2008, and <em>Fighting to Preserve a Nation\u2019s Soul: America\u2019s Ecumenical War on Poverty<\/em>, published by the University of Georgia Press in 2019. He also is co-editor, with Robert Franklin, and co-author of <em>Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs and Richland to 1943<\/em>, published by WSU Press in 2018, and <em>Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance: Voices from the Hanford Region<\/em>, to be published by WSU Press in December 2020. His article, \u201cJim Crow in the Tri-Cities, 1943-1950\u201d won the Charles Gates Award for the best article published in the <em>Pacific Northwest Quarterly<\/em> in 2005.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-column  wsu-color-background--gray-0\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Books by Robert Bauman: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Race and the War on Poverty<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"252\" height=\"379\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-Race-and-war-on-poverty-book-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Book cover: Race and the War on Poverty: From Watts to East L.A. by Robert Bauman\" class=\"wp-image-147\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Nowhere to Remember<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"253\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-and-Franklin-book-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Book cover for Nowhere to Remember: Hanford, White Bluffs, and Richland in 1943 (Hanford Histories, Volume One); Edited by Robert Bauman and Robert Franklin\" class=\"wp-image-143\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(Publisher: WSU Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/2629\/2021\/03\/Bauman-and-Franklin-Echoes-of-Exclusion-and-Resistance-book-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Book cover, Echoes of Exclusion and Resistance: Voices from the Hanford Region; Edited by Robert Bauman and Robert Franklin\" class=\"wp-image-208\" width=\"248\" height=\"374\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(Publisher: WSU Press)<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is An American?\u2019: World War II Internment in Pasco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"parent":40,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions\/662"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/past-as-prologue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}