Strawberry fields used to be a common sight in Southern California, growing among the region's suburban sprawl with splashes of greenery and fragrant smells. In fact, nearly all strawberries sold in the U.S. today trace their roots back to California — and one particular group of immigrants.
"The vast majority of Japanese people were raised on small-scale farms," said Emily Anderson, a project curator at the Japanese American National Museum. "So working in agriculture was the perfect fit for them."
By 1924 the Immigration Act, sometimes called the Japanese Exclusion Act, limited immigration, completely excluded immigrants from Asia during a time of anti-Asian sentiments. State laws also prevented Japanese immigrants already here from owning land and barred them from becoming naturalized citizens.
Some Japan immigrants turned to work as tenant farmers on small patches of land and found strawberries to be a high-yield crop. Japanese immigrant farmers quickly became the backbone of the berry business. "Prior to World War II [Japanese immigrants] were growing about 90% of strawberries in the state," Glenn Tanaka, whose family owns and operates Tanaka Farms in Irvine, said.
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