In 1913 and again in 1920, Congress passed laws that became known as the California Alien Land Law.
The law prohibited Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Korean immigrant farmers from owning land in California.
Although many Asian immigrants were singled out in the law, the primary target of the California legislature was Japanese Americans.
Rafu Shimpo reports the far reaching effect of the law on families will be remembered in a film and lecture program by the Japanese American Historical Society on October 27 in San Francisco.
The stories of several Japanese Americans are featured in the film Issei: The First Generation which was produced in 1984.
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Among those featured are 95-year-old Yasu Kawamura who settled in Walnut Grove with her husband and ran a barber shop, 102-year old Kumajiro Murakami tells of how he became a pioneer in the strawberry industry in Watsonville and 84-year old Taka Washizu who speaks of the hardships she and her husband endured in Walnut Grove.
For more information about this free event, go to Rafu Shimpo.