Oral history interview with Ina Sugihara Jones, 2000

Biographical Note

Ina Sugihara Jones is a founding member of New York CORE. Jones was born on September 7, 1919 to Japanese immigrants. Moving from Yamanashi, Japan in the early 1900s, her parents eventually settled in Las Animas, Colorado, where they kept a melon farm until the Great Depression. Jones was raised in Las Animas as well as Long Beach, California, where she later studied at Long Beach Community College. Jones also attended the University of California, Berkeley. She pursued secretarial work and writing positions at Berkeley. In March of 1942, Jones moved to New York City to escape the internment of Japanese Americans in the west. There, she worked at the American Civil Liberties Union, NBC, and various news publications. Through her involvement in New York CORE, Jones met her husband, Willis Jones and developed a friendship with Lula Farmer.

Scope and Contents

Ina Sugihara Jones begins this interview by speaking about her heritage, her early life on the West Coast, and her parents' immigration experience. Jones describes her siblings, Japanese upbringing, and early education. She discusses the challenges her family experienced during the Great Depression and their eventual move to Long Beach, California in 1933. Jones outlines the job discrimination she encountered as a Japanese American woman and the expectations of her parents. Jones describes her job at the Northern California branch of the ACLU and contextualizes the internment camps. She describes her various jobs in New York, as well as her first impressions of the city. Jones recalls initial meetings at New York CORE and describes her relationship with Lula Farmer. Jones describes at great length her work at NBC as a secretary and labor contract analyst. Finally, Jones speaks briefly about her work as correspondent for Religious News Service, Pittsburgh Courier, and the Pacific Citizen

Subjects

• American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Civil rights workers--United States--History--20th century.
• Congress of Racial Equality. New York (Harlem) Chapter.
• Interviews.
• Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
• Jones, Ina Sugihara--Interviews.
• Journalists--Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• National Broadcasting Company.
• Oral histories.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.