Title: The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance | Japanese | Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
Headings: The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance
The U.S. Mainland: Growth and Resistance
The Nisei

Content: For as long as this Act was in effect, it seemed that the first great generation of Japanese immigrants was also to be the last. The Nisei
As the hopes of future immigrants were dashed, however, a new generation of Japanese Americans was making itself known. By 1930, half of the Japanese in the United States were Nisei —members of the U.S.-born second generation. Nisei were the children of two worlds: the traditional Japanese world maintained at home by their parents—the Issei —and the multiethnic U.S. culture that they were immersed in at school and at work. The Nisei were born U.S. citizens, and were more likely to speak English than Japanese, more likely to practice Christianity than Buddhism, and more likely to prefer "American" food, sports, music, and social mores than those of Japanese tradition. Many Nisei struggled to reconcile the conflicting demands of their complex cultural heritage. However, they overwhelmingly identified themselves as Japanese Americans, not as Japanese in America. The Japanese American Citizens League, an organization of Nisei professionals, declared in its creed: I am proud that I am an American citizen of Japanese ancestry, for my very background makes me appreciate more fully the wonderful advantages of this nation… I pledge myself… to defend her against all enemies, foreign and domestic.