Kathryn Tolbert

Don’t Ever Cry: Mariko’s Tale (15:08)

Mariko Wada Westbrook

The words Mariko Wada Westbrook often told her two children were “don’t cry, don’t ever cry.” There were many reasons they might cry — facing bullies, growing up in a housing project in Newark, New Jersey with a Japanese mother who had kicked out her abusive husband. She was tough, and she taught Peter and Vivian to be tough. But she had a deeply compassionate side, helping the homeless and always keeping an eye out for someone in need of something. When she was killed — an early, tragic death — her children put her death certificate occupation as “missionary worker.” Her legacy lives in the lessons she taught the two of them, the six-time Olympic fencer Peter Westbrook and his sister Vivian.

Living Her Mother’s Dream (10:29)

Machan Taylor

Machan Taylor is a singer, songwriter and musical composer who has toured with Sting and Pink Floyd. She has shared the stage with Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Natalie Merchant and many other artists. Music is in her DNA, and Machan’s dream of becoming a singer first belonged to her Japanese mother, Ayako Sasaki, a jazz singer in post-war Japan.

The Admiral’s ‘Firecracker’ of an Identity (8:21)

Harry B. Harris Jr.

Admiral Harry Harris spent his boyhood in rural Tennessee, son of a Japanese mother and American father. He says he was a typical American boy. He did not think much, or at all, about being half-Japanese. But that began to change when his family moved to Pensacola, Florida and he enrolled in a recently integrated high school. And his mother’s heritage played a bigger role as he rose through the ranks in the U.S. Navy.

How the Admiral’s Mother Came to Tennessee (12:24)

Fumiko Ohno Harris

Fumiko Ohno was the eldest of four sisters whose parents died shortly after the end of World War II. Their prospects were bleak. Their aunt, however, had a plan. Fumiko should get a job at Yokosuka Naval Base and marry an American. And then help her sisters do the same. That’s what she did. And after marrying Harry B. Harris Sr., a machinist mate in the U.S. Navy, Fumiko even attended a brides’ school to learn how to be an American housewife. Her great surprise, however, was their move to rural Tennessee where, as her son Admiral Harry Harris Jr. tells it, “You had to either grow your food, kill your food or catch your food.”

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/792451983

We’ll Call You “Susie” (9:04)

Hiroko Furukawa Tolbert O’Connor

My mother knew nothing about farms or chickens. As a young Japanese girl, it was beyond her wildest imagination that she would one day be a local “egg lady” in a small town in America. But amid the devastation of post-war Japan, she thought a future with the quiet GI she met in Tokyo was one she could build.

Of Angels, Cows, Avon and the Mail Route (8:10)

Kazuko Kanno Kingsbury

Three women from the local evangelical church showed Kazuko kindness and gave her a community, a place to belong. She called them her angels. Religious belief sustained her as she learned to become a farmer’s wife, sell Avon products and deliver mail for the US Postal Service.

For the Love of English (7:00)

Chiyohi Tajima Creef

Chiyohi Tajima Creef’s lifelong love of English, keen sense of outrage and ability to express herself made her a good fit for America.

I Give All I Can (6:08)

Itsuko Okura Yoder

Itsuko Okura dreamed of a better life in America. She was quickly disillusioned by the financial struggle of raising a family in rural Illinois. But through faith, hard work and generosity, she finds her place.

The Mystery of My Father (8:57)

Bruce Hollywood

His birth mother gave him a slip of paper with his father’s name on it. Bruce Hollywood did not intend to search for him.

Finding My Mother (9:16)

Bruce Hollywood

Air Force Col. Bruce Hollywood never felt a need to find his Japanese birth mother. That changed when he had a heart attack and realized he had never thanked her.