In The House on Lemon Street, historian Mark Rawitsch tells the story of California’s Harada family and their National Historic Landmark house on Lemon Street in Riverside. In 1915 Issei immigrant father Jukichi Harada bought the house in the names of his three youngest children, who were American-born citizens. Neighbors protested because of the family’s Japanese ancestry, the State of California filed suit to oust them from their new home, and the first Japanese American court test of the California Alien Land Law of 1913—The People of California v. Jukichi Harada—was the result.

Q&A with author to follow.

Presented in collaboration with The George and Sakaye Endowed Chair, Asian American Studies Center, UCLA and the National Museum. This book is the first installment of the George and Sakaye Aratani Nikkei in America Series.

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Read our interview with the author on DiscoverNikkei.org >>