Last updated: August 4, 2022
Person
Ruth Nomura Tanbara
Courtesy of Oregon State University Special Collections (P095:093).
Quick Facts
Significance:
Japanese American community leader in St. Paul, Minnesota, who assisted with Japanese American resettlement during and after World War II
Place of Birth:
Portland, Oregon
Date of Birth:
October 15, 1907
Place of Death:
Afton, Minnesota
Date of Death:
January 4, 2008
Place of Burial:
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cemetery Name:
Lakewood Cemetery
During World War II, the incarceration of Japanese Americans forced Ruth Tanbara and her husband Earl to leave their home in Berkeley, California. They were the first Japanese Americans to resettle to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they promoted the acceptance of Japanese Americans from incarceration camps. After the war, the Tanbaras stayed in St. Paul and remained leaders in the Japanese American community.
Early Life and Education
Ruth Tokuko Nomura Tanbara was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 15, 1907. Her parents immigrated four years earlier. Ruth grew up in an active household in Portland. She was the second of four children and her parents fostered thirteen other children over the years.
Ruth did not become involved with organizations or social groups until adulthood. As a child, she focused on schoolwork and took lessons for the piano and Japanese language. After graduating from high school, Ruth won an essay contest to tour Japan. The trip renewed her interest in Japanese culture and traditions, which she maintained throughout her life.
In 1930, Ruth earned her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from Oregon State Agricultural College. She was the first Nisei (second generation) woman from Portland to enroll. Community engagement became a hallmark of Ruth’s adult life. In Portland, she taught English to Japanese American preschoolers and worked as a secretary for the Japanese consulate and YWCA.
In September 1935, Ruth married Earl K. Tanbara and moved to Berkeley, California. Earl was the advertising manager at the Dollar Steamship Company in San Francisco. Ruth worked part-time with the International Institute as a social worker for the Japanese American community.
World War II and Japanese American Resettlement
In February 1942—ten weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor— President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal of all people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast of the US. Removals began in March, first to temporary detention centers and later to one of ten incarceration camps, known as “Relocation Centers.”
Earl and Ruth prepared to leave with their family members but were stopped when they went to register. A US Army official offered them a choice: enter an incarceration camp or assist with resettlement. The latter required the Tanbaras to leave their families, move to the Midwest or East Coast, and facilitate the acceptance of resettled Japanese Americans.
The War Relocation Authority used resettlement to advance several goals: to keep Nisei high school and college students in school, address agricultural labor shortages, and assimilate “loyal” Japanese Americans into the white middle-class. Government officials worried that incarceration would result in dependency. Earl and Ruth were both in their early 30s, educated, and employed. These characteristics made them ideal candidates to assist with resettlement.
In August 1942, the Tanbaras decided to relocate to St. Paul, Minnesota, because a family-friend offered them a temporary place to stay. Ruth’s brother Paul was also stationed nearby at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling.[1] Ruth recalled that Minnesota was predominantly white and that only ten Japanese American families lived in St. Paul before the war. To promote Japanese American acceptance, Ruth and Earl gave talks about Japanese Americans for churches, schools, youth groups, and farming communities. They also played a key role in the St. Paul Resettlement Committee, helping resettled Japanese Americans find jobs and housing. Within a three-year period, they assisted over 100 families.
Despite their efforts to promote Japanese American acceptance, the Tanbaras still experienced racism. The couple had difficulty buying a house during wartime. The seller believed neighbors would object to living next to Japanese Americans. Once they secured their own home, Ruth invited her brother Paul and his friends over for Sunday dinners. A neighbor once reported the Tanbaras to the FBI, claiming that the couple was hosting Japanese soldiers. Officers from Fort Snelling had to explain that these soldiers were Americans training at the Military Intelligence Service Language School. They also advised Ruth to hang a service flag to counteract suspicion.
In January 1945, the military announced the end of Japanese American incarceration. Although “evacuees” could return to the West Coast, Ruth and Earl decided to stay in St. Paul.[2] Ruth later described the relocation from the West Coast as a “blessing in disguise.” Before World War II, discrimination limited where Japanese Americans could live and work, often restricting them to dilapidated living conditions and low-wage jobs. The Midwest and East Coast offered opportunities to move into middle-class homes and lifestyles, such as college scholarships and better jobs.
Community Involvement
After the relocation, Ruth remained a central figure in the Twin Cities Japanese American community. She and Earl continued to seek out ways to help resettled Japanese Americans adjust to their new lives in Minnesota.
After the war, Ruth joined the program staff at the St. Paul YWCA full-time, directing 60 adult education classes and the international program, known as World Fellowship. As a requirement for the position, she entered graduate school. In 1953, she earned her Master of Science degree in Adult Education from the University of Minnesota Department of Home Economics Education. Ruth retired from the YWCA in 1972, after 30 years on the program staff. The following year, the St. Paul YWCA dedicated a Japanese garden dedicated to Ruth to celebrate her contributions to the organization.
Ruth volunteered on committees and served as a board member of several organizations including the St. Paul-Nagasaki Sister City Committee, Japan American Society of Minnesota, and Minnesota Museum of Art. She and Earl also worked with the Japanese American Citizens League to repeal a law that prevented Japanese immigrants from becoming citizens.
Some of these activities enabled Ruth to celebrate her Japanese heritage. For many years, she taught Japanese flower arranging and contributed to the International Institute’s annual Festival of Nations, co-chairing the Japanese food booth. Between the 1960s and 1980s, Ruth led several tour groups to Japan. She also initiated a project to document the lives of Japanese American women in Minnesota. A collection of their memoirs called Reflections was published in 1994.
Ruth Tanbara died January 4, 2008. She was 100 years old.
The content for this article was researched and written by Jade Ryerson, an intern with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.
Notes
[1] Historic Fort Snelling was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
[2] Ruth and Earl Tanbara's home of over 37 years is a non-contributing property in the Historic Hill District, which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Bibliography
Asaka, Megan. “Resettlement.” Densho Encyclopedia. Last updated October 8, 2020. https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Resettlement.Hanson.
Krista Finstad. “Tanbara, Ruth Nomura (1907-2008).” MNopedia. Minnesota Historical Society. Accessed August 1, 2022. https://www.mnopedia.org/person/tanbara-ruth-nomura-1907-2008.
Ruth and Earl Tanbara correspondence, June 1942-November 1944. Ruth Tanbara papers, Gale Family Research Library, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota. Accessed August 1, 2022. http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01314/pdfa/01314-00009.pdf.
Tanbara, Ruth Nomura. “Ruth Nomura Tanbara.” In Reflections: Memoirs of Japanese American Women in Minnesota. Edited by John Nobuya Tsuchida. Covina, CA: Pacific Asia Press, 1994.
Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League. “Ruth Nomura Tanbara, 1907-2008.” Earl K. and Ruth N. Tanbara Memorial Scholarship. Accessed August 1, 2022. https://www.tcjacl.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Ruth-Nomura-Tanbara.pdf.