Picture Bride, War Bride: The Role of Marriage in Shaping Japanese America

Winner, 2025 Mary Nickliss Prize in U.S. Women’s and Gender History, given by the Organization of American Historians

Examines the role marriage played in the lives of Japanese women during periods of racial exclusion in the United States

In 1908 the United States and Japan agreed to limit the migration of Japanese laborers to the US. The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1908 ushered in an era of exclusion for the Japanese, but an exception was made for Japanese women who migrated as wives of Japanes...