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{ "url_title": "Mary Nomura", "title_sort": "nomuramary", "links": { "json": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Mary%20Nomura/?format=api", "html": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Mary%20Nomura?format=api" }, "modified": "2024-02-20T05:54:53", "title": "Mary Nomura", "body": "<div class=\"mw-parser-output\">\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <div class=\"floatright\">\n </div>\n <div id=\"databox-PeopleDisplay\">\n <table class=\"infobox\" width=\"200px;\">\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Name\n </th>\n <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Mary Nomura\n </td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Born\n </th>\n <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n September 29 1925\n </td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Birth Location\n </th>\n <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Los Angeles\n </td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n Generational Identifier\n </th>\n <td style=\"text-align:left;\">\n <p>\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n Nisei\n </a>\n </p>\n </td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n </table>\n </div>\n <div id=\"databox-People\" style=\"display:none;\">\n <p>\n FirstName:Mary Kageyama;\nLastName:Nomura;\nDisplayName:Mary Nomura;\nBirthDate:1925-09-29;\nDeathDate:;\nBirthLocation:Los Angeles;\nGender:Female;\nEthnicity:JA;\nGenerationIdentifier:Nisei;\nNationality:US;\nExternalResourceLink:;\nPrimaryGeography:Los Angeles;\nReligion:;\n </p>\n </div>\n <p>\n Singer known as the \"Songbird of Manzanar.\" Born and raised in Los Angeles as Mary Kageyama, she was the fourth of five children born to Japanese immigrants Tomitaro and Machi Kageyama, a carpenter and a teacher of Japanese dance, respectively. Her father died when when she was three, and after remarrying, her mother died in childbirth when Mary was eight. Her eldest brother and sister both quit school and worked to support the family. Despite the tragedies, Mary was able to take signing and dancing lessons and performed as a singer in both Japanese and western styles as a child. She also formed a singing trio with a brother and sister.\n </p>\n <p>\n A sixteen-year-old student at Venice High School when the war broke out, she and her family went directly to\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Manzanar/\" title=\"Manzanar\">\n Manzanar\n </a>\n in April 1942. She continued her high school education in camp, while also working as a receptionist and file clerk. She also was a member of a\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Nisei/\" title=\"Nisei\">\n Nisei\n </a>\n girls club, the Modernaires. She was also able to continue taking music lessons, with a young music teacher, Lou Frizzell, becoming her mentor. Often with his accompaniment, she would sing at various programs at the high school and throughout the camp, including talent shows and dances. Through her performances, she gained the nickname the \"Songbird of Manzanar.\" Frizzell also arranged for her to record two songs while at Manzanar.\n </p>\n <p>\n While in camp, she met her future husband, Shi Nomura, whose family farmed southeast of Los Angeles. She left camp in January of 1945, the whole family leaving when her brother got a job offer from Cal Tech and settling in Pasadena, California. Shi left two months later and the couple got married in June of 1945. After working as a gardener and various other jobs, he eventually started a successful grocery story, which he ran for twenty-five years.\n </p>\n <p>\n After the war, Nomura bore and raised five children and was mostly a stay-at-home wife and mother in Garden Grove, California. She never pursued a professional singing career. However, she sang when asked at community events. With the growing awareness and interest in the history of the incarceration among Japanese Americans starting in the 1970s and 1980s, Nomura's performances grew more frequent, at events such as the annual\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Camp_pilgrimages/\" title=\"Camp pilgrimages\">\n Manzanar Pilgrimage\n </a>\n . She also performed in the camp-themed revue,\n <i>\n <a class=\"encyc rg\" href=\"/The_Camp_Dance:_The_Music_and_The_Memories_(play)/\" title=\"The Camp Dance: The Music and The Memories (play)\">\n The Camp Dance: The Music & The Memories\n </a>\n </i>\n , starting in 2003. She has been featured in three documentaries,\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Words,%20Weavings%20and%20Songs%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Words, Weavings & Songs\n </a>\n </i>\n produced by the\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Japanese_American_National_Museum/\" title=\"Japanese American National Museum\">\n Japanese American National Museum\n </a>\n in 2002, a 2005 episode of\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/California's%20Gold%20with%20Huell%20Howser:%20Manzanar%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n California's Gold with Huell Howser\n </a>\n </i>\n , and a 2016 short film by Cody Edison titled\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Songbird%20of%20Manzanar%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Songbird of Manzanar\n </a>\n </i>\n .\n </p>\n <div id=\"authorByline\">\n <b>\n Authored by\n <a class=\"encyc notrg\" href=\"/Brian_Niiya/\" title=\"Brian Niiya\">\n Brian Niiya\n </a>\n , Densho\n </b>\n </div>\n <div id=\"citationAuthor\" style=\"display:none;\">\n Niiya, Brian\n </div>\n <div class=\"section\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n <h2>\n <span class=\"mw-headline\" id=\"For_More_Information\">\n For More Information\n </span>\n </h2>\n <div class=\"section_content\">\n <p>\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/California's%20Gold%20with%20Huell%20Howser:%20Manzanar%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n California's Gold with Huell Howser: Songbird of Manzanar\n </a>\n </i>\n . Written and produced by Huell Howser. 25 minutes. Huell Howser Productions, 2005.\n </p>\n <p>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-manz-1-7-1/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Mary Nomura interview\n </a>\n by John Allen. Manzanar National Historic Site Collection, Densho Digital Repository, Nov. 7, 2002.\n </p>\n <p>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-255/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Mary Kageyama Nomura interview\n </a>\n by Tom Ikeda, Densho Digital Repository, July 9, 2009.\n </p>\n <p>\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Songbird%20of%20Manzanar%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Songbird of Manzanar\n </a>\n </i>\n . Directed by Cody Edison. 16 minutes. 2016.\n </p>\n <p>\n Stanley, Jerry.\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://archive.org/details/iamamericantrues00stan_0\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n <i>\n I Am an American: A True Story of Japanese Internment\n </i>\n .\n </a>\n New York: Crown Publishers, 1994. [Juvenile book on the incarceration told through Shi Nomura's story includes a chapter on Mary.]\n </p>\n <p>\n <i>\n <a class=\"external text offsite\" href=\"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Words,%20Weavings%20and%20Songs%20(film)/\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n Words, Weavings & Songs\n </a>\n </i>\n . Produced and directed by John Esaki. 34 minutes. Japanese American National Museum, 2002.\n </p>\n <!-- \nNewPP limit report\nCached time: 20240418160759\nCache expiry: 86400\nDynamic content: false\nComplications: []\nCPU time usage: 0.013 seconds\nReal time usage: 0.019 seconds\nPreprocessor visited node count: 116/1000000\nPost‐expand include size: 1665/2097152 bytes\nTemplate argument size: 208/2097152 bytes\nHighest expansion depth: 6/40\nExpensive parser function count: 0/100\nUnstrip recursion depth: 0/20\nUnstrip post‐expand size: 0/5000000 bytes\nExtLoops count: 0\n-->\n <!--\nTransclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template)\n100.00% 9.552 1 -total\n 69.79% 6.666 1 Template:Databox-People\n 14.70% 1.404 1 Template:Published\n 14.51% 1.386 1 Template:AuthorByline\n-->\n <!-- Saved in parser cache with key encycmw:pcache:idhash:2023-0!canonical and timestamp 20240418160759 and revision id 36082\n -->\n </div>\n </div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"toplink\">\n <a href=\"#top\">\n <i class=\"icon-chevron-up\">\n </i>\n Top\n </a>\n</div>", "categories": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/categories/People/?format=api" ], "sources": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/sources/en-denshovh-nmary-02-0011-1/?format=api", "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/sources/en-denshovh-nmary-02-0020-2/?format=api" ], "coordinates": {}, "authors": [ "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/authors/Brian%20Niiya/?format=api" ], "ddr_topic_terms": [], "prev_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Mary%20Mon%20Toy/?format=api", "next_page": "http://encyclopedia.densho.org/api/0.1/articles/Mary%20Osaka,%20I%20Love%20You%20(short%20story)/?format=api" }