Hokubei Gasshukoku Arizona-shu Hainichi Jiken -

Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona Nihonjinkai, 1934.

First Edition. [vi], 39 pages plus 10 leaves of photographic illustrations.
A remarkable example of Japanese American resistance to anti-Asian violence in Arizona that presages the Japanese internment during the Second World War.
This pamphlet documents the little-known efforts to expel Japanese immigrants from the Phoenix area in 1934, including anti-Japanese demonstrations, boycotts of Japanese-owned businesses, the destruction of farmland, bombings, arson attacks, and so on. With reproductions of 13 photographs (on ten leaves).
"White farmers in the Salt River Valley in Arizona formed the Farmers' Anti-Oriental Society in 1934 amid alarms over increasing Japanese migration from the Imperial Valley in California. The farmers viewed the Japanese as an economic threat, a condition made worse by the Great Depression, and as part of a racial conspiracy to takeover farmlands from whites.... The Farmers' Anti-Oriental Society demanded the Japanese leave by August 25, 1934. A gathering of over 600 white farmers and a parade of 150 cars were organized to ensure the ultimatum was obeyed... On September 14, 1934, the first of several assaults was reported on the properties of the Salt River Valley Japanese farmers. Six days later, dynamite was used to blow up three dams on three separate Japanese farms..."Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia, pp. 59.
The publisher was a well-established organization, the Japanese Association of Arizona, which was founded in 1910 and built a brick Japanese Hall in Phoenix in 1929. The hall served as a community center and employed eight teachers to instruct American-born children in the Japanese language and culture. (See Murray and Solliday, City of Phoenix Asian American Historic Property Survey, p. 47).
OCLC locates two copies, at Biola and the Huntington.

Small piece missing from the spine; old manuscript label on spine. Old ink stamp on cover. Generally very good.