The National Historic Landmark Harada House is a powerful civil rights landmark in California. This site and the story of the Harada Family embody local, state, national, and international issues of civil and individual rights, democracy, immigration, assimilation, and citizenship. Preservation of the site, collections, and stories ensures that these pivotal lessons of history will continue to be accessible for all peoples. Jukichi Harada, his wife Ken, and their first son Masa Atsu, settled in Riverside, California in 1905. They soon were operating a rooming house and the Washington Restaurant. Following the death of his first American born son, Jukichi sought a home with healthier conditions for his family. Aware of the 1913 California Alien Land Law prohibiting aliens from owning property, in December 1915 he purchased the house at 3356 Lemon Street in the names of his three American-born children, Mine, Sumi, and Yoshizo. He prevailed in a landmark court battle to retain the home.
Harada House - Historical Riverside
Riverside, California
The Harada Story
Project: Harada House Historical Preservation
Architect: IS Architecture
Type: Residential Historical Preservation
Project Description: The Harada House on Lemon Street in Riverside, California was the focus of a landmark court case brought by the State of California against Jukichi Harada, a Japanese immigrant living in Riverside. The case tested the constitutionality of laws preventing immigrants, primarily from Japan, from owning property in California. This project is the restoration of that home.
Links:
https://www.riversideca.gov/museum/haradahouse/
“Mine, Sumi, and Yoshizo are American citizens, of somewhat humble station, it may be, but still entitled to equal protection of the laws of our land...The political rights of American citizens are the same, no matter what their heritage.”
Judge Hugh Craig - Riverside Supreme CourtSeptember 14, 1918
