Original caption read "Oakland, California. Following evacuation orders, this store was closed. The owner, a University of California graduate of Japanese descent, placed the "I AM AN AMERICAN" sign on the store front the day after Pearl Harbor."

Tatsuro Matsuda, whose family owned the Wanto Co. grocery store at 13th and Franklin streets in Oakland, hung this sign in front of the store, Two months later, despite being a US citizen, the building had to be sold and he and his family were forced out
.
Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt ordered the forced removal and internment for the remainder of the war of all Japanese-Americans, alien and citizen alike. Like the Jews in Europe, those sent to camps were forced to dispose of property and other assets losing their savings and livelihoods in the process.

Taken in 1942, printed later. Matted to 12"x12" in a black wooden frame.