My Japanese Husband: Agnes Tsumanuma’s Story of Race, Matrimony, and Resilience in Early Twentieth Century New York
After Iwahiko’s death in 1936, his wife, Agnes, wrote an account of their life together, entitled My Japanese Husband. Agnes likely intended to submit the book manuscript to a competition held by the publisher Houghton-Mifflin, but it does not appear that she ever finished it. Nevertheless, the manuscript can tell us a lot about the discrimination Agnes and Iwahiko faced as an interracial couple, and Agnes’ hopes and dreams during her marriage. The book was Agnes’ attempt to present her husband, and their marriage, to the world.
Listen here to learn more about My Japanese Husband, and what it tells us about Agnes’ experience as Iwahiko’s wife.
If you are interested in learning more about the anti-miscegenation laws and the ways in which American women experienced Orientalism in the early twentieth century, see: Peggy Pascoe, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), and Mari Yoshihara, Embracing the East: White Women and American Orientialism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
The song in the podcast is “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” music by Leo Friedman, lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson, first released by the Peerless Quartet in 1911.
The below photos are from Christina Rockrise’s collection.
