James Ichiuji

Japanese School Segregation: San Francisco School Board Segregation Order of 1906

In 1905, the San Francisco Chronicle began printing anti-Japanese articles, which started this anti-Japanese movement, and then escalated to the formation of the Asian Exclusion League and efforts to limit the number of Asian immigrants. On October 11, 1906, the San Francisco School Board signed the Segregation Order of 1906 with the support of Mayor Eugene Schmitz who promised a more separated educational system. The order forced the move of all Japanese and Korean students to the segregated schools for the Chinese. Although it affected few people, as there were only 93 students of Japanese ancestry (25 of whom were born in the US), word reached Japan of the increasing anti-Japanese sentiment. In response, President Theodore Roosevelt was forced to get involved in local San Francisco politics. He called anti-Asian legislators and politicians “idiots” for creating unnecessary tension between Japan and the US. He said later, “To shut them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity. …It’s absurd that the mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless violence that would plunge us into war. A city should not be allowed to commit a crime against a friendly nation.”

The president faced resistance from the school board and realized that the state courts would fully support the segregation order and the school board. Newspapers statewide, along with state legislators and Southern Democrats encouraged that California would stand firm against the President’s pro-Asian policy. The school board refused to back down until a more strict immigration policy was practiced. Roosevelt needed to appease both sides and attempted to do this by restricting the immigration of Japanese and working to smooth relations with Japan, all the while preparing the Navy if the situation became hostile. A Japanese newspaper reported, “Stand up, Japanese nation! Our countrymen have been humiliated…Why do we not insist on sending [war]ships.” It is ridiculous and selfish of San Francisco to endorse this small racial segregation, leading to a whole avalanche of unnecessary Japanese-US tension.

Though the bill was eventually vetoed, San Francisco schools still found excuses such as “filthy or vicious habits” or “lack of English” to send Japanese students to segregated schools. The same year, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed a number of schools, which also helped the school board send Japanese and Korean students to separate Chinese dominated schools.