Celebrating Black American Heroes: The Marshalls of “J Flats”!
“Kindness is… remembering what others have suffered with compassion and hospitality; even when you have suffered far worse.” pg. 159
I originally wrote this phrase in tribute to the Colorado River Indian Tribe, Poston, AZ and their collaboration with the Japanese Americans to this day. But this holds true for many more stories than that.
This month, we honor and celebrate Black History Month and so many famous and not so famous Black Americans and their contributions to our country and our world. If there was an award for “Best Neighbors Ever” it just might go to the Marshalls of Los Angeles, CA.
I met Marvin Inouye at the Poston Incarceration Camp Pilgrimage and we started talking about how neighborly kindness impacts so many lives. He couldn’t wait to tell me a story about his “Mom” Barbara. The way he described her, she was an amazing mom, full of love and care for him. When he said, “I’ve known her nearly my whole life since age 5. I met her waiting for the bus to Kindergarten,” I realized this was not his bio mom. He met “Mom” Barbara at the bus stop, waiting to go to Kindergarten where he grew up in Monrovia.
She was there with her son, Marcus, also waiting for the bus. But seeing Marvin jump on and off the curb and playing in the middle of the street, she quickly went into ‘mom” mode and told him to get back on the curb because playing in the street is too dangerous.
Sixty seven years later, Barbara Marshall Williams is still Marvin’s “Mom” and the mother of his best friend, Marcus. They were such good friends that Marvin felt like he lived at Marcus’ house, always over there, hanging out with his best friend and being nurtured by Barbara. And Barbara and her family were always invited to the Japanese traditional “oshogatsu” at Marvin’s house too…even to this day.
Marvin “Oka” Inouye, Marcus Lewis, and Gary Morishita, circa 1970 Monrovia.
Photo Courtesy of Marvin Inouye.
About 5 years ago, Marvin was at a luncheon for Heart Mountain (WY) incarceration survivors and descendents and heard a story about this family, the Marshalls, who were such wonderful neighbors to many Japanese American families who were forced to leave their homes first to Pomona Fairgrounds Detention Center, and ultimately, Heart Mountain incarceration camp during WWII. As one connection led to another, Mavin realized this was the same Marshall family as his “Mom” Barbara!
Barbara’s grandparents moved to California as survivors of Black American slavery in the South. George and Josephine Albright homesteaded the property sometime in the early 1890s, west of what is now downtown LA. Later on, their daughter Crystal and her husband Rufus Marshall, Barbara’s parents, also settled in the area on Westmoreland Avenue. They owned a thriving catering business and raised three children, Josephine, Rufus, and Barbara there.
This area west of downtown LA, aka East Hollywood is the same neighborhood as Belmont High School, and the famous Original Tommy’s Burgers; it became known as “J flats” as so many Japanese American families moved there in the early 1900s. Housing areas were segregated and Japanese were not welcome in white neighborhoods so J flats became their home. This is how the Marshalls, a Black American family, got to be neighbors with so many Japanese families; the Kakiba family lived on one side of them and the Hoshizaki family on the other.
Barbara Marshall (Williams) holding neighbor Kiyoko Hoshizaki in front of the family’s home on North Westmoreland Avenue, Los Angeles, circa 1940.
Photo source www.heartmountain.org and Barbara Williams.
Mr. Kakiba worked at the Dolly Madison Bakery. The Hoshizakis opened Fujiya Market in Hollywood. The Marshalls had a successful catering company that Marvin said catered to Walt Disney and the Mudd family (of Mudd College note). This made for a lot of good food being passed between the neighbors. And needless to say, there were alot of good cooks of all kinds of cuisine in J flats.
After Executive Order #9066 on February 19, 1942, the Japanese Americans were ordered to leave their homes and businesses for incarceration centers. Barbara recalls her mother cooking all morning to feed all her Japanese American neighbors a hearty breakfast of biscuits, eggs, and coffee before they left for an unknown future. Her father helped drive the neighbors to the designated assembly meeting spot as the Japanese could only take what they could carry and had sold whatever transportation they owned.
But their kindness didn’t stop that day. The Marshalls drove roughly 30 miles one way (without freeways) to the Pomona Fairground Detention Center to take their neighbors chicken pies, and their best apple pie a la mode, all homemade. The Marshall’s delectable entrees and desserts were passed over the fences that kept the Japanese Americans incarcerated, but the love and care of those dishes touched the hearts of their unjustly accused neighbors to this day. Other Japanese American families remember that the Marshalls stored family belongings, furniture, and treasured keepsakes safely until they returned after WWII ended.
The Marshalls, a family of former Black American slaves, had so much compassion and true friendship for their Japanese American neighbors, even when their families had suffered far worse in the South for decades. Their kindness and sacrifice of time, talent, and a lot of cooking and driving gave their incarcerated friends hope. In 2023, at the Heart Mountain annual pilgrimage, family members Barbara Marshall Williams, Karen Burch, and Robin Waller were honored for the Marshall family’s kindness and friendship. They received the LaDonna Zall Compassionate Witness Award. But their family was far more than a witness, their family acted with compassion and sacrifice to serve their neighbors and friends at a time when many did nothing.
Childhood neighbors in 2023: Barbara Marshall Williams, 96, and Tak Hoshizaki, 97, holding a picture of Barbara and Tak’s younger sister, circa 1940, at the Japanese American National Museum.
Photo Courtesy of Marvin Inouye.
Marvin’s best friend, Marcus, sadly passed in 2019 from health issues, but Marvin still visits regularly with his “Mom” Barbara. The Marshall family modeled true kindness in the midst of adversity to their neighbors and friends… kindness that continues for decades and decades, touching the lives of hundreds to this day.
“Kindness is…collaboration and building trusted friendships.” pg. 63.
Arigatou-gozaimasu to Marvin Inouye for sharing this story with me!
Here’s an article on the Marshall family from the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage Website: https://www.heartmountain.org/2023-heart-mountain-pilgrimage/ and scroll down to Saturday, July 29 and “Making a Neighborhood” article.
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