---
title: '''I am an American'' sign in the window of the Wanto Co. store, Oakland'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-am-an-american-store-sign-oakland-1942/
description: A large hand-lettered sign in a shop window reads 'I AM AN AMERICAN.' The owner, a University of California graduate of Japanese ancestry, displayed it…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!['I am an American' sign in the window of the Wanto Co. store, Oakland](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-am-an-american-store-sign-oakland-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-am-an-american-store-sign-oakland-1942.jpg)

# 'I am an American' sign in the window of the Wanto Co. store, Oakland

A large hand-lettered sign in a shop window reads 'I AM AN AMERICAN.' The owner, a University of California graduate of Japanese ancestry, displayed it on 8 December 1941; the tell is the national label itself, pasted onto the storefront as a public claim of identity and loyalty before the owner's forced removal.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
I AM AN AMERICAN

GROCERY
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
WANTO CO.
VEGETABLES
PHILIP MORRIS
[partial: 'WANT...' at right edge of the shop fascia]
[partial: 'by WHITE & POLLARD' on a sign above the fascia]
```

Transcribes the large hand-lettered sign (the subject) first, then the other legible lettering on the storefront.

[← Still from "Chabar Dai Toa" no. 31, Japanese newsreel with Indonesian-language title cards for occupied Java (1942)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chabar-dai-toa-newsreel-31-title-card-1942/) [Le judaïsme tend à l'hégémonie mondiale (panel, Le Bolchevisme contre l'Europe exhibition, Paris) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/judaisme-hegemonie-mondiale-paris-exhibition-1942/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)