Manzanar Mosaic: Essays and Oral Histories on America’s First World War II Japanese American Concentration Camp By Arthur A. Hansen (Denver: University Press of Colorado, 2023, 336 pp., $42; $29.95, hard cover; paperback) In the field of Japanese American studies, there is no denying the impact of Dr. Arthur A. Hansen’s work. His essays and […]
EO9066’s ‘coerced prison work(ers)’
July 20, 2023 by Leave a Comment
JAPANESE AMERICAN INCARCERATION: The Camps and Coerced Labor During World War II By Stephanie Hinnershitz (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021, 309 pp., $39.95, hardcover) Although certainly not an American labor historian per se, I am profoundly abashed that, notwithstanding my having been researching, writing, and teaching about the unjust Japanese American World War II […]
Day of Remembrance program looks to future while returning to roots
March 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
After two years of virtual programming, the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium returned to its roots hosting its annual event as an in-person event. Attendees packed the Christ United Presbyterian Church in San Francisco’s Japantown Feb. 19, with many more observing via an online stream for the 44th annual Bay Area Day of Remembrance. […]
Hayward, Calif. community holds dedication for Japanese American Memorial
March 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Dozens of Bay Area community members paid tribute to the 606 Japanese American residents of the Hayward, Calif. area who were forcibly removed from their homes in 1942, at a ceremony Feb. 4, dedicating a new public sculpture installed at the Hayward Heritage Plaza. The sculpture, designed by artist and historian Patricia Wakida, was commissioned […]
L.A. Day of Remembrance focuses on inter-community support
March 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
LOS ANGELES — The 2023 Day of Remembrance, held Feb. 18 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, urged the Japanese American community and individuals to work together with other communities “to fight for a strong and democratic society.” Organizers dedicated the event, titled “Uniting Our Voices: Making Democracy Work for All,” to […]
Japanese Americans won redress, fight for Black reparations
March 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
SAN FRANCISCO — When Miya Iwataki and other Japanese Americans fought in the 1980s for the U.S. government to apologize to the families it imprisoned during World War II, Black politicians and civil rights leaders were integral to the movement. Thirty-five years after they won that apology — and survivors of prison camps received $20,000 […]
Ordinary citizens’ extraordinary deeds come to life in ‘The Art of Activism’ program
February 17, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Ordinary citizens’ extraordinary deeds come to life in this year’s Films of Remembrance “The Art of Activism” program presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation. Here’s a preview of the short films: ‘Stamp Our Story’ (2022, 19 min.) by Kaia Rose and Robert M. Horsting Three Nisei women were on a mission, and they were not […]
Coram nobis cases 40 years on
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
When redress researcher Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga and legal scholar Peter Irons uncovered the veritable “smoking gun” proving the United States had lied to the Supreme Court to justify the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, they set off a series of landmark legal battles that eventually helped vindicate Japanese Americans and set legal precedents that continue […]
A rose blooms, a garden’s history is uncovered, and history is dug up in ‘Rooted in History Program’
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
“Rooted in History” is the theme of a Nichi Bei Foundation Films of Remembrance program featuring three short documentary films focusing on a blooming rose, a Japanese garden and the literal digging up of history. Here’s a preview of the films: ‘Amache Rose’ (2022, 29 min.) by Billy Kanaly At the beginning of Billy Kanaly’s […]
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