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Photo Essay: Exclusion Order No. 1, Bainbridge Island
March 30, 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of the removal of Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island, Washington. The community of almost 300 was the second in the country targeted for…
Nisei Veterans of World War II: Photo Essay and Resource List
“No loyal citizen of the United States should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry….Americanism is not, and never was, a…
What “Back to School” Looked Like in World War II Concentration Camps
“Nineteen forty-two, how full of events it has been. So many turning points, crisises [sic], days of anxiety and disappointment, yet some happy moments, too. It was like a goodbye to…
Views of Post-WWII Hiroshima: A Japanese American Woman Documents Life in Occupied Japan
Shiuko Sakai was twenty three years old when she decided to join a friend to work for the Department of the Army in Occupied Japan. At the time of this…
Photo Essay: Bon Festivals
This weekend, cities along the west coast will hold their annual Bon festivals. Bon Odori communal folk dances are a central part of the bon festival, a Buddhist summer ceremony in which the spirits of…
Photo Essay: A Tribute to Japanese American Migrant Workers
May Day is known the world over as a day of worker protest and rebellion. After the bloody Haymarket Riots of 1886, the May 1 holiday became so notorious for its…
How One Woman Shaped the Collective Memory of Japanese American Removal
In the late spring of 1942, The Andrews Sisters’ jaunty Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree was on its steady rise to the top of the charts; the “taut and poignant” romance This Above…
Baseball in American Concentration Camps: History, Photos, and Reading Recommendations
Baseball season is here again! This favorite of American sports was also a popular pastime in Japanese American concentration camps. Here we delve into that history through an excerpt from…
Visionary Sculptress Ruth Asawa
Ruth Asawa is best known for her wizardry in weaving copper wire into enchanting, diaphanous forms. Her work, once at the vanguard of modernist sculpture, is still widely celebrated. This month, Asawa’s gossamer creations…
Japanese American Scouting Traditions: A Brief History and Photo Essay
The intersections between Japanese American history and scouting traditions run deep; two national news stories have called attention to that history in recent weeks.
Minidoka Concentration Camp: Looking Back 70 Years Later
The Minidoka concentration camp was located in a remote portion of South Central Idaho’s Snake River Plain and housed approximately 13,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. It closed seventy years…
Photo Essay: Colorado’s Amache Concentration Camp
On August 27, 1942 the Amache concentration camp opened its doors to thousands of Japanese Americans who had been uprooted from their lives in California and transported to the remote,…
Photo Essay: Honoring Fallen WWII Japanese American Soldiers
Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of soldiers of Japanese descent served in the US armed forces. In less than two years, one of their best known units—the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental…
Photo Essay: Ten Portraits of Mothering in WWII Japanese American Concentration Camps
This Sunday, families across the United States will celebrate Mother’s Day. In honor of the holiday we’ve compiled a set of photographs that attest to the remarkable strength and tenderness…