Do You Have a Relative Who Was Interviewed by Densho? - Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment

June 15, 2016

Twenty years ago, we set out with the goal of recording and preserving stories of World War II incarceration so that future generations could learn from them. That mission is reflected in our name, Densho, which means to pass along to the next generation. Now, two decades later, we host 900 interviews in our free online archive, and that number continues to grow.

As we have shared these stories and expanded our work out to classrooms and beyond, we have heard from many about how much they value access to these first person narratives. But now we want to hear directly from the generations we had in mind when we first started recording these stories. We want to hear about what those stories mean to relatives of those we interviewed, and how they resonate today.

Do you have a relative who was interviewed by Densho? If so, we invite you to participate in our Generations Project. All you have to do is take a few minutes to watch some of your relative’s interview. Search their name in the Densho Digital Archive, select an interview clip, and then answer a few questions. We would also love to see photos of you with the family member interviewed by Densho. For younger family members, we welcome drawings. Participants under 13 years of age need to have a parent or guardian fill out the survey.

With your permission, we’ll use these testimonies as we honor your family members at our upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala and, later, we’ll share them with the Densho community, both online and in print materials.

>> Online Submission Form

The deadline to submit material is August 30th. Email info@densho.org with questions.