By Joanne Oppenheim and Nancy Matsumoto.
This collection tells the story of an often overlooked and shameful chapter in our country’s history. In 1941, when Japan attacked the United States, all those of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast—two thirds of them American-born citizens—became the enemy overnight. Their only crime was looking like the enemy. In a matter of months over 120,000 of them were imprisoned in ten U.S. government prison camps during World War II.
Told in their own words, from interviews, diaries, and letters these are heartfelt histories; by those who were imprisoned, those who imprisoned them, and townspeople in the harsh high desert of Wyoming. Illustrated with photos from family collections, archives, and newspapers. Their stories live on to remind and warn us of what happens when the foundational principles of our democracy are forgotten, and we fail to protect the civil liberties of others as well as our own.
Paper: 221 pp.
Also available:
(Japanese) Dear Miss Breed
