Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

For Your Education

I have an aunt and uncle who are Japanese American.  My uncle was born here in the States and is a second generation Japanese American, or Nisei.  He was born in 1928 and spent time as a young man in the Gila River Relocation Center near Phoenix, Arizona.  Obviously, this had a huge impact on his life and every time I visit my hometown and see him, he brings me something new to read on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, he says it's for my "education".  I always look forward to seeing him and to receiving another book, article, or government document to add to my personal library on the evacuation and detainment of Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) during World War II.  And I will pass along what I've learned to my own child, not only because this happened to a member of our family, but also because these are the moments in history we should never forget.  When I saw OPBs story on the Portland Expo Center's role in the internment of Japanese-Americans, it struck a chord in me and prompted me to look again at our library's collection of materials on this subject.  

This library has hundreds of books on the subject of the evacuation and relocation of West Coast Japanese Americans.  I decided to focus on some that for me, make it more real.  For instance, in 1942 photographer Dorothea Lange was commissioned by the U.S. Relocation Authority to photograph the evacuation and relocation process of 110,000 Japanese Americans.  She not only photographed life in the assembly centers and the Manzanar Relocation Center, but also what these people lost due to their imprisonment: their homes, farms, businesses, and careers.  All of Lange's photographs were confiscated during the war for being too controversial.  The negatives were thankfully held at the National Archives and now many of them are available in different collections.  One collection I particularly like is Impounded in which Lange's photographs are beautifully displayed, along with the notes she wrote for each.  This book was edited by Linda Gordon and Gary Y. Okihiro.

In a similar vein we find the book Placing Memory, by Todd Stewart.  Although it's been 65 years since a Supreme Court decision in favor of Mitsuye Endo paved the way for the opening of the relocation centers and the unrestricted release of their inmates, those camps still exist in the minds and hearts of those who were confined there.  And in some cases, they still physically exist in the areas they occupied so long ago.  Many of us have seen black and white images from inside the relocation centers, showing how families took what little they had and bettered their living conditions.  What is also important is to see, is the larger landscape in which these families found themselves.  In his book, Stewart combines archival photos, maps and color photographs of the sites as they exist today.  Imagine coming from the hustle and bustle of Portland to the harsh, bleak landscape of the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho.  Or coming from the lush and fertile California coast to the hot, dry desert of the Gila River Relocation Center, dotted with Saguaro Cactus.  This book will help you do that.

I mention above the families who took what little they were given and managed to build a home and a community.  The next book I want to mention really highlights that amazing spirit and the importance of art in creating such spaces. The Art of Gaman by Delphine Hirasuna explores the making of arts and crafts in the relocation centers, which she describes as "both a physical and emotional necessity for the internees."  The items contained within this book are stunning and I promise they will absolutely amaze you.  The first thing you must do is turn to page 74 and gaze upon the Japanese-style vanity made of persimmon wood by Pat Morihata, who was confined at the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas.  You'll find it beautiful and will be amazed to know that this vanity is made completely without nails, but is instead held together by a perfect dovetailing of pieces.  Morihata made this vanity for the woman he was wooing; she said "yes".

In May Sky, by the late Violet Kazue de Cristoforo, we see more of the art that came from Japanese American internment.  De Cristoforo, a poet who was interned at the Tule Lake Relocation Center in Northern California, spent years compiling haiku written by others in the camps.  I am an admirer of haiku, and this is some of the most beautifully written and heartbreaking poetry that I have read.  Take these three pieces, from the famous haiku poet Neiji Ozawa who was interned at the Gila River Relocation Center:

Sensing permanent separation / As you left me in extreme heat / On gravel road

Even babies born / Inside barbed wire fence / Mingling on New Year's Day

From the window of despair / May sky / There is always tomorrow

For each haiku de Cristoforo provides the original Japanese characters, the romanji (romanized form of Japanese) and an English translation.