Browse > Time > 1900s to 1980s
4 articles
East of Occidental: The History of Seattle's Chinatown (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Change versus tradition, Rebirth
- Widely available
Documentary film on Seattle's Chinatown/ International District that outlines the history of the area and argues that pan-Asian Americanism makes it unique among American ethnic enclaves. The film includes the story of the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the area and their subsequent incarceration during World War II.
Issei: The First Generation (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Role of women, Wisdom of experience
- Available
Documentary film featuring interviews with Issei who speak in Japanese about their lives. Filmed in 1983 and shown on television in the San Francisco Bay area in 1984, the film remained largely unseen for the next thirty years until it was restored and reissued in 2013. It remains one of the only films to feature Issei voices on the wartime removal and incarceration and on Japanese American history in general.
Japanese Americans and Internment (book)
- Books
- Grades 7-8
- Grades 7-8
- Young Adult, History
- Displacement, Evils of racism, Injustice, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Available
Overview textbook on the Japanese American removal and incarceration published by Globe Fearon in 1994 as part of their "Globe Mosaic of American History" series. No author is credited with sociologist (and former inmate) Harry H.L. Kitano listed on the title page as the "consultant."
Voices Long Silent (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Immigrant experience, Injustice, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice
- Available
Documentary video that explores Issei perspectives of the wartime forced removal and incarceration, as related through voiceovers by actors from Los Angeles-based theater company, East West Players, accompanied by still photos of the incarceration. Filmmaker Bob Matsumoto was inspired by the testimony of Japanese Americans before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians , and sought to recapture the voices of those who were no longer able to tell their stories. Matsumoto updated the film twice, once after the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and once after the retroactive awarding of Congressional Medal of Honor awards to Japanese Americans who had been overlooked for the award in the 1940s. Voices Long Silent was used to accompany the exhibition The Art of Gaman and included in the DVD release of The Story Behind the Objects , a video specially produced by an about the show.