Browse > Time > 1940s
141 articles
People Aren't All Bad (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Companionship as salvation, Darkness and light, Evils of racism
- Widely available
Short video by Matthew Hashiguchi that centers on the wartime experience of Yutaka Kobayashi, a Nisei from San Francisco, who recalls a memorable moment of kindness from a guard at Topaz .
A Piece of Cake (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Female roles, Importance of community, Role of women
- Limited availability
Short story by Yachiyo Uehara that recalls friendships made while in a concentration camp. In the 1980s, a Nisei woman named Fumi is making a roast when she notices a story about a Heart Mountain reunion in the newspaper. The article triggers memories of her two years at Heart Mountain forty years prior, in particular her work as a waitress in the Block 17 mess hall. A city girl from San Francisco, she is at first treated as an outsider by fellow workers who mostly hailed from rural areas. But through her hard work and skill in the Japanese language, she wins them over, in particular the group's de facto leader, Mrs. Shirota. The story climaxes with a visit to the Shirotas' family barrack, where Mrs. Shirota has secured the rare treat of a manju (rice and sweet bean pastry) that the chefs had managed to concoct. Fumi is particularly …
Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8
- Grades 3-5
- Children's, Historical Fiction
- Coming of age, Displacement, Evils of racism, Role of women
- Widely available
Children's novel aimed at ages 8 to 11 by Sandra Dallas centering on the wartime incarceration experience of the Itano family at the Tallgrass, Colorado, camp, featuring as its protagonist twelve year old Tomi Itano. The book is a sequel of sorts to Dallas' adult novel, Tallgrass (2007).
Otoko (short story)
- Short Stories
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Disillusionment and dreams, Growing up – pain or pleasure, Immigrant experience, Loss of innocence, Role of men, Vulnerability of the meek
- Widely available
Short story by Wakako Yamauchi centering on a Nisei brother and sister who recall their father and their family's prewar and wartime hardships while listening to Japanese folksongs. On the longest day of the year one summer, Kiyo visits his sister, the narrator, bringing a record of Japanese children's songs. The act of listening to the songs triggers memories of their early years. Once relatively prosperous, their fortunes turn dire quickly when their father loses his job. He becomes a tenant farmer, but can't make enough to support the family. Kiyo recalls a time when he went with his father to visit a friend, Kiyo thinks, to ask to borrow money. The narrator recalls working as a "school girl" with a white family for a few months, returning to find her family living in a tent, her little sister's teeth rotting, and her father suffering from a stomach ailment. Later, …
Dear Miss Breed: Letters from Camp (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Importance of community, Power of words
- Available
Exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) based on the letters sent to librarian Clara Breed by Japanese American students forcibly removed to concentration camps. Dear Miss Breed opened in JANM's Legacy Center gallery on January 14, 1997, and closed on April 13, 1997. A short film of the same name was also featured in the exhibition. Though it did not travel subsequently, an online version of the exhibition was created and is available at the JANM website.
Proof of Loyalty: Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary, History
- Heroism – real and perceived, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
Documentary film on a Nisei war hero from Hawai'i who served with the Military Intelligence Service during World War II.
Oregon's Japanese Americans: Beyond the Wire (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Evils of racism, Overcoming – fear, weakness, vice, Power of the past
- Widely available
Documentary film on Japanese Americans in Oregon that largely focuses on the wartime incarceration and aftermath. Part of the Oregon Experience series, it was produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting in partnership with the Oregon Historical Society.
Those Who Helped Us (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 3-5, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Coming of age, Heroism – real and perceived, Rights - individual or societal
- Available
Simply animated story set in Minidoka told in the first-person voice of a young Nisei girl named Sumi that highlights the role that key white supporters in and out of the concentration camps played in aiding Japanese Americans. After noting the deprivations Nikkei faced in the early months at Minidoka, Sumi notes the presence of Reverend Andy ( Emery Andrews ), who had come to minister to his flock all the way from Seattle. Later, she highlights the role played by Thomas Bodine of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and Father Leopold Tibesar in helping Sumi's older sister, Yuri, leave Minidoka to attend college in Philadelphia. The black and white animation turns to color as Yuri leaves camp. After the main story, author Ken Mochizuki provides brief profiles of Andrews, Bodine, and Tibesar, along with Minidoka Education Superintendent Arthur Kleinkopf and Deaconess Margaret Peppers, both of whom are …
Asian Americans, Episode 2: A Question of Loyalty (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Heartbreak of betrayal, Nationalism – complications, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
The second of five episodes of a landmark documentary on the Asian American experience, A Question of Loyalty focuses on the World War II period, telling the story of three Asian American families, two of whom are Japanese American.
Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Destruction of beauty, Expression through art, Power of tradition
- Widely available
Documentary film focusing on traditional Japanese performing arts in War Relocation Authority concentration camps during World War II.
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Heartbreak of betrayal, Injustice, Manipulation, Power and corruption
- Widely available
Documentary film that explores the chain of events that led to Executive Order 9066 and the three Japanese American Supreme Court cases that subsequently challenged the curfew and exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, with a focus on the set of knowingly false claims that proponents of the exclusion used to justify it. Largely following the storyline of Peter Irons ' classic study of the Japanese American Cases, Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese American Internment Cases . , filmmaker Jon Osaki uses interviews—with scholars (including Irons), lawyers and activists involved in the coram nobis cases, and descendants of some of the key figures involved in the decision to forcibly remove Japanese Americans—archival audio and video, and historic photos and documents to tell the story. He uses two college-age Japanese Americans (Mika Osaki, the filmmaker's daughter, and Joseph Tsuboi) as a framing device for the story, …
The Bracelet (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
- Children's
- Growing up – pain or pleasure, Importance of community, Self-awareness, Will to survive
- Widely available
A children's picture book by Nisei author Yoshiko Uchida , with illustrations by Joanne Yardley, originally published in 1993. The Bracelet is a story derived from the author's own childhood experiences in an American concentration camp during World War II. The book opens as seven-year-old Emi, her mother and sister prepare to leave their home in Berkeley, California, for Tanforan , a racetrack that has been converted into a temporary camp for Japanese Americans. Emi's best friend, Laurie Madison, brings her a gold bracelet as a farewell gift, and as a reminder of the value of their friendship. Emi vows that she will never take it off, but as she helps clean out the filthy horse stable that will serve has her family's "apartment," the gold chain slips off her wrist and is lost. At first, she is desolate, but Emi eventually realizes that she does not need the bracelet …
Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation (book)
- Books
- Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
- Grades 6-8
- Children's, Young Adult
- Displacement, Growing up - pain or pleasure
- Widely available
Pioneering 1971 novel by Yoshiko Uchida that was the first book for children on the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans written by a Japanese American. Based in part on Uchida's own family experience, Journey to Topaz was the first of five books the prolific children's book author wrote that focused on the incarceration experience.
Against Their Will: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Evils of racism, Injustice
- Available
Exhibition centering on the experiences of Japanese Americans in Jerome and Rohwer , the two concentration camps located in Arkansas, as well as those of who lived near the camps and/or worked in them. The exhibition was developed by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Public History Program and debuted as part of the Life Interrupted project in 2004. The largest of eight exhibitions mounted in various venues in the Little Rock area, Against Their Will debuted at Arkansas Statehouse Convention Center downstairs foyer on September 24, 2004, running through November 28, 2004. Against Their Will is currently on permanent display at the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum , which opened in McGehee, Arkansas, in 2013.
American Heroes: Japanese American World War II Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal (exhibition)
- Museum Exhibitions
- Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Adult
- History
- Patriotism - positive side or complications, Heroism - real and perceived
- Limited availability
Traveling exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Infantry Battalion , 442nd Regimental Combat Team , and Military Intelligence Service in 2011. Created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in partnership with National Veterans Network, National Museum of American History, and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the exhibition included photo and text panels about the Japanese Americans who served in World War II along with the medal itself.
No-No Boy (book)
- Books
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Historical Fiction
- Convention and rebellion, Family – blessing or curse, Heroism – real and perceived, Individual versus society, Patriotism – positive side or complications
- Widely available
In 1956, Nisei writer John Okada wrote No-No Boy , a novel that explored the predicament of a Japanese American World War II conscientious objector, having served time in prison for refusing to serve in the military, who returns home only to face the consequences of his decision. Upon arriving in his former neighborhood, he is met with hostility and despair. He discovers that his mother delusionally believes that Japan has won the war, and his younger brother—ashamed of Ichiro's decision to refuse the draft—abruptly quits high school to join the army himself. In the course of the novel, Ichiro's inner conflict grows to reflect the racial tension and residual anguish following the war and his individual guilt represents the conflict of the country at large.