Please note: projects are listed by the states of the grant recipients.
California
Recipient: Anaheim Public Library (Anaheim, CA)
Project Title: Anaheim Japanese American Heritage Project
Grant Award: $38,833
Site(s): Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ
Description: The Anaheim Public Library will plan and produce an interpretive exhibition to be housed at the MUZEO Museum and Cultural Center. The exhibition will focus on oral history interviews with Japanese American families who lived in the Anaheim area prior to incarceration, as well as families who resettled in Anaheim following incarceration. Photographs, documents, and artifacts will be used to enhance the exhibition. Through extensive community outreach and the involvement of student volunteers, the exhibition will preserve the stories and raise awareness of the history of the Japanese American community in Orange County.
Recipient: Fred T. Korematsu Institute (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: Developing Curriculum and Educating Through Film: “And Then They Came For Us”
Grant Award: $100,579
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Fred T. Korematsu Institute will use the documentary, “And Then They Came For Us,” to create multimedia educational curricula on the incarceration of Japanese Americans highlighting lesser known stories. The curricula will be disseminated through the Institute’s free Curriculum Kit and teacher conferences. The curricula will explore themes such as the Japanese American incarceration, with an emphasis on resistance at Tule Lake Segregation Center and Fred Korematsu’s story, and the redress movement and 1980s coram nobis legal team that discovered governmental misconduct and reopened the Korematsu vs. U.S. Supreme Court case.
Recipient: The Internet Archive (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration
Grant Award: $47,624
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Internet Archive (IA) will digitize, archive, and web-host approximately 450 books on the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. These will be made available online, borrowing through the Open Library and Archive.org sites, under terms typical of traditional libraries. Scholars and organizations from the Japanese American community curated the list of books to be digitized, which include a range of adult non-fiction, those for young readers, and creative works. The project will also serve to preserve rare older books that might otherwise become endangered.
Recipient: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Project Title: On My Honor: Scouting in American Concentration Camps
Grant Award: $155,952
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will design and produce an exhibition on Boy and Girl Scouts in all 10 War Relocation Authority (WRA) concentration camps. Due to the importance of Scouting for many Japanese American children prior to incarceration, adult leaders worked to establish troops shortly after arrival at the camps to give children a positive outlet. Along with earning merit badges and participating in traditional Scouting activities, Scouts organized community service projects and carried out important daily functions, including raising the flag and leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Participating in Boy and Girl Scout troops helped children cope with the harsh realities of incarceration. JANM’s exhibit will highlight stories of Scouting during incarceration through video interviews, photographs, letters, and artifacts.
Recipient: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Project Title: The Stanley Hayami Diary: A Virtual Exploration of Camp Through the Eyes of a Teenaged Boy
Grant Award: $331,779
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will develop and implement a virtual and augmented reality exhibition based on the diaries and letters of Stanley Hayami. An incarceree at Heart Mountain, Hayami was drafted into the U.S. Army’s 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team and was killed in action while trying to rescue a fellow soldier. Stanley Hayami’s diary and letters provide a highly personal view of life during incarceration. Virtual/augmented reality technologies will provide an engaging experience for visitors—especially 3 students—to learn about the injustices of incarceration. Additionally, JANM will create a version of the exhibit that will be accessible through a smartphone app for those unable to attend the museum in person.
Recipient: Musical Traditions Inc. (dba Paul Dresher Ensemble) (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: “Both Eyes Only” Chamber Opera
Grant Award: $40,000
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: Musical Traditions will produce Both Eyes Open, a chamber opera by composer Max Giteck Duykers and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda. The opera explores the physical and psychological trauma Japanese Americans experienced during incarceration and explores paths toward healing. The company will give five public performances in communities near former incarceration sites, as well as performances in New York City and other locations. Each performance will include opportunities to view oral history videos and a post-performance dialogue between the artists and the audience.
Recipient: National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: Bear Witness: Camp Oral History Digital Collections
Grant Award: $119,750
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (NJAHS) and University of San Francisco will collaborate to develop an online database for NJAHS’ oral history collections, to include search functions and a digital finding aid. Using the new database, researchers, historians, and the public will be able to locate information on specific Japanese American incarcerees, including their residence, occupation, and family members, prior to and during incarceration. Additional materials, such as photos, documents, audio and video files, and oral history transcripts will be linked to individuals, providing insight into life during incarceration. Currently, NJAHS’ collection includes 181 oral histories, many from incarcerees who have passed away.
Recipient: National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: We Are All Americans: Teacher Education Project
Grant Award: $142,468
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) will conduct regional workshops for secondary teachers and develop curriculum focused on the difficult circumstances Japanese Americans faced with the decision to serve in the U.S. military while confined without due process. The curriculum will guide teachers and students to explore themes of loyalty, and challenge students to 4 explore questions of what it means to be American and how individuals make choices in extremely complex situations. Curriculum and other educational resources will be made available online.
Recipient: San Francisco Film Organization (San Francisco, CA)
Project Title: United States Japanese Alien Camps of World War II
Grant Award: $204,302
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: San Francisco Film Organization will produce a documentary on World War II-era Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) detention stations and Department of Justice (DOJ) internment camps. Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested and detained over 5,500 Japanese Issei (first generation), mostly men, without formal charges. These men were imprisoned first in INS detention stations and then in DOJ internment camps while they awaited hearings to determine whether they would be “released” to War Relocation Authority incarceration sites or sent to U.S. Army internment camps. The film will focus on interviews with survivors and their descendants as well as scholars whose research is focused on INS and DOJ internment sites.
Recipient: Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
Project Title: Office of Redress Administration (ORA) Oral History Project
Grant Award: $72,871
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: Stanford University will produce 15 oral history interviews to preserve never before-recorded stories of the staff of the Department of Justice’s Office of Redress Administration (ORA). These interviews will be digitized and made available through Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project’s online archive. Established in 1988, the ORA was charged with the identification and documentation of reparation claims of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. The interviews will focus on the people responsible for locating and providing reparations to those whose names occurred in incarceration site records, as well as those associated with lesser-known sites that are not well documented, and other unique cases that Congress did not anticipate when it created the ORA.
Colorado
Recipient: Colorado Preservation, Inc. (Denver, CO)
Project Title: Amache Recreation Hall Restoration, Reconstruction and Interpretation
Grant Award: $290,344
Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
Description: Colorado Preservation, Inc. (CPI) and partners will restore and reconstruct the original Recreation Hall from Block 11-F, including windows, doors, and interior finishes, as well as install an interpretive sign. The Recreation Hall is one of the last known existing Amache buildings in Colorado that remains in adequate condition for reuse and interpretation. A 2014 JACS grant funded restoration of the building’s foundation, preparation of construction documents, and the building’s re-placement atop its original foundation. In the future, the building may serve as a meeting place for former incarcerees and family members, tour groups, and those participating in annual pilgrimages to Amache.
Recipient: University of Colorado Denver (Denver, CO)
Project Title: Amache 3D Digital Documentation, Phase II
Grant Award: $37,047
Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
Description: The University of Colorado Denver’s Center of Preservation Research (CoPR) will use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanning technology to document the landscape and building foundations at Amache. Phase I of the project scanned the significant existing and reconstructed buildings and their immediate context. The additional scans in Phase II will contribute to a complete three-dimensional model of the site. The final data, including both still imagery and fly-through animations, will be available on the CoPR website.
Idaho
Recipient: Friends of Minidoka (Twin Falls, ID)
Project Title: Friends of Minidoka Collection Densho Digital Repository Project
Grant Award: $13,464
Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Friends of Minidoka will digitize 1,000 previously unseen items in their collection. The items will be scanned, indexed, tagged, and made available on the Densho Digital Repository. Since most records and items specific to Minidoka are unavailable to the public, this project will enable research on less-understood aspects of the site. Items to be digitized and catalogued include administrative 6 records housed by Minidoka National Historic Site, family collections donated to Friends of Minidoka, approximately a dozen of the first known color images of Minidoka, and other items outside the scope of War Relocation Authority resources.
Recipient: Friends of Minidoka (Twin Falls, ID)
Project Title: The Lessons of Minidoka: Broadcast Documentary and Education Project
Grant Award: $247,716
Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: In partnership with North Shore Productions, Friends of Minidoka will create an hour long documentary about the incarceration experience and its aftermath, and develop educational curriculum for middle and high school students. The documentary will build on existing footage and incorporate previously unrecorded interviews with survivors. The curriculum will include a series of educational short films, study guides, and other learning aids. Both the documentary and curriculum will aim to raise awareness of the historical events surrounding incarceration as well as contemporary civil rights issues, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
Illinois
Recipient: Full Spectrum Features (Chicago, IL)
Project Title: Resistance & Resettlement: A Cinematic Digital History Project
Grant Award: $398,272
Site(s): Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY; Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR
Description: Full Spectrum Features will produce two high-quality short films focused on often-overlooked parts of Japanese American incarceration: resistance and resettlement. The films will build on The Orange Story and utilize the same pedagogical approach of teaching history through empathic, cinematic storytelling. Additionally, Full Spectrum Features will conduct public programming and produce a website, specifically designed for use in classrooms, linking the films to primary sources. A DVD box set of the two new films and The Orange Story will be available to educational institutions and the public.
Recipient: Japanese American Service Committee (Chicago, IL)
Project Title: Bridging Voices Project: Japanese American World War II Oral History Collection, Digitization, and Dissemination
Grant Award: $252,233
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) and the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society (CJAHS) will digitize and make accessible 140 existing oral histories, as well as collect 40 additional oral histories to highlight the lasting impacts of incarceration. The existing histories include interviews with at least 25 Issei (first-generation Japanese Americans) conducted in 1975 and the only known complete set of audiotapes from the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings in Chicago. JASC and CJAHS will also develop two online exhibits and conduct teacher trainings for 40 middle and high school teachers in the Chicago area.
Massachusetts
Recipient: Smith College (Northampton, MA)
Project Title: Graphic Language: The Art of Munio Makuuchi
Grant Award: $37,822
Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Smith College’s Museum of Art (SCMA) will conduct research and publish an illustrated book to accompany Graphic Language: The Art of Munio Makuuchi exhibition. Makuuchi (1934-2000) and his family were incarcerated at Minidoka, and the experience crucially shaped his creative work and development as an artist. Makuuchi’s work provides insight into the long-term effects of incarceration and how trauma can be expressed through creative forms. The exhibition will be on display at SCMA from August 23 to December 1, 2019. The book will be published electronically and in print, with hard copies donated to the libraries of over 100 public universities in the U.S.
Oregon
Recipient: Oregon Nikkei Endowment (Portland, OR)
Project Title: Preserving and Sharing the Minidoka Collection of Oregon Nikkei Endowment
Grant Award: $67,155
Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Oregon Nikkei Endowment will inventory and catalog portions of its Minidoka Collection. Roughly 1,500 letters, photographs, paintings, and artifacts will be rehoused, photographed, catalogued, added to the museum’s database, and made accessible online and through a viewing kiosk in the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center’s exhibit gallery. Additionally, two interactive traveling trunk exhibits will 8 be created—one for the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center and one to travel to cultural centers, museums, educational institutions, and other venues.
Washington
Recipient: Densho (Seattle, WA)
Project Title: Stories Less Told Part III: Video Oral Histories of Resettlement and Return
Grant Award: $112,688
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: Densho will conduct and transcribe 60 video-recorded life history interviews focusing on the experiences of Japanese Americans following their World War II incarceration. Densho will capture interviews focused on one of three postincarceration experiences: those who settled outside of the exclusion zones, those who returned to West Coast cities, and those who returned to West Coast rural areas. The new interviews will provide greater understanding of themes such as housing difficulties, relations with other ethnic groups, and the emergence of Japanese American suburban clusters in West Coast cities, and will be accessible online through Densho’s Digital Repository.
Recipient: Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, WA)
Project Title: Japanese American Pilgrimage Website
Grant Award: $194,101
Site(s): Multiple Sites
Description: The Northwest Film Forum will produce a website to centralize information pertaining to pilgrimages to the 10 War Relocation Authority incarceration sites and other pilgrimage destinations. The website will serve as an informational hub, providing travel resources, historical information on various confinement sites, and short videos sharing Nisei and Sansei perspectives as they pilgrimage to the sites where they or their family members were once incarcerated. The project will also engage youth in learning more about these sites, with the hope they will become invested in keeping the stories and memories associated with these places alive for future generations.
Last updated: March 25, 2022