This Saturday, November 12th our theme is Planet Power. As you can see from this picture of a very crowded corner in our office, volunteers and staff at the Japanese American National Museum have been busy saving up boxes, bottles, and other recyclable materials in preparation for a day of fun activities at the Museum from 11am – 4pm.
Our friends at Great Leap have created a puppet making activity and several cool workshops for kids to participate in. We’ll also be decorating re-useable bags (which you can carry your creations home in).
Come on by! Rain or shine we’ll be waiting for you!
Back home the Museum is on Pacific Standard Time with our Drawing the Line exhibition opening on October 15th but we also have some very exciting news to report from the Eastern Time Zone. Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We the People?”is now at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and I’m thrilled to report that it looks fantastic in such a wonderful institution. With Fighting for Democracy’s stop in Philadelphia, this project of JANM’s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy has now traveled to seven cities across the country. There’s something significant about seeing this exhibition just a short walk from Independence Hall, where the Constitution was signed in 1787. I think its presence in this location and in this city will have visitors reflecting a lot about the “Who is the “We” in We the People?” question. Hmmmm… who was that “We” back in 1787? Who has it been over the course of history? Who it is now?
Theatrical performance in the Fighting for Democracy exhibition
Our friends at the National Constitution Center have done such impressive things with the exhibition. In addition to a fantastic display, they have also created an incredible theatrical performance to go along with the show.
I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of time with this exhibition at JANM over the years and yet, the actors portraying Bill, Carl, Domingo, Frances, George, Hazel, and Hector moved me to tears as they made me see these extraordinary lives in an entirely new way. It is so exciting to know that school groups and visitors in Philadelphia will be able to enhance their experience of Fighting for Democracy with these performances.
Domingo Los Banos
This week’s opening events have been extra special for everyone because Domingo Los Banos, who is featured in the exhibition flew out to Philadelphia all the way from Hawai’i to be at the opening. Domingo is an inspiration to many and it is always so wonderful to see him and witness his energy and spirited storytelling.
If you find yourself anywhere near Philadelphia between now and January 16, 2012, don’t miss the chance to visit the National Constitution Center and see JANM on the road! (Of course, we always welcome school groups to make an appointment to visit the exhibition at the Museum in Los Angeles too!)
Autumn is here and that means JANM’s October 8th Target Free Family Saturday is right around the corner! We took a little break in September to give everyone a chance to focus on the new school year. (Hope the year is off to a great start for all of our student friends out there!) Now we’re ready for more fun with October’s “Up in the Air” theme. Join us for kite making, a balloon artist, origami butterflies, and a tasty activity with Kidding Around in the Kitchen. I can’t wait! A complete schedule for the day can be found here. Hope you can come!
Here’s a sample of one of the activities that we will be doing. For now, this friendly balloon creature sits by himself in my at my desk but he’s looking forward to making more friends on October 8th!
Saturday (June 11th) is Target Free Family Saturday from 11 am – 4 pm! This month we join our neighbors at MOCA in celebrating Street Art. We have a full schedule of painting demonstrations, sketching workshops, and art making activities. Our friends from the Mixed Roots Festival will be taking part in the fun with some art making too.
I always have so much fun thinking about art activities for Family Day but, sometimes, something seems like a good idea at first but it needs to be tested and tweaked before putting it into action at Family Day. Yesterday I tried things out and made a few samples of our poster making and sticker printing activities for Saturday. Fortunately, everything worked out pretty well so, come on over! We’re ready! I can’t wait to see what the creative minds of our Family Day visitors will come up with. Hope you’ll join us!
It’s not everyday that you meet an icon but, recently at the Museum we did. The photograph of Fumiko Hayashida and her daughter Natalie is one that has become an iconic image so often associated with the telling of the history of the Japanese American incarceration. At 100 years old, Mrs. Hayashida is the oldest surviving person from Bainbridge Island, Washington who was incarcerated at Manzanar Concentration Camp.
Photo by Richard Murakami
Last Wednesday, Mrs. Hayashida and Natalie were part of a group that visited the Museum through the Only What We Can Carry Project, which I was very excited to learn more about. Through this project, Bainbridge Island educators are partnered with current and former residents of Bainbridge Island who experienced the World War II removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. Together, they retrace the 1942 journey of Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island to Manzanar. JANM was lucky enough to host this wonderful group for a couple of hours when they stopped by on their way to Manzanar.
Photo by Richard Murakami
As the group was lead through our Common Ground exhibition by the dynamic docent duo of Babe and Mary Karasawa, one of my most memorable moments was when they approached the large photograph of the Bainbridge Island community on the ferry dock as they were leaving the island in 1942. The Hayashidas, Frank Kitamoto, and Lily Kodama who were all in the group started to point themselves out in the photograph. “That’s me, right there.” This is a photograph I’ve seen hundereds of times since it is so prominently displayed in our gallery, but to see it with this group took it beyond being a historical image among many on our wall. It became a very personal photograph of an exact memory of very real people.
As someone who has the great privilege of working with educators and has witnessed what an essential part they can play in the teaching of the Japanese American experience, I was especially interested in meeting this group. We often think about how we won’t always have the first-person experience of camp but, watching our new friends leave the Museum to began their long car ride to Manzanar, I was reminded that in a way, first-person experiences of camp continue to be created today. The school teachers in this group will take what they’ve experienced on this journey back to their school and back to their students and they will share their own personal experiences of camp. What a wonderful way to keep the legacy alive through new personal histories.
In 1942, the first Civilian Exclusion Order issued was for Bainbridge Island and as a result, it was the first community of Japanese Americans to be forcibly removed from homes with just a few days to prepare. For more on Bainbridge Island, be sure to come by the Museum on Saturday, April 30 at 2:00 pm to learn more about this unique community. There’ll be a Bainbridge Film Festival featuring films by Lucy Ostrander, including Fumiko Hayashida: The Woman Behind the Symbol, a film about one of JANM’s most memorable visitors.
