Tag: smithsonian

Powerful Discussions on Democracy, Politics, and the Future of Museums

Helen Yoshida Leave a comment

Irene Hirano Inouye Distinguished Lecture Series

On March 14, 2025, JANM’s Democracy Center welcomed the Smithsonian’s Lonnie G. Bunch III and Lisa Sasaki as special guest speakers for its inaugural Irene Hirano Inouye Distinguished Lecture Series. Bunch is the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian and is devoted to enhancing diversity in the museum field. Sasaki is the deputy under secretary for Special Projects at the Smithsonian. She elevates the stories of women and Asian American communities and their impact around the world. Their life work and careers embody the essence of leadership, collaboration, inclusivity, and diversity that Inouye represented. She was JANM’s inaugural executive director and its president and CEO.

“Irene understood the importance of the lessons of history and how relevant and urgent they are in contemporary America.”

— Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO

“It was that spring in her step that propelled the museum forward. She understood, before it was widely recognized, that memory and history are not static artifacts of the past but powerful contemporary lessons, acts of resilience, and acts of resistance which are now more important than ever before. Irene understood the importance of the lessons of history and how relevant and urgent they are in contemporary America,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

As Inouye steered JANM from a dream without funding or a site to an official affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, she led with the vision to empower communities, uplift women, and build bridges between the US and Japan. Bunch and Sasaki, both dear friends and colleagues of Inouye, reflected on Inouye’s leadership and insights into the museum field.

“Museums force people to engage with each other and encounter real learning and real barriers being broken.”

— Lonnie G. Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

“Irene made all of us believe that museums could be more than things that looked towards yesterday. They could be places that are central to today and tomorrow. In essence, what good museums are are really tools or weapons to fight for democracy, weapons to make a country better, weapons to make people understand that it’s important to give people not just what they want but what they need to know. Museums force people to engage with each other and encounter real learning and real barriers being broken. They remind us that America at its best is aspirational and that we must fight the good fight to make sure that those stories aren’t erased,” said Bunch.

Featured photograph: The Smithsonian’s Lonnie G. Bunch III speaks at the Democracy Center’s inaugural Irene Hirano Inouye Distinguished Lecture Series. Photo by Mike Palma.

Nikkei Progressives Community Press Conference

On March 18, 2025, JANM participated in a press conference organized by Nikkei Progressives condemning the use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to enforce mass deportations of Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members. The press conference was held in front of the Historic Building, the Museum’s oldest and largest artifact. Built in 1925, the former Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple was a site of grave injustice for the bustling Little Tokyo neighborhood.

“On the corner of First and Central behind me is where Japanese Americans boarded buses to be taken to camps. This place serves as a reminder that this dark chapter remains one of the most egregious violations of civil liberties in American history, later condemned by Congress and acknowledged as a grave mistake. We must not repeat it,” said Kenyon Mayeda of JANM.

Today, the Historic Building is hallowed ground—a site of conscience and a gathering place for civic engagement and social justice. The press conference also included speakers from the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, the Manzanar Committee, National Japanese American Citizens League, Nikkei Progressives, and Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition.

“This place serves as a reminder that this dark chapter remains one of the most egregious violations of civil liberties in American history, later condemned by Congress and acknowledged as a grave mistake. We must not repeat it.”

— Kenyon Mayeda, JANM Chief Impact Officer

“Immigrants helped build this nation and contribute daily, not only to our economy, but to society at large. They are our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, and our family members. Nikkei Progressives will continue to stand in support of immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and all people whose rights are being violated and who are under attack by the Trump administration,” said Hope Nakamura of Nikkei Progressives.

“The Tuna Canyon Coalition’s mission is to preserve the stories so it doesn’t happen again. We are here to uncover unknown diaries, letters, or like June Berk, interviewing the children and great grandchildren of the detained. Clearly the separation of the family was horrible then, and still [is] today,” said Kyoko Nancy Oda of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition.

“The Manzanar Committee will continue to challenge the lies being told about immigrants and refugees. We will not stand by and watch while other communities are attacked like we were. We will remind America of what can happen when our Constitution is tossed aside or where the rule of law no longer matters. Our story tells us our country is stronger, our democracy more vibrant, when the Constitutional rights of all people—immigrants and citizens alike—are protected and that the rule of law prevails,” said Bruce Embrey of the Manzanar Committee.

Photo of Kenyon Mayeda taken by Doug Mukai.

Smithsonian’s National Conversation on Race

Alex M. Johnson moderated a panel with Mario Fedelin, Cielo Castro, and James E. Herr at the Democracy Center. Photo by Doug Mukai.

On March 28, 2025, JANM and the Democracy Center once again hosted the Smithsonian’s National Conversation on Race. During the inaugural Conversation in December 2023, panelists and guests alike established a strong foundation around the intersection of race with issues of wealth, health, and the arts.

“Our work for the reckoning with our Racial Past initiative is to support and amplify the work of organizations like JANM, like the Chinese American Museum, like LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. These were the first institutions we reached out to to launch our national work, because they’re such exemplary models—not only in what they do and how they do it, but in collaborating with each other,” said Deborah Mack, associate director for strategic partnerships at the National African American Museum of History and Culture.

“How do we support young people? We listen. We trust, we act with urgency and not caution, and we get out of the way and make room and space for those coming behind.”

— Alex M. Johnson, California Wellness Foundation Vice President of Public Affairs

When the Los Angeles wildfires devastated the cities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, this year’s Conversation examined the urgent contemporary forces shaping the issues. With a focus on youth empowerment and the role of creative practice in equitable natural disaster recovery, this year’s panels illuminated pathways toward systemic change.

“When people ask me the question, how do we support young people? Right now, my answer is clear. We listen. We trust, we act with urgency and not caution, and we get out of the way and make room and space for those coming behind,” said Alex M. Johnson, the vice president of Public Affairs for the California Wellness Foundation.

Johnson moderated a panel with Mario Fedelin, CEO of Changeist; Cielo Castro, chief officer of policy and programs at California Community Foundation; and James E. Herr, director of the Democracy Center. Together they explored ways to give young people opportunities to make the positive changes that they envision for the nation’s future.

“Hope is so important, especially for our young people right now. If we’re going to hold space, it’s one of the spaces we need to hold for them, because we need to find moments of joy in this world today.”

— James E. Herr, Democracy Center Director

“I’m glad that you talked about hope, because I think hope is so important, especially for our young people right now. If we’re going to hold space, it’s one of the spaces we need to hold for them, because we need to find moments of joy in this world today,” said Herr.

“It really is grounding myself in the long arc of moral history. The long arc of justice, remembering that we’ve been as a country through so much worse, how we have grit ourselves up, right, to make sure that we brace ourselves for the impact and protect young people from having to bear so much of it themselves,” said Castro.

“What I found to be some of the best strategies during this time is just holding space without prescription, holding space without some sort of mastery or some sort of intervention,” said Fedelin. “Give them the room to say whatever the hell they want. And then as the adult in the room, do the thing that I think my parents struggled to do for me, which was tell me it’s going to be okay and allow them to believe me. And then act in a way that shows them this is going to be okay because I got you.”

“Arts recovery projects can address the impacts of disasters on democracy by promoting empathy, connection, and agency in affected communities.”

— Anna Kennedy-Borissow, Keynote Speaker

The Democracy Center also welcomed Anna Kennedy-Borissow from the University of Melbourne as the keynote speaker. A leading voice on the intersection of creative practice and disaster recovery, Kennedy-Borissow talked about her extensive research on wildfires that have devastated Australia over the past two decades and how her research is transferable to the LA wildfires.

During her presentation, she discussed how arts recovery projects can contribute to a culture of democracy. Creative projects can be cathartic for disaster-affected individuals and communities. They promote partnerships, build trust, and strengthen connections. Most importantly, they can foster a sense of hope for the future and be calming places where individuals and communities can fully express themselves.

“Ultimately, arts recovery projects can address the impacts of disasters on democracy by promoting empathy, connection, and agency in affected communities. But for this to occur, it is essential that both the arts, emergency management, public and private sectors recognize the value of these initiatives and resource arts-based recovery projects, artists, community and cultural organizations accordingly,” said Kennedy-Borissow.

“I really see the fires as a metaphor for this opportunity that we have to move forward, to build the world that we want to live in.”

— Karen Mack, LA Commons Executive Director

She was then joined by a panel of local experts to explore how Los Angeles could adapt and implement these models to enhance its own recovery initiatives. The panel was moderated by Leticia Rhi Buckley, CEO of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, and also included Karen Mack, executive director of LA Commons, and Alvaro D. Marquez, program officer for Arts and Culture at the California Community Foundation.

“I really see the fires as a metaphor for this opportunity that we have to move forward, to build the world that we want to live in. One of the things that we were focused on is giving artists the resources to do what they do best, which is to imagine, dream, world build. And that’s the moment that we’re in. As painful as it is, we are building a new world for ourselves,” said Mack.

“The arts is every single funding area that we do. It is economic development. It is youth development, it is health, it is housing. It is all of those things,” said Marquez. “One of the things I want to invite us to think about is to get outside of Eurocentric conceptions of art, which involve a gallery and a white cube, and to think about cultural expression writ large and in an expansive sense. We need to learn from our indigenous neighbors and cousins that land stewardship is a form of cultural practice that can teach us how to respond to these crises and hopefully prevent the next one.”

Clockwise from top: Alvaro D. Marquez, Leticia Rhi Buckley, Anna Kennedy-Borissow and Karen Mack. Photos by Doug Mukai.

National Youth Summit 2016: Continuing the Dialogue with Students

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

Los Angeles students participating live in the National Youth Summit panel discussion. All photos by Tracy Kumono.
Los Angeles students participating live in the National Youth Summit
panel discussion. All photos by Tracy Kumono.

 

On May 17, the Japanese American National Museum partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to host a National Youth Summit on Japanese American incarceration in World War II. Over 3,600 students and teachers from 36 states and three countries tuned in to the live webcast of the event! In case you missed it, the program is now archived and available to watch online.

In addition to the panel discussion here in JANM’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum and its webcast, we also hosted a simultaneous web chat where students enthusiastically checked in and asked some very thoughtful questions. There were so many questions that we were not able to answer all of them during the time allotted. Thanks to this blog, however, we now have a chance to follow up with our curious viewers and answer more of their questions.

JANM’s Curator of History, Dr. Lily Anne Welty Tamai, was on hand to answer questions about the Japanese American World War II incarceration.

Caroline asked: How were Japanese Americans treated differently from Jews during this time?

Dr. Tamai: The World War II experiences of the two groups were very different. Technically, both the Nazi and the American camps were concentration camps, meaning they were used “for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, or political opponents.” However, after the war, the term “concentration camp” became associated most strongly with the Nazis, who used their camps to systematically execute Jews and other minority groups. Although Japanese Americans were imprisoned without due process, the War Relocation Authority camps were NOT death camps—they met the prisoners’ basic needs for food and shelter and allowed them to work, go to school, and live with their families for the most part.

The DC Area asked: What happened to Japanese Americans who resisted incarceration?

Dr. Tamai: There were several acts of resistance against the incarceration, which led to arrests and four subsequent Supreme Court cases (Gordon Hirabayashi 1943, Minoru Yasui 1943, Fred Korematsu 1944, and Mitsuye Endo 1944) that questioned the constitutionality of various aspects of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. In the first three cases, government authorities misled the court by exaggerating the military’s estimates of the security risk posed by Japanese Americans. All convictions were overturned 40 years later thanks to the leadership of the Nisei and Sansei generations, who achieved historic court victories that paved the way for the Redress Movement. This in turn led to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted a formal apology and reparations to Japanese Americans.

audience 002

Caroline asked: Did any other Americans try to stand up for Japanese Americans’ rights?

Dr. Tamai: After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese American community was perceived to be allied with Japan and thus, it was extremely unpopular to stand up for them. Several notable people did, however.

Clara Breed, a librarian in San Diego, wrote many letters to her former students who were incarcerated at Manzanar War Relocation Center. For more information, see Joanne Oppenheim, Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference (Scholastic Nonfiction, 2006). There was also a Mexican-Irish teenager named Ralph Lazo who decided to show his support of his Japanese American friends by joining them at Manzanar during the war.

Ralph Carr, former governor of Colorado, welcomed Japanese Americans who wished to resettle in Colorado after the war—an unpopular move that cost him his bid for the US Senate. American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers) also gave public support to Japanese Americans who were resettling. San Francisco–based civil rights attorney Wayne Collins helped nearly 5,000 Japanese Americans reinstate their US citizenship after they had been coerced into renouncing it. He also served as defense attorney for Fred Korematsu, Mitsuye Endo, and Japanese Latin Americans who had been extradited from Latin America and imprisoned in US Department of Justice camps.

Anonymous asked: Why didn’t they send Japanese Americans back to Japan?

Dr. Tamai: By 1942, nearly two-thirds of the Japanese American community had been born in the US, making them US citizens. Although most had family members who were still in Japan, many had never even been there, and therefore going “back” was not an option. For the first-generation Japanese immigrants who made up one-third of the community, many had already established themselves in the US—they were legal residents; they owned businesses, farms, and homes; and their children were American citizens. The US government was not in a position to deport an entire ethnic community.

Bill Shishima
Bill Shishima

During the first part of the program, students heard from JANM volunteer William “Bill” Shishima, who talked about his childhood incarceration at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. The students responded very positively to his story and asked him a few more questions via the web chat.

NadeShot asked: What was it like saying goodbye to your friends and not knowing when you would be back?

Bill Shishima: It was very short and sweet. Basically, we just said goodbye and we didn’t know where we were going or for how long.

Cate asked: Did the formal US apology help you at all emotionally?

Shishima: Yes, I was shocked that the country said that they were sorry we were incarcerated during the war. It takes a great country to admit a wrong to their citizens. I donated my $20,000 reparation money to the Japanese American National Museum, which exists to tell the Japanese American incarceration story so that it will never happen again!

National Youth Summit presenters celebrate a successful event. L to R: Mariko Rooks, William "Bill" Shishima, Kane Tenorio, Lori Bannai, Karen Korematsu, Hussam Ayloush, David Ono, and G Yamazawa.
National Youth Summit presenters celebrate a successful event. L to R: Mariko Rooks, William “Bill” Shishima, Kane Tenorio, Lori Bannai, Karen Korematsu, Hussam Ayloush, David Ono, and G Yamazawa.

 

A huge thank you to everybody who participated in this year’s National Youth Summit! In closing, we’d like to leave you with a link to the rap song we played to kick off the program. It’s called “9066” and it’s by “Kamikaze” Kane Tenorio. You can listen to it here. You can also read about Kane and his family here. Enjoy!

Young LA Rap Artist to Kick Off the National Youth Summit on Japanese American Incarceration

Carol Cheh 1 Comment

Three generations of the Tenorio family: father Phil, grandmother Sue, grandson Kane, and grandfather Alex. All photos courtesy of Sue Sato-Tenorio.
Three generations of the Tenorio family: father Phil, grandmother Sue, grandson Kane, and grandfather Alex. All photos courtesy of Sue Sato-Tenorio.

 

Kane Yutaka Tenorio, a college student and rap artist also known as “Kamikaze Kane,” was born in East Los Angeles in 1997. A young man of mixed Latino, Japanese, Native American, and white ancestry, Kane enjoys a close relationship with his extended family, including his grandmother Sue Sato-Tenorio, an educator and longtime friend of JANM.

As a youth, Kane spent a lot of time at his family’s three historic Boyle Heights homes, where he was able to learn about their history firsthand. His great-great-grandmother on his father’s side was a physician who practiced out of her house. She was also diabetic; when she was incarcerated at Poston by the US government during World War II, she became very ill due to lack of care and medication. Kane’s grandma Sue was born at the camp, along with her older brother. Although the family was lucky enough to retrieve their homes when the war was over, they lost their thriving businesses and virtually everything else.

Sue's parents, Jack Yutaka and Clara Sato.
Sue’s parents, Jack Yutaka and Clara Sato.

The real impact of these stories was not lost on Kane, who was an active participant in family discussions as a child. As he grew older, he took up the study of music, eventually writing and recording original rap songs, which were inspired by his own experiences and world events. Today he performs his material, which frequently addresses race and social justice, in venues throughout Southern California.

This Tuesday, May 17, at 10 a.m. PDT, JANM is proud to host the latest edition of the Smithsonian’s National Youth Summit, which will focus on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Kane’s rap song “9066,” will be played to kick off the summit, after which a panel of dynamic speakers will address the history and legacy of the incarceration. (For more information about the Summit, click here.)

Kane Yutaka Tenorio, aka "Kamikaze Kane"
Kane Yutaka Tenorio, aka “Kamikaze Kane”

 

Kane’s song is both a stirring protest against injustice and a loving tribute to the resiliency of his family, whose stories are woven throughout. In his grandma Sue’s words: “I am so proud that Kane has written this rap not only about my experience, but the collective experiences of thousands of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in the United States of America. To me, his song is about the trajectory of injustice, and the terrible human consequences of our government’s illegal incarceration of people solely due to race.”

The museum’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum will host a full house of students and educators for this important edition of the National Youth Summit. Among the audience members will be three generations of the Tenorio family, including Kane and Sue. In addition, educators and their classrooms around the globe are invited to participate via a live webcast of the event; so far, the event has received registrations for more than 2,000 students from 42 states, the District of Columbia, France, and Canada.

It’s not too late to register your class for what will surely be a lively and engaging event. The Youth Summit website offers many useful educator resources, such as lesson plans and conversation kits, that can be downloaded. After the event concludes, the Smithsonian will archive it along with past Youth Summits on this webpage, where they are available for viewing at any time.

Sue and Alex Tenorio
Sue and Alex Tenorio

Inspiring Women and Girls of Color

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

Admission to JANM will be free to the public on Saturday, March 12, in celebration of the Smithsonian Institution’s annual Museum Day Live! event. This day is intended to encourage all people to explore our nation’s museums, cultural institutions, zoos, aquariums, parks, and libraries. This year, in recognition of Women’s History Month, the event has a special focus on reaching women and girls of color in underserved communities.

Mine with open newspaper, surrounded by anti-Japanese slogans, Berkeley, California, 1941
Mine with open newspaper, surrounded by anti-Japanese slogans, Berkeley, California, 1941. Gift of Mine Okubo Estate
(2007.62.14).

 

At JANM, we are very fortunate to have some significant pieces in our collection created by Japanese American women, such as the artist Miné Okubo (1912–2001), whose collection has been digitized and can be viewed on our museum’s website.

janm_2007.62.147_a
Gift of Mine Okubo Estate (2007.62.147).

Okubo was a young woman during World War II. She and her family were removed from San Francisco to Tanforan Assembly Center, and then incarcerated in the concentration camp at Topaz, Utah, for the remainder of the war. Okubo was a keen observer; she made sketches and ink drawings that depicted what life was really like in camp.

Gift of Mine Okubo Estate (2007.62.181).
Gift of Mine Okubo Estate (2007.62.181).

In many ways, Okubo was ahead of her time. Her graphic novel, Citizen 13660 (1946), was the first published personal account of the camp experience. Through her pen and ink drawings, readers got an intimate view of what daily life became when Okubo, an American citizen by birth, was reduced to a number: 13660.

To learn more about Miné Okubo and her trailblazing life, we recommend viewing our online collection of her work, reading Citizen 13660, which can be purchased at the JANM Store and janmstore.com, and checking out the biographical volume Mine Okubo: Following Her Own Road, edited by Greg Robinson and Elena Tajima Creef.

Mine and Benji standing with their luggage, Berkeley, California, 1942
Mine and Benji standing with their luggage, Berkeley, California, 1942. Gift of Mine Okubo Estate (2007.62.23).

 

It’s a National Youth Summit webcast! Join us!

Lynn Yamasaki Leave a comment

We are so excited about our upcoming participation in a National Youth Summit with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and 10 other Smithsonian Affiliate organizations across the country.

On February 5, 2014 students from around the country will participate in a live webcast originating from The Old Capitol Museum in Jackson, Mississippi. The program will reflect on the 1964 youth-led effort for voting rights and education known as Freedom Summer and will include a panel of activists, experts, and scholars.

Tamio Wakayama Photo: Tracy Kumono
Tamio Wakayama
Photo: Tracy Kumono

Following the webcast, JANM will have our own on-site program. Tamio Wakayama, a Nisei Japanese Canadian who joined the American Civil Rights Movement as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), will share his experiences and the documentary photographs that he took from 1963 to 1964.

Now, here’s the great part: all youth and educators are invited to participate from their classrooms through the magic of the web! Teachers… this means you! Just take a look at this fantastic site for the program.

The Smithsonian has provided teaching resources and other tools for you and your students. You can pre-register and join in the conversation along with us and view the program streaming live from the Old Capitol Museum.

Register online now >>

 

I Want the Wide American Earth – Opening Party Photos

Esther Shin Leave a comment

On Friday, September 13, the Japanese American National Museum threw an opening party to welcome our newest exhibition, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story. Created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, I Want the Wide American Earth explores the rich, and deep-rooted history of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.

This event was open to the public and attracted hundreds of visitors, including locals, and travelers from different states. Free food from Aloha Cafe and drinks from Ito-en and the Mighty Boba Truck were served throughout the reception, while exciting performances filled the evening.

From previews of Our American Voice in the exhibition gallery presented in partnership with East West Players, to powerful numbers by YouTube stars, DANakaDAN + Crew Love, to the comical performances of The Fung Brothers, it was an evening of enlightenment, reflection, and entertainment.

The evening began by celebrating the opening of an exhibition, but it soon became a night to celebrate the history, accomplishments, and the exciting future of Asian Pacific Americans.

Check out these pictures from the opening party! (Click on the photos to see them larger)

Photos by: Tsuneo Takasugi, Richard Watanabe, and Richard Murakami.

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If you haven’t seen I Want the Wide American Earth yet, stop by the museum to view the exhibition before it closes on October 27th. If you didn’t get a chance to watch Our American Voice, East West Players will be performing every Saturday at 1:00PM throughout the run of the exhibition. For more information on the exhibition: janm.org/wide-american-earth

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marvels-monsters-signature-500pxMarvels & Monsters opening next week!

Don’t miss our next exhibition opening event! Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 will be at JANM from October 12, 2013 – February 9, 2014, but we’ll be celebrating early on Thursday, October 10 from 6PM – 9:30PM. 

Traveling to JANM from the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, Marvels & Monsters will illustrate how evolving racial and cultural archetypes defined America’s perceptions of Asians through a selection of images from comic books representing four turbulent decades.

This preview reception will be hosted by the JANM Young Professionals Network and is free and open to the public! Get a sneak peek at the exhibition and check out readings of the winning short scenes from the “Marvels & Monsters: Unbound” Showcase!

For more information on the exhibition: janm.org/marvels-monsters

Back to School!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

_MG_0032 small

Schools have started and JANM is back in session! Buses pull up each morning, filled with students and teachers coming to learn more about the Japanese American experience.

We are always thinking about ways in which these visitors—most of whom are not of Japanese descent—can better relate to the Japanese American experience. One of the ways we do this is to use the artifacts (the “stuff”) from JANM’s collection as a means to begin conversations about visitors’ diverse, yet intersecting, experiences.

So last Spring, we worked with a group of ninth graders from Los Angeles Unified School District’s King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science to see how artifacts connect to stories of immigration/migration. These students uncovered family histories to learn how their artifacts related to their families’ journeys.

Before coming to JANM for a school visit, students photographed their artifacts and wrote short narratives about journeys to Los Angeles from other states, other countries. The artifacts, like the artifacts in JANM’s collection, are indeed very precious and have some amazing stories to tell!

We hope that the sampling of the essays from the King/Drew students might also get you thinking about your own stories of immigration/migration.

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The students’ essays were created as part of a pilot project between King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution’s Our American Journey Project. OAJ is a multi-year project that will examine international and internal migration centered on what we understand today to be the United States.

Photos by Gary Ono.

Visit the Japanese American National Museum for FREE on Museum Day!

Esther Shin Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 12.04.13 PM

Bring yourself and a friend to the Japanese American National Museum for free! On Saturday, September 28th, JANM will be participating in the Smithsonian Magazine’s “Museum Day Live!” A ticket will provide free admission to one person, plus a guest.

In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission everyday, Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket… for free.

The Japanese American National Museum is a proud Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, and excited to be a part of Museum Day Live! When you come on Saturday, check out I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, an exhibition of banners created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, on view through October 27, 2013.

Here are some rules and guidelines to ensure an enjoyable and smooth museum visit:
–       Only an official Museum Day Live! ticket is eligible for free entry. Official tickets can be requested through the Museum Day Live! website: www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ticket/
–       One ticket per household, for two people.
–       A ticket will gain entry to only one of the participating museums, excluding parking and special events and exhibits.
–       If the museum reaches capacity, the museum has the right to limit the number of guests until space becomes available.

See you on Saturday!

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For Museum Day Live! FAQs:
www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/Museum-Day-Faqs.html#ixzz2Z97wd51P

View the list of museums that are participating by using this link: www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/venues/

For more information on the Smithsonian magazine: www.smithsonianmag.com/?ref=logo

Selecting Artifacts to Accompany “I Want the Wide American Earth”

Emily Leventhal Leave a comment

So many artifacts to choose from!

One of our upcoming exhibitions, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, takes a sweeping look at how Asian Pacific Americans have shaped and been shaped by the course of our nation’s history through 30 banners of poignant text, photographs, and art.

To put a personal touch from JANM on the Smithsonian traveling exhibition, we chose to complement the banners with some items from the Museum’s extensive collections. Since we have over 60,000 unique artifacts, documents, and photos in our permanent collection, it was a tough choice!

As a summer intern, I was given the (amazing!) opportunity to select these artifacts. There were several qualifiers—the artifacts would have to be both relevant to its banner’s content and interesting, whether visually or content-wise. My first step was to read through the exhibition text to get a better sense of the exhibition as a whole, then to list them out along with a brief summary and relevant information (keywords, dates, people, etc.—anything that might help narrow down artifacts). I sent the document to our Collections Associate, who searched the collections database and returned a pretty extensive list of potential artifacts. From there, it was a matter of selecting one or two for each banner and then pulling them to take a look. We also collaborated with the Riverside Metropolitan Museum to loan a few items from their historic Chinatown collections.

I don’t want to give away too much (you’ll have to come to the show to see all of the artifacts), but you’ll be able to see a really striking article written in the 1940s by the chairman of the California Joint Immigration Committee. The article, after being submitted to a national magazine, was passed around by the Japanese American Citizens League’s Equality Committee as a reminder of the challenges faced.

What I find interesting about the article is the blatantly offensive language—featuring lines such as “Because of their unassimilability and the impossibility of competing with them due to their low standards of living, Japanese immigrants have never really been welcome in the United States.” Of course I was previously aware of such anti-Japanese sentiment (how could I not, after touring Common Ground: The Heart of Community), but seeing it literally spelled out for me made an abstract concept truly hit home.

See this artifact and more in I Want the Wide American Earth from September 14 ‐ October 27, 2013! Check the exhibition page for more details.

50th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides

Allyson Nakamoto 1 Comment

Panelists (L to R): Robert Singleton, Helen Singleton, Sybil Jordan Hampton (moderator), Tamio Wakayama

Student with his artwork inspired by the Freedom Rides

I often take for granted how easy it is to follow breaking news. To find out what happened during a raid on a compound in Pakistan, I can turn on a 24-hours news channel or click on a few links to get caught up.

But 50 years ago the medium of television was new. And 50 years ago today, the first buses of Freedom Riders (and three reporters) left Washington, D.C. and headed South to test Boynton v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that had desegregated interstate travel. What followed changed the course of the United States history.

The Freedom Rides have been on our minds a lot this year. On February 9, 2011 the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History organized a Web cast and National Youth Summit that brought together Freedom Riders in D.C. and engaged five Smithsonian Affiliates from across the nation to discuss the meaning of the Freedom Rides and the role of young people in shaping America’s past and future.

Student with Dr. Robert Singleton

JANM was honored to have been selected as the West Coast venue for this program and streamed the Webcast to a live audience of students from LAUSD’s Civitas School of Leadership and Ribet Academy. Following the Webcast, Dr. Robert and Mrs. Helen Singleton, two Los Angeles-based Freedom Riders, and Mr. Tamio Wakayama, a Japanese Canadian member of SNCC, were on a panel moderated by Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton, a member of JANM’s Board of Trustees and herself an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement. We were star struck!!!

This has gotten us thinking about how the Freedom Rides impacted Japanese Americans, and especially how it may have emboldened those in the Redress Movement. What were the Issei, Nisei, and Sansei who watched these images broadcast on national television (just as that medium was becoming commonplace) thinking and feeling as they watched the buses burning, the cruel racism, and brave individuals standing up for what was right?

What would you have been thinking if you had been watching those Freedom Riders make their way South under the “protection” of Boynton v. Virginia?

P.S. To learn more about the Freedom Rides, tune into your PBS station on May 16 and also we highly recommend The Children by David Halberstam. Learn more about new generation of young people who are about to retrace the path of the Freedom Riders. And, maybe you can catch a glimpse of the Singletons when Oprah Winfrey reunites the Freedom Riders on May 4.

Photographer: Tracy Kumono