February 19, 2017 - Fresno State’s Henry Madden Library will host “9066: Japanese American Voices from the Inside,” a series of exhibitions and events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans with a focus on those from the San Joaquin Valley.
The exhibitions officially open Sunday, Feb. 19, exactly 75 years to the day from when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing exclusion areas in preparation for the removal of 120,000 Japanese Americans (most of whom were citizens) from the West coast.
Tammy Lau, curator and Madden Library head of special collections, said she designed the exhibition to help attendees understand the impact Executive Order 9066 had on individuals and families and the shame that forced incarceration imposed on them for decades.
"Most Issei and Nisei never spoke about their experiences in camp, not even to their children and grandchildren. It was buried deep inside because it was too painful,” Lau said. “But now is the time for others to understand what happened from the perspective of those directly affected. History is not just facts and dates. History is about real people, real lives and all the pain, joy, trauma and triumphs that happen in life. History is the story of people's lives at a specific point in time. If we forget what happened before, we risk past becoming prologue.”
Highlights include traveling exhibitions, art objects and objects made and used by the families in the camps.
Exhibition Highlights:
Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery
• “Art of Survival: Enduring the Turmoil of Tule Lake,” a traveling exhibition, Feb. 19 through April 30
• San Diego artist Wendy Maruyama’s 11-foot by 4-foot “Tag Project” stack of ID tag reproductions from Tule Lake
Pete P. Peters Ellipse Balcony gallery
• “Connecting the Pieces: Dialogues on the Amache Archaeology Collection,” a traveling exhibition, Feb. 19 through April 30
• Robert Ogata drawings of the Gila River War Relocation Center
Special Collections Research Center
Woodward Family Reading Room
Feb. 19 through June 2
• Artworks by Reiko Fujii, Judy Shintani and Patricia Wakida
• Poetry of Violet Kazue de Cristoforo
• Elaborate architectural renderings of an imagined Fresno Assembly Center
• Objects made and used in the camps and profiles of individual families
• A special section on the military contributions of Japanese Americans during World War II from the Go For Broke National Education Center in Los Angeles.
Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature
Feb. 19 through April 30
• Display of children’s books on the Japanese American internment
Madden Library Diversity Lounge
Feb. 19 through March 30
• Display of Madden Library's media, books and government documents on the Japanese American internment prepared by the Madden Library Diversity Committee
Exhibition Events
Fresno State CineCulture Documentary — “Resistance at Tule Lake”
5:30 p.m. on Feb. 17
Peters Education Center Auditorium
(West of Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center)
A discussion with the director, Konrad Aderer, will follow the screening.
Japanese American Internment Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
3 to 5 p.m. on March 14
Outside the Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery in the Henry Madden Library
(Second floor, North Wing)
Noontime Concert — “Japanese American Incarceration 1942-1946”
12:10 to 12:50 p.m. on March 17
Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery in the Henry Madden Library
(Second floor, North Wing)
Nikiko Masumoto — A special adaptation of “What We Could Carry”
5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on April 5
Table Mountain Rancheria Reading Room in the Henry Madden Library
(Third floor, North Wing)
Friends of the Madden Library — Talk with Karen Korematsu
6 p.m. on April 7
Madden Library
Karen is the daughter of Fred Korematsu, who was a key figure in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.
A sold-out opening reception co-sponsored by the Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League, as their annual Day of Remembrance, will be hosted by the Madden Library.
This milestone event highlights and expands on the work the Madden Library Special Collections Research Center has done for the past several decades collecting the history of Japanese Americans. It is a commitment shared by many other California State University campuses. A CSU consortium of 15 campuses has collaborated on a digitization project that has been awarded a total of $620,000 in grant monies from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Park Service. More information can be found at www.csujad.com.
Major sponsors include the Kristin Saleri Art Foundation, Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League, Dale and Deborah Ikeda, Hisao Buddy and Akiyo Ashida, David L. and Anna Aubry (in honor of Michael, Elizabeth, Mike, Fred and Henry Vogt), The Dyck Family, Alan and Teresa Hirasuna, Jeanette and Tony Ishii, Douglas Jensen, Sayre Miller, Gregory and Patricia Miyake, Kay and Jim Provost, James M. Smith, O. James Woodward III, Valley Physicians and Surgeons Inc. (in honor of Hide Yamaguchi and Dr. and Mrs. Hashiba) and ValleyPBS. Additional sponsors can be found at: www.tinyurl.com/Madden9066.
Related Links:
- Madden Library event page: www.tinyurl.com/Madden9066
- Madden Library: www.library.fresnostate.edu
- CSU Japanese American Digitization Project: www.csujad.com
- Library Facebook page: @HenryMaddenLibrary
- Library Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter page: @MaddenLibrary
Source: Fresno State
