Education Standards
The Washington State Social Studies Learning Standards High School
Nisei Soldiers in World War II
Overview
This is an accompanying teacher's guide to the graphic novel "Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. The book is a compilation of 6 Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, veteran's oral histories. These emotional first-person accounts are visceral and graphically moving. These veterans take us on the journey into intelligence units, into the life of a medic, and into gripping and pivotal moments of the Second World War. The books are available in multiple bookstores and library systems. For more information on where to find this novel, contact education@wingluke.org.
Historical Background
On February 19, 1942, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the military to incarcerate people who may pose a threat to the security of the United States of America. With this authority in hand, the American military carried out the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in ten American concentration camps. These facilities were officially labeled “War Relocation Centers” and administered by the War Relocation Authority (WRA).
Although they were called “Relocation Centers” they were in fact concentration camps. Approximately one-half of the inmates were children and approximately two-thirds were American citizens. The prisoners were not charged with a specific crime and were held under harsh circumstances for an unspecified time. “Due process of law” – guaranteed by the US Constitution – was conspicuously vacated. Approximately 40 years later, President Regan in his letter of apology cited the reasons as: “race discrimination, wartime hysteria and failed leadership.” Nevertheless, young Japanese Americans volunteered in the camps to fight for America in Europe and the Pacific.
Anti-Asian Agitation
The 1942 forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans predominantly from the West Coast of the United States into concentration camps was the culmination of years of anti-Japanese and anti-Asian agitation.
In order to better understand the Incarceration, it must be viewed in the context of historic anti-Asian racism and discrimination on the West Coast. As the West was expanding in the 1800s, the Chinese were exploited as a source of cheap labor to build the transcontinental and Central Pacific railroads. They also provided labor for other major projects such as mining and construction. For example, Chinese laborers dug the Lake Washington ship canal in Seattle. They were assigned dangerous jobs that most white laborers would not perform, including dynamiting cliffs for the railroad. But when the railroad was finished, their labor was no longer needed at the same time an economic downturn hit the US. The Chinese became scapegoats, blamed for taking jobs away from whites.
In the Pacific Northwest, there were anti-Chinese riots and mob violence, spurred by white laborer organizers and carried out by the general public. In 1885, Tacoma residents herded up the Chinese and shipped them off to Portland in railway boxcars. In 1886, Seattle residents attempted to force the Chinese community onto a steamship but were stopped by local law officers at the pier. When one white person was shot and killed by the University Guard, his death caused the crowd to disperse. Federal martial law held sway for two weeks. Because of the hostile attitudes, many Chinese left Seattle.
In addition, various local and state laws were passed to exclude, restrict, and disenfranchise the Chinese. For example, during the California gold rush, Chinese claims were stolen with impunity by white miners. Court testimony by the Chinese was not admissible since the court regarded them as “heathens” and therefore rejected their sworn testimony on a bible. The phrase “Didn’t have a Chinaman’s Chance” was coined to recognize how unfairly the Chinese were treated legally and how low the odds of survival were for jobs that they were given such as dynamiting cliffs for the railroad.
In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was the first US law that prevented immigration solely on the basis of race. It effectively stopped Chinese immigration for ten years, after which time it was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902.
As the economy improved and a need for cheap labor arose again and since Chinese immigrants could no longer fill the need, the US turned to Japanese labor to meet the demand. Japanese worked in the pineapple fields in Hawai‘i, fish canneries in Alaska, forests of the Pacific Northwest, farms along the West, and commercial fishing up and down the coast, among others. Like the Chinese, they suffered from racist acts and policies. When the economy declined, the federal government responded by passing anti-Japanese immigration laws in 1924.
Like the Chinese, the Japanese had other restrictive laws passed against them. Federal laws made it impossible for Japanese nationals to become naturalized American citizens. Various Western states including Washington State passed “Alien Land” laws that prevented non-citizens from owning land. Given that Japanese nationals had no route to becoming citizens, they were classified as aliens, and therefore ineligible to own land. US female citizens who married male Japanese immigrants lost their US citizenship. However, if the marriage was terminated through death or divorce, a white woman would have her US citizenship restored, while a woman of Japanese descent (a Nisei, the second generation) was not given her citizenship back. Other states had laws that prevented intermarriage with whites. Although the marriage laws were not necessarily passed against Japanese specifically, nevertheless, they reflected the policies of exclusion that impacted Japanese and other non-white groups as well.
With Chinese immigration effectively stopped and Japanese populations emerging in the early 20th century, white Americans passed on the mantel of the “Yellow Peril” from the Chinese to the Japanese. This race-based concept propagated the idea that the “yellow races” would multiply until they squeezed out white Americans, thus preventing whites from obtaining a good life. It was a fear-based approach that portrayed Japanese Americans as a threat to the health, safety, and economic well-being of whites. The Japanese were also were regarded as a potential unsavory foreign influence on white women and children.
These unfounded notions were too often taken seriously by some white Americans – either feeding beliefs about maintaining the purity of the white race or as a convenient means to gain monetary profit. Depending on the time period, groups such as the Native Sons of the Golden West, Hearst Newspapers, the Oriental Exclusion League, Ban the Japs Committee, Hollywood producers, Elk, Moose, and Eagles fraternal clubs, various chambers of commerce and many more acted against the Japanese for their own self-interests. Hearst Newspapers fanned the flames of “Yellow Peril” to increase its circulation and profits. Evil Asian villains appeared in Hollywood movies stereotyped as “sly, sneaky, and inscrutable.” By eliminating and stifling Japanese competition, white farmers and other businessmen could increase profits and market share.
Within the context of historic anti-Asian discrimination, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war with Japan in 1941 exacerbated the already precarious situation for Japanese immigrant and Japanese Americans. Almost immediately, the FBI removed influential Japanese leaders from the community and held them in secured areas and camps. Simultaneously the military, citizens and newspapers exerted pressure to address the “Japanese problem.” Henry McLemore, a Hearst newspaper columnist, wrote in a January 29, 1942 column:
I am for immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior… Herd ’em up, pack ’em off and give them the inside room in the badlands. Let ’em be pinched, hurt, hungry and dead up against it. Personally I hate the Japanese and that goes for all of them."
On February 14, 1942, General John L. DeWitt, wartime commanding general of the Western Defense Command and the Fourth Army, formally recommended that all Japanese nationals and American citizens be removed from strategic areas of the West Coast, even though no crimes of sabotage were committed. DeWitt’s position was that, “A Jap is a Jap and giving him a scrap of paper does not make any difference.”
Executive Order 9066 and Concentration Camps
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the forced removal of 120,000 Japanese aliens and non-aliens predominantly from the West Coast. “Non-Aliens” was a term used to describe American citizens of Japanese ancestry. The term clearly disassociated them 1from their status as American citizens.
The very next day, the Tolan Congressional Committee began its hearings on incarcerating aliens and others in San Francisco. During testimony, California Governor Culbert Olson, Oregon Governor Charles A. Sprague, Washington Governor Arthur B. Langlie and Seattle Mayor Earl Milliken expressed support for the incarceration of the Japanese and Japanese Americans.
The committee, however, made a distinction between handling Italian and German citizens and non-citizens compared to the Japanese. The fact that the father of Yankee baseball hero, Joe DiMaggio, was an Italian alien may have influenced the Committee to be more lenient in the cases of Italians. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became the 34th President of the United States, was of German descent. Longstanding, racial prejudice became the major deciding factor for the Japanese and Japanese American incarceration.
In April 1942, the forced incarceration began. Japanese populations on the West Coast were removed and taken under armed guard to temporary detention centers and long-term concentration camps. The government claimed the Japanese and Japanese Americans presented a military threat even though approximately two-thirds were American citizens and one-half were children. The Bainbridge Island, Washington Japanese and Japanese American community was the first to experience the forced incarceration after Pearl Harbor. They were sent to the Manzanar camp in California, which was a concentration camp in the desert with barbed wire, armed soldiers, guard towers and machine gun nests with the guns pointed into the camp. Because the Japanese could only take what they could carry, they were forced to sell, liquidate, store, lease or secure all their worldly possessions within a matter of days.
Aside from the Bainbridge group which went straight to Manazanar, other communities were taken to temporary detention centers or assembly centers. These camps were holding areas until the final concentration camps were completed. In San Francisco, the Japanese and Japanese Americans spent months living in the vacant horse stalls of the Tanforan Race Tracks. In Washington State, they were taken to the Puyallup Fair Grounds, renamed “Camp Harmony.” Approximately 120,000 prisoners were incarcerated in ten permanent concentration camps:
Minidoka, Idaho
Tule Lake, California
Manzanar, California
Topaz, Utah
Amache, Colorado
Rohwer, Arkansas
Jerome, Arkansas
Heart Mountain, Wyoming
Poston, Arizona
Gila River, Arizona
The permanent camps were usually located in desolate and or semi-arid or arid regions. Before the war, the government attempted to give Minidoka homestead land grants to citizens, but the land was so harsh and undesirable that the program was discontinued. Nevertheless, Poston had a 20,000-person capacity; Tule Lake 16,000; Gila River 15,000; and the remaining seven camps were in the 8,000 to 10,000 range. The ten camps were physically patterned after US Army camps with rows of barracks, mess halls, canteens or stores, washing areas and toilet facilities. All had barbed wire fences, machine gun placements aimed towards the residents and armed guards.
Normal life was impossible for the prisoners. They ate meals in the mess hall and lived in small “apartments,” which were areas sectioned off by hanging army blankets or dividers. Lines were an ever-present part of life. There were lines for the mess hall, canteens, and sometimes latrines. Getting lost was commonplace, since all the barracks looked alike. It was not unusual to find a stranger wandering through a barracks at night trying to get home. Socially, the family structure began to break down as children played and ate with their friends instead of their family. Above all, the Japanese suffered from the loss of productive lives in exchange for life behind barbed wire. Beyond the tangible hardships, the intangible losses were devastating, from the loss of liberty, personal power, dignity, and hopes for the future.
Many inmates became volunteers to help make the incarceration more liveable. First generation parents, the Issei, did their best to make camp more bearable for the children. Some created gardens and produced crafts items and art. For young people, there were camp dances, school and socializing with friends. Sporting events were organized for all ages, scouting groups were established, talent shows took place regularly. At Minidoka , huge efforts were made to provide a Christmas gift from Santa for every child in camp to bring some sense of normalcy for the children.
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Battalion, Cadet Nurse Corps and Military Intelligence Service (MIS)
Young men and women volunteered from the concentration camps when the US Army created opportunities for Japanese Americans to join the military. Approximately 900 volunteered from Minidoka alone to serve in the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) or the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific. Young women joined the US Army cadet nurse corps to work in US hospitals and tend the wounded. The 442nd RCT joined the 100th Battalion from Hawai‘i to train at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and fought in Italy and France. Their motto was “Go for Broke,” which was the Hawaiian dice shooters phrase for “Shoot the works.” Because they fought heroically on dangerous assignments time and time again, they became the most decorated unit for their size and length of service in US history.
The 442nd was famous for rescuing the Texas “Lost Battalion” that was surrounded and pinned down by Germans for days. During the rescue, the 442nd took more casualties than Texans they saved. They also broke the German Gothic Line after other American units failed. The 442nd and 100th were so successful that the US government implemented a military draft at the camps to replenish the losses. In the Pacific, Japanese Americans served in the MIS as translators and intercepted Japanese messages in support of US troops.
442nd/100th Awards
Decorations received by the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion include:
21 Medals of Honor (20 awarded on June 1, 2000)
29 Distinguished Service Crosses (including 19 Distinguished Service Crosses that were upgraded to Medals of Honor in June 2000)
1 Distinguished Service Medal
Over 334 Silver Stars with 28 Oak Leaf Clusters (in lieu of second Silver Star; one Silver Star was upgraded to a Medal of Honor in June 2000)
17 Legion of Merit Medals
15 Soldier’s Medals
1 Air Medal
Over 848 Bronze Stars with 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters (in lieu of second Bronze Star)
Over 4,000 Purple Hearts
7 Presidential Unit Citations
36 Army Commendations
87 Division Commendations
Over 20 French Croix de Guerre with 2 Palms (in lieu of a second award)
2 Italian Crosses for Military Valor (Croce Al Merito Di Guerra)
2 Italian Medals for Military Valor (Medaglia De Bronzo Al Valor Militaire)
1 Soldier’s Medal (Great Britain)
Decorations received by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) include:
1 Distinguished Service Cross
1 Distinguished Service Medal
18 Silver Stars
3 Legion of Merit Medals
2 Soldier’s Medal
2 Air Medals
132 Bronze Star Medals
7 Purple Hearts
98 Letters of Commendation
6 Presidential Unit Citation (to individuals)
2 Distinguished Unit Citations
35 Combat Infantrymen’s Badges
1 British Empire Medal
10 Military Intelligence Hall of Fame
3 Ranger Hall of Fame
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Infantry Battalion and Military Intelligence Service were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on November 2, 2011.
To learn more about the inspiring stories of Go For Broke veterans, including the world’s largest oral history collection, visit the Go For Broke National Education Center’s website at www.goforbroke.org.
Those Who Challenged the Forced Incarceration
Not all Japanese Americans believed that “proving their loyalty” meant volunteering for the armed service. Some believed that their loyalty should be assumed and some also rejected the idea of joining a segregated military unit.
Incarcerees who answered “No-No” instead of “Yes-Yes” on the government’s “loyalty questionnaire” were subsequently sent to the Tule Lake concentration camp which became the segregation camp for “disloyals”. A number also resisted military service and were sent to federal penitentiaries. Jimmy Mirikitani, a young man in Tule Lake, not only refused to serve in the Army but also renounced his US citizenship. Since he was not a Japanese citizen, he effectively became a man without a country.
Still, others challenged the forced incarceration and detention in the courts. In 1942, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi intentionally violated the military curfew, contending that martial law had not been declared and that all citizens should be subject to the curfew, not just Japanese Americans. The US Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision and the appropriateness of the curfew. It was not until 1983 that it was revealed that the government intentionally withheld vital information from the proceedings and the original ruling was challenged. The Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco effectively reversed Hirabayashi’s convictions for curfew violations and failure to report to the camps over 40 years later, after his initial conviction.
In the 1944 Korematsu v. United States case, Fred Korematsu argued that the forced incarceration order was unconstitutional. The US Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling and ruled that the forced incarceration was justified due to military necessity. In 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was overturned, citing key documents that showed Japanese Americans had committed no acts of treason, information the US government intentionally withheld from the original Supreme Court case.
A third case was brought by Mitsuye Endo. She demanded her release from the Tule Lake concentration camp, based on habeas corpus or the right to receive a trial, since the 1942 incarceration was implemented without the commission of a crime or trial proceedings. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled on her behalf. They concluded that the War Relocation Authority did not have the right to detain her and other loyal citizens. This ruling granted Japanese Americans their freedom from the concentration camps.
Soldiers Return Home
The Japanese and Japanese Americans were given $25 and a train ticket when they left camp. Some returned to their hometowns and others re-located elsewhere. In some cases, the return home was almost as stressful as the initial forced incarceration. Many tried to rebuild their lives where anti-Japanese sentiments by the general population still existed. In Hood River, Oregon, petitions circulated protesting the return of the Japanese. In other towns, anti-Japanese signs and banners were openly displayed.
The heroism and valor of the 442nd and 100th helped create a better public image for Japanese Americans as loyal and trustworthy citizens. It took much time and persistence for laws to change: Isseis or first generation Japanese could become naturalized citizens (1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act)), and Isseis could own land in various states (Alien Land laws in Washington State were repealed in1966).
1988 Reparations
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan publicly apologized for the forced incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans. Each formerly incarcerated person who was alive in 1988 when reparations were passed received $20,000 with an accompanying letter of apology from either President Reagan, Bush, or Clinton.
Three US Presidents Cite the Causes of the WWII Forced Incarceration as Part of Reparations
The 1988 Civil Liberties Act authorized redress and reparations. Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton stated the causes of the incarceration in their letters of apology that accompanied a $20,000 check to eligible Japanese Americans. They identified the causes as Race discrimination, wartime hysteria, and failed leadership. These forces are still alive today. Racial prejudice is evidenced by anti-Asian hate crimes related to COVID and Black Lives Matter. Wartime hysteria was called propaganda during WWII and it is now called fake news, alternate facts, or lies. Failed leadership is evidenced today by the number of state/national initiatives promoted by some politicians to curtail civil and voter rights.
Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers (FFANS) Graphic Novel--Relationship to State Social Studies Enduring Understandings
The Fighting for America Nisei Soldiers graphic novel addresses and explicates all of the historical causes stated by the three presidents through the content, illustrations, and online information/resources. Studying and researching the content will require thought, emotion, and reflection by students as they link historic pathways to relevant personal and larger societal issues today. In addition, the materials support critical/formal thinking with an emphasis on the creation of knowledge by students.
This critical thinking approach emphasis aligns with the OSPI Social Studies Skills-Enduring Understandings and Standards. For example:
Social studies skills include the formation of questions, the ability to apply disciplinary knowledge and concepts, gather and evaluate sources, and develop claims and use evidence to support those claims. Source OSPI Social Studies Standards Grade 9-2, page 78.
One desired FFANS project outcome is that the students walk in the shoes of selected Japanese Americans and Nisei soldiers at a critical time in history and explore/assess the circumstances and create a simulated path to move from darkness to light while not falling victim to despair. This activity will be within the context of dealing with an environment filled with prejudice/wartime hysteria and failed leadership. In the process, it is hoped that they will learn lessons that can apply to their own lives, the current world, and national settings from the Nisei soldiers.
Also, the FFANS graphic novel supports implementing a learner-centered environment where students are knowledge-independent and knowledge is not the sole domain of teachers to dispense. This approach is similar to the Constructivist theory which encourages students to reflect on facts, concepts, and findings, and create knowledge. To do so they must be allowed to take control, collaborate, and take ownership of their learning. The FFANS graphic novel encourages and invites students into the lives of notable Japanese Americans at critical historic times. Through words and original art, they will find meaning, make connections and comparisons, and draw conclusions regarding American ideals and values in the light of racial discrimination, wartime hysteria, and failed leadership during WWII and today. Also, the project is based on a heuristic research approach which involves positing internal questions followed by self-discovery.
Therefore, one recommended teacher evaluation method aligned with this design is: The “Head, Heart and Hand” paradigm. “Head”, concerns whether the students understood and comprehended the information. “Heart”, did the information touch their emotions and “Heart”? Finally, with their understanding (Head) and heartfelt emotions (Heart), were they motivated to do someone constructive (Hand)? If yes, what?
Possible Culminating Student Projects and Outcomes
Students can represent their findings and emotional content as charts, dioramas, illustrations, art/art pieces, mind maps etc. The findings can represent the end result of the inquiry or serve as a springboard to more rigorous research. In addition, the research could generate products and or group presentations to showcase their hypotheses, causation findings, research facts, conclusions and relevance of the information to today. Hopefully the students would recognize the role that facts and the scientific method play in generating knowledge. This is critical because in a democracy a well-informed and educated public is necessary in order for the democratic process to function. In dictatorships a well-informed public is not a top priority.
In addition, as part of their research, hopefully the students would recognize the role euphemisms played to undercut and normalize the forced incarceration. The government used the following euphemisms regarding concentration camps and incarceration experience: War Relocation Centers instead of concentration camps, evacuation instead of forced incarceration, assembly centers for temporary camps (one was named Camp Harmony), colonists instead of prisoners, evacuees instead of prisoners, non-aliens instead of American citizens, etc. A desired outcome is that students can identify current day euphemisms that normalize inappropriate behavior and strategies to combat lies and unfounded conspiracy theories.
Instructions for Teachers
The following sections contain the Washington State Social Studies Learning Standards for middle and high school. Accompanying the state sample questions are the Japanese American Poster Project (FFANS) question/suggestions in italics which align with the state standards. The FFANS questions and statements are springboards for further discussion, research, and project development. As a result, the suggestions are not to be followed slavishly but are meant to stimulate thought and discussion leading to student discovery, a desired student outcome, or a culminating individual/group project.
Washington State standards for grades 7-12 are attached.
Sources and Resources
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Elementary/Jr. High Reading Level K-8
Bunting, Eve. So Far from the Sea. New York: Clarion Books, 1998. Print. (Ages 8-12)
Cooper, Michael. Remembering Manzanar. New York: Clarion Books, 2002. Print. (Ages 9-12)
Denenberg, Barry. The Journal of Ben Uchida. New York: Scholastic Books, 1999. Print. (Ages 9-12)
Funke, Teresa R. The No-No Boys. Fort Collins: Victory House Press, 2008. Print. (Ages 9-12)
Kadohata, Cynthia. Weedflower. New York: Athenneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Print. (Ages 12+)
Larson, Kirby. Dash. New York: Scholastic Press, 2014. Print. (Grades 3-7)
Larson, Kirby. Fences Between Us. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print. (Grades 5-8)
Lee-Tai, Amy. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. New York: Children’s Book Press, 2012. Print. (Ages 7-11)
Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. New York: Lee and Low Books, 1993. Print. (Ages 8-12)
Mochizuki, Ken. Heroes. New York: Lee and Low Books, 1997. Print. (Ages 4+)
Salisbury, Graham. Under the Blood-Red Sun. New York: Delacourt Press, 1994. Print. (Ages 12+)
Shigekawa, Marlene. Blue Jay in the Desert. Chicago: Polychrome Publishing, 1993. Print (Grades K-5)
Shigekawa, Marlene. Welcome Home Swallows. Chicago: Polychrome Publishing, 2001. Print (Grades K-5)
Stanley, Jerry. I Am An American. New York: Crown Publishing, 1994. Print. (Ages 9-12)
Uchida, Yoshiko. A Jar of Dreams. New York: Aladdin, 1993. Print. (Ages 10-14)
Uchida, Yoshiko. The Bracelet. New York: PaperStar Books, 1993. Print. (Ages 8-12)
Uchida, Yoshiko. The Invisible Thread. Englewood Cliffs: J. Messner, 1991. Print. (Ages 8-12)
Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz. New York: Turtleback Books, 2005. Print. (Ages 9-12)
Yabu, Shigeru. Hello Maggie. Camarillo: Yabitoon Books, 2007. Print. (Grades 2-4)
High School/Adult Reading Level
And Then There Were Eight: The Men of I Company, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, World War II. Honolulu: Item Chapter, 442nd Veterans Club, 2003. Print.
Asahina, Robert. Just Americans. New York: Penguin Group USA, 2007. Print.
Bosworth, Allan R. America’s Concentration Camps. New York: Norton, 1967. Print.
Conrat, Maisie, Richard Conrat, and Dorothea Lange. Executive Order 9066; The Internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1972. Print.
Crost, Lyn. Honor By Fire: Japanese Americans at War in Europe and the Pacific. Novato: Presidio, 1994. Print.
Daniels, Rogers, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H.L. Kitano, eds. Japanese Americans from Relocation to Redress. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. Print.
Fiset, Louis. Imprisoned Apart: The World War II Correspondence of An Issei Couple. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. Print.
Ford, Jamie. Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. Print.
Chang, Thelma. I Can Never Forget: Men of the 100th/442nd. Honolulu: Sigi Productions, 1991. Print.
Gruenewald, Mary Matsuda. Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps. Troutdale: NewSage Press, 2005. Print.
Hayami, Stanley, Joanne Oppenheim, and Daniel K. Inouye. Stanley Hayami, Nisei Son: His Diary, Letters, and Story from an American Concentration Camp to Battlefield, 1942-1945. New York: Brick Tower, 2008. Print.
Hosokawa, Bill. Nisei: The Quiet Americans. New York: W. Morrow, 1969. Print.
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki. Farewell to Manzanar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. Print.
Cooper, Michael L. Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Clarion Books, 2000. Print.
Kaneko, Lonnie. Coming Home from Camp & Other Poems. Burton, Washington: Endicott & Hugh, 2015.
Kitagawa, Daisuke. Issei and Nisei/The Internment Years. New York: Seabury Press, 1967. Print.
Lorella, Teresa. Japanese Roses. Seattle: Lorella Rose Publishing, 2013. Print.
Masuda, Minoru. Letters from the 442nd. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. Print.
Matsuda, Lawrence. A Cold Wind From Idaho: Poems. New York: Black Lawrence Press, 2010. Print.
Matsuda, Lawrence and Roger Shimomura. Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner: Poetry & Artwork Inspired by Japanese American Experiences. Charleston: CreateSpace, 2014. Print.
Matsuda, Lawrence. My Name is Not Viola. Endicott and Hugh Press, 2019.
Matsuda, Lawrence. Shapeshifter, Minidoka Concentration Camp Legacy, Endicott and Hugh Press, 2022.
Mochizuki, Ken. Meet Me at Higo: An Enduring Story of a Japanese American Family. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2011. Print.
Oppenheim, Joanne. Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference. New York: Scholastic Books, 2006. Print.
Sone, Monica. Nisei Daughter. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. Print.
Takami, David. Divided Destiny: A History of Japanese Americans in Seattle. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 1998. Print.
Graphic Novels/Comics
Abe, Frank & Nimura, Tamiko. We Hereby Refuse. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2021.
Hayashi, Stacey. Journey of Heroes: The Story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Hawai‘i: 442 Comic Book LLC, 2012. Print. (Grades 3-7)
Hughes, Kiku. Displacement. New York: First Second, 2020.
Matsuda, Lawrence. Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2015.
Mochizuki, Ken. Those Who Helped Us. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2022.
Pyle, Kevin. Take What You Can Carry. New York: Henry Hold Co., 2012.
Takei, George. They Called Us Enemy. Marietta, Georgia: Top Shelf Productions, 2019.
Tucci, Billy. The Lost Battalion (Sgt. Rock). New York: DC Comics, 2009.
Websites
442nd/100th Rose Parade Float. http://www.cityofalhambra.org/news/read/149/2015_tournament_of_roses_parade_float/
Densho Oral History Project. www.densho.org
Discover Nikkei. “Concentration Camp” or “Relocation Center” – What’s in a Name? James Hirabayashi. http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2008/4/24/enduring-communities/
Friends of Minidoka. https://www.minidoka.org
Go For Broke National Education Center. www.goforbroke.org
Gordon Hirabayashi. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwBcj3DgtyE
Japanese American Citizens League. Power of Words. https://jacl.org/education/power-of-words/
Jimmie Kanaya’s Story, WWII Dog Tag Experience. http://www.dogtagexperience.org/ (use the number 0000081a13 and click his picture).
Minidoka Pilgrimage. www.minidokapilgrimage.org
Tsuru for Solidarity, tsuruforsolidarity.org
US Army Center of Military History. President William J. Clinton’s Comments Honoring Asian American Medal of Honor Recipients. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/clinton_apmoh.html
Videos/Movies
The Cats of Mirikitani. Prod./Dir. Linda Hattendorf. Prod. Masa Yoshikawa. Ed. Keiko Deguchi. Cinedigm Entertainment. 2009. DVD.
Going for Broke. Ed. William Mallek. Daniel K. Inouye and George Takei. Questar, 2005. DVD.
Come See the Paradise. Dir. Alan Parker. Perf. Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006. DVD.
Honor Bound: A Personal Journey. Prod. Wendy Hanamura. Filmakers Library. DVD.
Honor and Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story. Prod. Don Sellers and Lucy Ostrander. Stourwater Pictures. 2014. DVD.
Kash: The Legend and Legacy of Shiro Kashino. Dir. Vince Matsudaira. E-Shadow Productions, 2011. DVD.
Acknowledgements
The author and artist wish to acknowledge and thank each Nisei hero and their families for sharing their stories. Special thanks to the Graphic Novel Curriculum committee: Cassie Chinn, Debbie Kashino, Louise Kashino, Larry Matsuda, Karen Matsumoto, Paul Murakami, Mako Nakagawa, Matt Sasaki, May Sasaki and David Yamashita. With additional thanks to Mary Hoy, Cindy Nomura, Erica Swanson, and Jordan Wong. Special thanks to Vince Matsudaira for his assistance with the Shiro Kashino chapter and information from his DVD, Kash: The Legend of Shiro Kashino.
Thanks also to the Wing Luke Museum, Nisei Veterans Committee (NVC) Foundation, and the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service for the funding and project administration.
Note: The stories are inspired by the experiences of real-life people and events. In the process of adapting the stories, the author and artist took some liberties in terms of drama, sequence, setting, physical appearance, and chronology.
This curriculum guide, the full graphic novel and accompanying publication, produced by the Seattle NVC Foundation and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, is based upon work assisted by a grant from the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of the Interior.
This material received Federal financial assistance for the preservation and interpretation of US confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the US Department of Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally funded assisted projects. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to:
Chief, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs
US Department of the Interior
National Park Service
1201 Eye Street, NW (2740)
Washington, DC 20005
AUTHOR/ARTIST BIOS
Lawrence Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho Concentration Camp during World War II.
He and his family were among the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese held without due process for approximately three years or more. Matsuda has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington and was: a secondary teacher, university counselor, state-level administrator, school principal, assistant superintendent, educational consultant, and visiting professor at Seattle University (SU).
In 2005, he and two SU colleagues co-edited the book, Community and difference: teaching, pluralism and social justice, Peter Lang Publishing, New York. It won the 2006 National Association of Multicultural Education Philip Chinn Book Award. In July 2010, his book of poetry entitled, A Cold Wind from Idaho, was published by Black Lawrence Press in New York.
His poems appear in Ambush Review, Raven Chronicles, New Orleans Review, Floating Bridge Review, Black Lawrence Press website, Poets Against the War website, Cerise Press, Nostalgia Magazine, Plumepoetry, Malpais Review, Zero Ducats, Surviving Minidoka (book), Meet Me at Higo (book), Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp (book and photographs), Tidepools Magazine, and the Seattle Journal for Social Justice.
In addition, eight of his poems were the subject of a 60-minute dance presentation entitled, Minidoka, performed by Whitman College students in Walla Walla, Washington (2011).
His new book, Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner, published by CreateSpace was released in August 2014. It is collection of Matsuda’s poetry and Roger Shimomura’s art.
Artist Matt Sasaki
Matt Sasaki was born in Seattle, Washington, the only boy amongst three sisters. He and his siblings grew up in the neighborhood of Beacon Hill. His father was a pharmacist and mother a schoolteacher. As a child, Matt channeled his youthful energy into drawing bizarre characters and creating storylines for the little ballpoint pen books he created out of scraps of paper and staples. Soon little Matty discovered that if he did art projects for his teachers, he could get out of doing real schoolwork.
In his young adult years, Matt worked nights stocking shelves in a neighborhood grocery story while taking classes at the Art Institute of Seattle. After he graduated, he could not find work in the commercial art field, so he took classes in automobile collision repair and found a job in a local bodyshop. Later, Matt started painting signs. During this time, he went back to school to study digital art and computer graphics at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology.
Matt lives with his wife, their serial killer cat and a very sweet old dog in a Zen-like home surrounded by a peaceful stand of tall evergreen trees north of Seattle.
Samples of his work can be found at: mattsasaki.com.