Nevada Humanities has announced Memory and Resistance: Remembering Japanese American Incarceration—an evening conversation marking the 81st anniversary of the Japanese American incarceration during WWII.
Memory and Resistance: Remembering Japanese American Incarceration will be held on February 16, 2023, at 6 to 8 p.m. at the Downtown Reno Library Theatre.
Register for the event at nevadahumanities.org.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that forced 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes during WWII. In recognition of this period and of the 81st anniversary of Japanese American incarceration, join Nevada Humanities for an evening of conversation about memory, remembrance, and the legacy of activism in the Japanese American community that continues to this day.
At this event, they say you will learn from historians, writers, and artists about the different ways we remember and retell history, with a particular - often untold - emphasis on acts of resistance by Japanese Americans who were betrayed by their own country.
The conversation will feature moderator Dr. Meredith Oda, Associate Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno; Frank Abe, lead author of We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration; and visual artist Miya Hannan.
At this event, art and graphic novels that tell this story will be shared, and we will speak with organizers who continue in this fight in light of more recent instances of violence against Asian American communities. The evening will begin with a performance by Reno Taiko Tsurunokai.
“Memory and Resistance will be a powerful conversation about a shameful and difficult time in American history,” said Christina Barr, Executive Director of Nevada Humanities. “The evening event will showcase the scholarly and creative work of our panelists, as they tell the stories of Japanese Americans who resisted incarceration and charted an important legacy of activism that inspires us today and into the future.”
