April 20, 2006
Japanese WW II ordeal recalled in symposium
“Remembering Japanese American Redress: A Symposium on History, Incarceration, and Justice” will be presented from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 28 in the Petersen Room of the Allen Library.
Open to the public, the symposium will bring together activists and academics from around the Seattle area to reflect on the Japanese American redress movement of the 1960s-80s, which, in many ways, originated right here in the Pacific Northwest.
How did a grassroots movement of everyday working people lead to a formal apology and monetary reparations from the U.S. federal government for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II? What are the movement’s historical lessons and lasting legacies on the ongoing struggle for social justice? These are some of the questions that the symposium will address throughout the day.
The symposium features many of the leading visionaries, grassroots organizers, and political officials who made up the redress movement. They include Frank Abe, Roger Daniels, Tom Ikeda, Chuck Kato, Rodney Kawakami, Mike Lowry, Cherry Kinoshita, Henry Miyatake, Mako Nakagawa, Chizu Omori, Joy Shigaki, and Massie Tomita. The keynote address will be delivered by King County Executive Ron Sims.
For the symposium schedule and more information, visit www.lib.washington.edu/history/redress. You may also contact Moon-Ho Jung at the UW Department of History, mhjung@u.washington.edu.
The syposium is sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest; the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies; the Department of American Ethnic Studies; the University of Washington Libraries; the Japanese American Citizens League, Seattle and Lake Washington chapters.
