TRAVELING: Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American WWII Experience

Before WWII, Japanese immigrants came to Idaho to work largely in the agricultural industry such as in sugar beet plantations, and they would eventually settle in each of the 44 counties. During the war, Japanese Americans would increase the Idaho population by 25% through the Minidoka WRA camp and voluntary relocation. In partnership with the Idaho State Museum & Historical Society, the Boise presentation explores the local stories of those who helped and supported the Japanese Americans in their time of need.

Additionally, through work by researcher Emily Anderson, and the Friends of Minidoka, the personal stories and artifacts of the Nisei soldiers who would enlist from their hometowns in Idaho and Minidoka have been incorporated into the exhibition.

In January 2020, we proudly brought our most recently traveling exhibition, “Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience” to Houston in partnership with The Lone Star Flight Museum and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Houston Chapter. With plans to run through April 19, the exhibition was unfortunately brought to an early close in March due to the pandemic.

The exhibition explored the lasting legacy of the rescue of Texas’ 141st Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, by the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit of Japanese American soldiers. Community curator Nikki Nojima Louis, artistic director of JACL Players, the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League (NMJACL) theater group, developed the local stories in the exhibition. Louis herself was incarcerated as a child with her mother in Minidoka, an Idaho camp.

How did Japanese Americans in the interior West survive WWII? What became of the Issei and Nisei (first and second generation residents of Japanese ancestry) who had pioneered the American West as railroad workers, miners, and farm laborers and had remained to build lives and raise families?

These are the stories of the small and scattered Nikkei communities that dotted the map of New Mexico in the 1940s: ALBUQUERQUE, the springboard from which stories of the past enlighten the present; the southeastern town of CLOVIS, close to the Texas border; GALLUP, in the western part of the state; and SANTA FE and LORDSBURG, two “towns” made up of Issei men incarcerated in Department of Justice (DOJ) prison camps.

The arc of history is a leading player in these stories, reaching from 1942 to today. The plot contains acts of individual and communal kindness and courage alongside acts of violence and vigilantism.

The cast of characters includes city council members and townspeople; offspring of DOJ prisoners and prison guards; descendants of New Mexico Japanese American “founding” families; a Medal of Honor veteran; and three survivors of a town that ousted their Nikkei in 1942 but celebrated their return in 2014.

While some universities refused to admit Japanese Americans during the war, Bradley University welcomed incarcerated Nikkei to continue their study at its campus in central Illinois. Bradley continued its open heartedness by enrolling Japanese American soldiers returning from the war. This kindness extended beyond campus to the larger Peoria community, which embraced Japanese Americans relocating to the area from the concentration camps. Nikkei found compassion and job opportunities in Peoria, a welcome change from their earlier experiences during the war.

Much of this history is now forgotten and remains almost virtually unknown by Bradley students and the Peoria community.

Within this atmosphere of hate, more than 500 Monterey residents signed a grassroots petition urging kindness to Japanese Americans returning from the camps. Among the signers were Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, noted photographer Edward Weston, poet Robinson Jeffers, and biologist Ed Ricketts. The petition was recently rediscovered along with the typewriter used to write the original petition.

Through their dedicated efforts to resettle Japanese Americans from the War Relocation Authority camps, individuals such as Ruth Tanbara, Daisuke Kitagawa and Genevieve Steefel played a crucial role in establishing the wartime Japanese American community in the Twin Cities.

When young Japanese Americans were being forced into incarceration camps in 1942, Oberlin College invited them to transfer to Oberlin from West Coast schools and, later, to leave camps and study at the college. While many other universities refused to admit Japanese Americans during wartime, Oberlin welcomed them with open arms. With the help of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and the work of many Quakers, Oberlin accepted close to 40 Nisei students during the war years, one of whom served as student body president. The community of Oberlin proved welcoming too, affirming its support for the Nisei students when state civil defense leaders described them as a threat to public safety.

Oberlin’s response continued the college’s and community’s noteworthy tradition of challenging unjust government policy and providing sanctuary for those in need, just as they did for escaping slaves in the pre-Civil War era.

It is well known that the local, state, and federal government in Hawai’i prevented the large-scale mistreatment of Japanese Americans during WWII. What is less known, however, are the individual stories of kindness and compassion that were shown to Japanese American residents. Community leaders of Chinese, Portuguese, English, Hawaiian and other nationalities put their reputations on the line to defend Nikkei against harassment and ill treatment. Before the Nisei generation passes on, it is important to capture the individual stories of courage that have so far escaped widespread dissemination.