Anniversary of the Santa Anita internment camp uprising

The 1942 uprising by inmates at the Santa Anita internment camp (euphemistically called an “assembly center” by the U.S. government) was the culmination of months of mistreatment and humiliation of the inmates by guards. When guards were seen entering the inmates’ homes and removing personal items and anything written or recorded in Japanese, the inmates rebelled. Armed military police broke up the protest with tanks and guns.

Resources

• A Place Where Sunflowers Grow - Amy Lee-Tai. This children’s book tells the story of a young girl and her family’s experience in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Lee-Tai invites the reader to explore the injustices hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese Americans faced. Teacher resources and ideas for activities are included.
• We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration - Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura. In this groundbreaking graphic novel we meet Jim Akutsu, who refuses to be drafted from the camp at Minidoka when classified as an enemy alien; Hiroshi Kashiwagi, who resists government pressure to sign a loyalty oath at Tule Lake; and Mitsuye Endo, a reluctant recruit to a lawsuit contesting her imprisonment. Based upon painstaking research, We Hereby Refuse presents an original vision of America’s past with disturbing links to the American present.