News Release

On Jan. 20, 15 Japanese American internees will be honored during the opening program kicking off the If They Came For Me Today: The Japanese American Internment Project exhibition at the Main Library. The program, which begins at 2 p.m. in the Main Library’s Koret Auditorium, will include presentations by students from George Washington, Balboa and Horace Mann schools, as well as commentary by Jeff Adachi, public defender for the City and County of San Francisco, who will discuss the impact of his parents’ internment on his life; Bay Area playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, who will read an excerpt from his latest production, After the War, which looks at the aftermath of the end of the internment on the lives of those who returned home; poet Janice Mirikatani, who was born in an internment camp; and a reading by Sana Benharchache from the Arab Cultural and Community Center. Kazu Maruoka, George Yamasaki, Paul Yonemura and Stuart Yasaki will play swing music of the camp era.

Other related events include:

• If They Came For Me Today: Art and Literature from the Japanese American Internment
  Speakers include Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar; Kimi Kodani Hill, author of Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment; George Yoshida, author of Reminiscing in Swingtime; and Delphine Hirasuna, author and curator of The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps. Nicole Sawaya will moderate.
  Feb. 8, 6–7:30 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
  
  
• Author Reading by Hiroshi Kashiwagi
  Author Hiroshi Kashiwagi will read from Swimming in the American: A Memoir and Selected Writings and his other works.
  March 7, 6:30–7:30 p.m., Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Main Library
  
  
• The Slanted Screen
  From silent film star Sessue Hayakawa to Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle, The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film and Television explores portrayals of Asian men in American cinema, chronicling the experiences of actors who struggled against ethnic stereotyping and limiting roles. A discussion with writer, director and producer Jeff Adachi follows.
  March 11, 1–3 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
  
  
• After the War: A Discussion with Philip Kan Gotanda
  Playwright Philip Kan Gotanda discusses his new world premiere, After the War, opening at American Conservatory Theater on March 22. During the internment of Japanese Americans, San Francisco’s bustling Japantown suddenly became an urban ghost town. But what happened when the Japanese Americans came back? Set in 1948, After the War looks at the rebuilding of a community shattered by the effects of war. Gotanda will share his inspirations for the play, the challenges of producing new work, and the genesis from page to stage.
  March 14, 6:30–7:30 p.m., Koret Auditorium, Main Library
  

The If They Came For Me Today: The Japanese American Internment Project exhibition highlights the stories of local Japanese Americans whose lives were impacted by the internment of Japanese American citizens in camps during World War II. The exhibition will be on display through March 18 in the Skylight Gallery at the Main Library.

In 1942, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, some 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast were moved into internment camps for the duration of the war. They were allowed to take only the possessions they could carry and were forced to abandon their businesses and personal property. The legacy of that experience is explored in this powerful living history exhibition documenting the experiences of Japanese American internees.

Organized by Community Works with students at George Washington, Balboa and Horace Mann schools in San Francisco, this multimedia exhibition honors those who were interned or impacted by the internment. Drawing on the oral histories of Japanese Americans who were themselves interned or whose parents were internees, the students worked to create a unique exhibition that simultaneously chronicles the experiences of one generation and the reactions of another. After hearing the stories of the 15 men and women affected by the internment, the students produced written, visual and video art relating interviewees’ stories to their own personal experiences and to contemporary instances of civil injustice. Their work is featured in the exhibition, along with suitcases full of artifacts from detainees, photographs and biographies of the honorees. The organizers hope to bring the exhibition to thousands of Bay Area students, inspiring further dialogue about the internment and its impact on all of our lives today.

Related Exhibition:

Relocation and Resiliency: Japanese American Internment in California
As a companion exhibition, the Library’s San Francisco History Center presents a selection of materials reflecting aspects of the Japanese American internment story in California, featuring camp newspapers and art, photographs and text.
Through March 18, San Francisco History Center Cases, Skylight Gallery, 6th Floor, Main Library

The exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public. For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.

Note: Photographs and interviews with internees are available.