The University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries and the ethnic studies department will hold a day of events at Norlin Library on Friday, Feb. 18, to remember the time when Japanese-Americans were put into "war relocation authority" camps during World War II.
On Feb. 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order allowing the U.S. military to force Americans of Japanese descent into the camps.
"Amache: Day of Remembrance" begins from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Norlin Library Center for British Studies with a brown-bag lunch recognizing library faculty and staff who have helped build and preserve the state's largest collection of documentation on the Amache Relocation Center at the CU-Boulder Libraries Archive.
Afterward, a short film documentary, "Emi," about a Japanese-American woman who recounts the time she spent at the Manzanar Relocation Center, will be shown as part of a presentation of "Japanese-American Women's Views of Camp." The film will be followed with a discussion led by Marge Taniwaki, a local activist who lived at Manzanar, and Nancy Kawasaki, a psychologist at the CU-Boulder Multicultural Counseling Center.
In the afternoon, a reception will be held from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Norlin Library Center for British Studies with Tom Masamori, a Colorado River Relocation Center survivor. Masamori will present an exhibit of Amache photographs and slides he collected and will talk about his experience in the camp. A pilot film, "The Amache Project," also will be shown followed by a discussion with the filmmakers, Irene Rawlings and David Foxhoven. The film was funded by the Colorado Humanities Council and also sponsored by the "Mile Hi" Denver chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League. Light refreshments will be served at the reception.
"Even though what transpired more than 50 years ago might seem like history," said Lane Hirabayashi, CU-Boulder ethnic studies professor, "I think because of the violation of constitutional rights and the precedent that it set, it's important to remember what happened so that if we hit a war crisis again we'll be able to manage the kinds of questions dealing with civil liberties more effectively and certainly more fairly."
Amache, also known as the Granada Relocation Center, was located in Granada, Colo., near the Kansas border, and was a relatively small camp, holding 7,318 residents at its peak. Amache was one of dozens of camps built around the country after Executive Order 9066 was signed, allowing the military to carry out the mass incarceration of more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent, with stays of between one and five years.
For information on "Amache: Day of Remembrance" events contact Lane Hirabayashi of ethnic studies at (303) 492-0419, or Melissa Gray of the public information office at the CU Libraries at (303) 492-1462.