In 1943, three Japanese American women helped two German prisoners of war escape from a Colorado prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. Prosecuted for treason and convicted of conspiracy to commit treason in federal court in 1944, they served two years in prison.
In 1943, three Japanese American women helped two German prisoners of war escape from a Colorado prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. Prosecuted for treason and convicted of conspiracy to commit treason in federal court in 1944, they served two years in prison.
Ruth Aiko Asawa (1926–2013) was a renowned sculptor, painter, and printmaker acclaimed for her biomorphic wire forms and public art installations as well as her activism in public art education.
Nisei actress Takayo (Tsubouchi) Fischer appeared in dozens of major Hollywood films including Moneyball (2011), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and War of the Worlds (2005).
Poet and activist Violet Kazue Yamane Matsuda de Cristoforo (1917-2007) wrote, translated, and compiled Japanese language haiku poetry composed by Japanese immigrants and Kibei.
Gyo Fujikawa (1908–98) was a prolific author, illustrator and designer of children’s books.
Hatsuye Egami was an Issei intellectual who wrote for Japanese American publications in California before the war. Her published assembly center diary and columns for the Gila News Courier provide a rare Issei woman’s perspective on the wartime incarceration.
Attorney, law professor and member of Fred Korematsu’s coram nobis team.
Plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit that ultimately led to the closing of the concentration camps and the return of Japanese Americans to the West Coast in 1945.
Noriko “Nikki” Sawada Bridges Flynn was a San Francisco-based activist who advocated for civil liberties, equality and democracy.