POSTPONED – Stay tuned for a new date.
JHC is honored to partner with the Japan Society of Greater Fairfield County again to explore the genesis of internment camps in America and the long road to reparations for this painful chapter in history.
On Saturday, November 11 at 1:30pm. guests will meet Grant Ujifusa, a noted author and historian who is widely recognized for his instrumental role in the Japanese American redress movement of the 1980’s. Ujifusa, a 1965 graduate of Harvard College, received an M.A. in American History from Brandeis University and an ABT in American Civilization from Brown University. He is the founding editor and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, originally published in 1972 and still published today. The book has been described as “the bible of American politics.”
Born on January 4, 1942, Grant is a third generation Japanese American, “sansei” whose family first came to San Francisco in the early 20th century before moving to Wyoming in 1906 where his father worked on the Chicago Burlington Quincy Railroad Line. The Ujifusa family called northern Wyoming home before Heart Mountain or the other camps were established under the terms of Executive Order 9066. Ujifusa’s familiarity with the workings of Washington lawmaking made him an ideal strategist in the fight for the passage of HR 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was ultimately signed by President Ronald Reagan on Aug. 10, 1988. The bill secured an apology and monetary reparations for loyal Americans who were forced by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt into prison camps during World War II.
For his effort on behalf of the bill, Ujifusa was made an honorary member of K Co. of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. In 2012, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold, and Silver Rays, by the Government of Japan for his indispensable work to pass, enact and fund the Japanese American redress bill. He serves on the Board of the Japanese American National Memorial Foundation as well as the Board of Governors of the Japanese American National Museum. He was the Legislative Strategy Chair of the Legislative Education Committee of the Japanese American Citizens League from 1982 to 1992.
He and his wife now reside outside of Philadelphia.
Photo credit – The Asia Society
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The Japan Society of Greater Fairfield County (JSGFC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. They are a private small community-based membership organization dedicated to promoting Japanese arts and culture in the greater Fairfield County region. Their mission is to foster knowledge, strengthen connections, and enhance mutual understanding between the U.S. and Japan.
Jay Heritage Center (JHC) and JSGFC recently collaborated together and with Ikebana International of New York to present a Japanese flower design exhibit to the public. The two nonprofits also partnered with the Topaz Museum to showcase an internment camp painting exhibit by artist and teacher Koho Yamamoto this past September. READ MORE HERE.