All are welcome to join us on Thursday, November 5 at 4:00 pm for an opening lecture and reception for the opening of the exhibit "Out of the Desert: Resilience and Memory in Japanese American Internment” in the Sterling Memorial Lecture Hall & Memorabilia Room. The reception will feature remarks by historian Gary Okihiro and guest of honor, Yonekazu Satoda. A viewing of the exhibition and a light reception will follow. Drawing from Sterling Library’s Manuscripts and Archives and the Beinecke Library's Collection of Western Americana, the exhibition highlights Yale’s extensive collection of materials related to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Rich in internee correspondence, artwork, and literature, it underscores the importance of everyday creative production and alternative narratives of internment.
Gary Y. Okihiro is professor of international and public affairs and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. Professor Okihiro is the author of ten books and one of the founders of the fields of Asian American and comparative ethnic studies. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
Yonekazu Satoda was a 20-year-old senior at the University of California, Berkeley awaiting his graduation in the spring of 1942 when Executive Order 9066 resulted in the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Satoda was subsequently incarcerated at Fresno Assembly Center and Jerome War Relocation Center in Denson, Arkansas. Throughout his internment, Satoda kept a journal. The diary, along with his original diploma mailer, are featured in the exhibit. 94-year-old Satoda and his family will be visiting from California for the exhibit’s opening.