by Kevin Wolf Author websites: 2. https://www.elizabethpartridge.com/, http://laurentamaki.com/ Each book reviewed provides a piece of the picture of Japanese-descended people, mostly citizens of Canada or the United States, unjustly incarcerated in detention camps during World War II (WWII). Several books (in Part 3 link) provide personal stories as a child (They Called Us Enemy and My Lost Freedom) or an adult (Citizen 13660), as observers (in Part 2 link) writing biographical sketches (We Hereby Refuse, We Are Not Strangers) or based on factual events (Stealing Home), and stories about those who tried to document events (Part 1, here) with photography… Read More
Unjust Incarceration – Japanese-Descended People on the West Coast of the United States & Canada During WWII – Part 2 – Outsiders Provide Stories about Those Inside
by Kevin Wolf Author’s websites: 1. https://www.joshtuininga.com/, 2. https://www.jtorrescomics.com/ & https://www.namisato.org/, Outsiders Provide Stories about Those Inside The following three graphic novels are all created by writers and artists who weren’t among the Japanese Americans/Canadians unjustifiably incarcerated during WWII. Rather, their authors might be more distant relatives or just interested in the stories they researched about those incarcerated. We Are Not Strangers: Based on a True Story by Josh Tuininga “explores a unique situation of Japanese and Jewish Americans living side by side…” in Seattle, Washington during WWII (from the dust jacket). Josh Tuininga writes, “I weaved together historical accounts… Read More
Unjust Incarceration – Japanese-Descended People on the West Coast of the United States & Canada During WWII – Part 3 – Insiders Tell Their Own Stories
by Kevin Wolf Author’s websites: 1. www.georgetakei.com, https://mklillustration.com/; 2. www.georgetakei.com, https://justineisinger.com/, https://www.harmonybecker.com/; 3. author’s collection: https://www.janm.org/collections/mine-okubo-collection The following three graphic novels were written by Nisei (second generation Japanese American birthright citizens). These writers were among the Japanese Americans whose constitutional rights were violated when incarcerated during WWII. Two books came from George Takei (My Lost Freedom and They Called Us Enemy) about his experience as a child including some activities to the present and were published fairly recently. While Miné Okubo (Citizen 13660)—already an adult when incarcerated—wrote and illustrated her book, which was first published in 1946, soon after she… Read More