Primary Sources from UH Mānoa Library's Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection
Campaign for Justice. https://jlacampaignforjustice.org/
Created by former Japanese Latin American internees and their families in 1996, this organization advocates for formal redress and apology for Japanese Latin Americans who were unlawfully deported and detained during World War II as well as bringing public awareness to this obscured history. As a larger goal, Campaign for Justice collaborates with other social justice issues to support human and civil rights. Their campaign includes various action items to sign petitions, donate, and volunteer including their current work to push the Biden administration to comply with international human rights law and provide reparations for Japanese Latin American internees. In Case No. 12.545, Shibayama, et al. v. USA petition, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) determined on March 21, 2017 that the Shibayamas' claims were clear, they were entitled to reparations for human rights violations, and that the U.S. government should fully disclose all pertinent materials regarding the Japanese Latin American deportation and detainment program. Campaign for Justice is currently campaigning for the Biden administration to adhere to the IACHR's ruling.
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. United Kingdom, University of Washington Press, 1997.
This is the final report completed in 1983 by the appointed nine-person Commission on Wartime Relocation and the Internment of Civilians. The late Senators Daniel K. Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced S. 1647 the Commission on Wartime Relocation and the Internment of Civilians Act in 1979 that led to the formation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and the Internment of Civilians. This resulted in an official examination of the Japanese Americans, resident aliens, and Aleuts who were forcibly relocated and detained during World War II. Including testimonies from 750 witnesses, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians gathered evidence from internees, former government officials who worked in the internment program, public figures, members of the Japanese American Citizens League, historians, interested citizens, and professionals knowledgeable on the historical subject.
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. "Appendix: Latin Americans." Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. United Kingdom, University of Washington Press, 1997, pp. 305-314.
This appendix in the comprehensive report cited above highlights the experience of Latin Americans of Japanese descent as well as Germans and Italians from Latin America and who were forcibly deported and detained in camps in the U.S. during World War II. The appendix details the Emergency Advisory Committee and U.S.State Department's steps to justify securing perceived threats to U.S. security by creating agreements with Latin American countries. The appendix notably emphasizes the lack of a comprehensive review of all documents by the Commission and commiserates on how this "history is one of the strange, unhappy, largely forgotten stories of World War II" (314).
Higashide, Seiichi. Adios to Tears: The Memoirs of a Japanese-Peruvian Internee in U.S. Concentration Camps. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000 [1993].
Higashide’s memoir documents his life from Japan where he was born in 1909 to immigrating to Peru in 1931 and his subsequent forced deportation and detainment during World War II in Crystal City, Texas. After the war, he chose to stay in the U.S., became a citizen, and a leader in the redress movement for Latin American Japanese. His memoir was translated from Spanish to English by his children.
Lee, Erica. “The WWII Incarceration of Japanese Americans Stretched Beyond U.S. Borders.” Time. December 4, 2019. https://time.com/5743555/wwii-incarceration-japanese-latin-americans/
Lee’s article covers the history of the deportation and detainment of Japanese Latin Americans in World War II to emphasize the erasure of this history. Highlighting American xenophobia, Lee explains the rhetorical, military, and political justifications for removing Latin American Japanese from their respective home countries and incarcerating them in U.S. prison camps. Lee documents the late Senator Daniel Inouye’s work to advocate for redress through the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 in order to illustrate the exclusion of Latin American Japanese from these federal reparations.
Masterson, Daniel M. with Sayaka Funada-Classen. The Japanese in Latin America. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Masterson and Funada-Classen provide an extensive and rich sociopolitical history of Japanese immigration to Latin America in the wake of the U.S. and Canada’s immigration restrictions after 1907. Providing detailed examples of Japanese agricultural and labor movements in Latin America, especially Brazil and Peru, Materson and Funada-Classen explore the lives of Latin American Japanese in the 20th century. With a chapter dedicated to Peru and the history of the U.S. government’s deportation and incarceration program, the book provides necessary insights into the experiences of Latin American Japanese. Materson and Funda-Classen utilize rich oral histories and primary sources to enhance their account.
Mak, Stephen. “Japanese Latin Americans.’ Densho Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Japanese_Latin_Americans/
A useful summary of the history of deportation, detainment, and historical erasure of Japanese Latin Americans during World War II. This provides an overview of the timeline, significant events, and cites notable primary sources for further research.
Paik, Naomi. Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S Prison Camps since World War II. (North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2016.
Paik’s book asserts the concept of rightlessness in the 20th century, which accounts for people who fall outside the conception of legal “rights,” like incarcerated prisoners, refugees, and undocumented folks, who are often imprisoned without legal or civil rights. Paik theorizes the condition of rightlessness as intrinsically tied to the condition of legal, political, and social discourses on rights in liberal modern society. Paik’s discussion of World War II Japanese internment centers on The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 as an example of how reparations foreclose a critique of mass incarceration by centering individual compensation via redress.
Peek, Casey. Hidden Internment: The Art Shibayama Story. Peek Media, 2004.
This short documentary follows Isamu “Art” Shibayama, a thirteen-year old Japanese Peruvian who was deported, along with his brothers Kenichi and Takeshi, from Peru and then detained in Crystal City, Texas. The film utilizes historic images and interviews to share Shibayama’s story and bring awareness to the ongoing struggle for redress efforts for Latin American Japanese. The film is being updated to expand interviews and include recent developments in the redress movement.