Arts & Crafts of Incarcerated Japanese Americans

Talk on Arts & Crafts of Incarcerated Japanese-Americans in WWII

May 22, 2025

This virtual talk  was given by the Essex Library Association, only on Zoom.  It was presented remotely by Nancy Beck, Secretary/Treasurer of the Japan Society of Fairfield County.   

During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps, mostly in the western interior of the country. About two-thirds were U.S. citizens.

For her presentation Nancy showed pictures of objects made in the camps. After a brief introduction by Elizabeth Reinhart of the Essex Library association, and a few words by Nancy Beck, the 20 minute 2011 documentary, Art of Gaman was shown. In this video, Delphine Hirasuna, author of the book “Art of Gaman”, discusses the history of the camps, and the Japanese word gaman, meaning "enduring what seems unbearable with dignity and grace.”  This video can be seen on Youtube at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8Fk8cHkCQV0

The Powerpoint file containing the slides shown by Nancy can be accessed here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1B1LULhQIxIWut3ZvcByvG65Ei35hEvE0/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111405101936670829746&rtpof=true&sd=true

The link to the text to accompany the slides is: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-fg1tc3TupXyw_gJRQcBC1WDp7UmdNGW/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111405101936670829746&rtpof=true&sd=true

At the end of the text is a list of references.