Content of Sam Mihara’s “Memories of Five Nisei” Presentation

Why were Japanese families removed from the West Coast states but not from other states? Why were U.S. families from German and Italian backgrounds not imprisoned? Are you bitter against the U.S. government? Once you returned to San Francisco after the war, how did you cope with the hatred that had driven you from home?

These and other frequently asked questions are answered in Sam’s compelling story about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In the presentation, which includes historic photographs by Dorothea Lange, you will learn about:

• Sam’s family background
• Japan Town, San Francisco, before World War II
• Racial hatred and hysteria by the media
• Who created an Exclusion Zone and why?
• Executive Order 9066
• Six steps of forced removal from homes
• Three objectors to removal – the Korematsu, Hirabayashi and Yasui cases
• Forced removal from homes
  • High risk prisoners moved into Department of Justice camps
  • Rest of Japanese race – 120,000 people – into War Relocation Authority camps
• Living in horse stalls at first prison camps, or “Assembly Centers”
• Trains to permanent camps – “Relocation Centers”
• Map of all camps in the U.S.
• Attitudes of local people in the camp areas
  • Video clip of Senator Alan Simpson
  • The Salt Lake City conference of governors
  • Creation of prison design with armed guards



• Heart Mountain, Wyoming, prison camp description:
  • Location
  • Construction
  • Evidence of “imprisonment”
  • Map of camp
  • Food
  • Weather
  • Toilets and bathing
  • Farms
  • Schools
  • Weddings and births
  • Fire and police
  • Medical aid in camp
• Comparison of Heart Mountain to other camps
• Major issues during camp
  • Loyalty questionnaire and No-No’s
  • Segregation camp and torture
  • Killing of prisoners by guards
  • Renunciants and trade with U.S. prisoners overseas
  • Military draft and resisters
• Leave policy and local racial hatred
• How we got out – James Purcell / Mitsue Endo case
• Camp closed
• The return home
  • Conditions of racial hatred and unemployment
  • The Toshi Ito video clip
• What happened to camp property?
• The Heart Mountain Homesteaders
• Redress legislation – Civil Liberties Act of 1988
• Letter of Apology
• Heart Mountain today – new Interpretive Center
• Why camps existed and can it happen again?
• Recent indications of new imprisonment
• Never again