Enmity and empathy : Japanese Americans in Minnesota during World War II / Ka F. Wong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wong, Ka F., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Minnesota--Japanese Americans.

World War, 1939-1945.

Japanese Americans--Minnesota.

Japanese Americans.

Japanese Americans--Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945.

Japanese Americans--Minnesota--Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945.

Physical Description:

374 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

St. Paul, MN : Minnesota Historical Society Press, [2025]

Summary:

The forced eviction and confinement of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor in 1941 was one of the worst civil rights violations of the twentieth century, and the repercussions were numerous. The effect in Minnesota was dramatic: only fifty-one Japanese American people lived in the state in 1940, but by war's end there were several thousand. Drawing on personal interviews, archival sources, and historical literature, scholar and professor Ka Wong explores the courageous struggles of trailblazers who left the incarceration camps and rebuilt their lives in the North Star State, overcoming hostility and hardship along the way. Despite the enmity ignited by war hysteria, bonds of empathy developed between the resettlers and allies who advocated for them personally and professionally. This volume illustrates the multiple ways in which Japanese American people transformed both wartime Minnesota and their own lives, including narratives of college students pursuing higher education, young men and women training at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage and then Fort Snelling, the US Cadet Nurse Corps serving in Rochester hospitals, and entrepreneurial families and individuals in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Contents:

Enmity and empathy: stories of Japanese Americans in Minnesota during World War II / Incarceration and integration: history and relocation of Japanese Americans in wartime Minnesota / Advocates and agencies: the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) and college education for Nisei Americans / Ambassadors and adversaries: Japanese American college students in wartime Minnesota / Courage and combat: Japanese American soldiers and the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) / Compassion and commitment: Japanese American nurses and the US Cadet Nurse Corps / Risks and rewards: Japanese American Mavericks, entrepreneurs, and workers in wartime Minnesota / Resettlement and remembrance: connecting wartime Japanese American stories to Minnesota / Untold histories and unsung heroes: reflecting on Japanese American stories in wartime Minnesota.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-359) and index.

ISBN:

9781681343105

168134310X

OCLC:

1456316044

Publisher Number:

90101997556