A Guide to the The Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Los Angeles Hearings Video Collection,
1981.
Descriptive Summary
Creator:
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress and Visual Communications
Title: The Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Los Angeles Hearings Video Collection
Dates: 1981
Language: Materials are in English and Japanese.
Accession No: 2012-03
Extent: 13 DVDs; digital files.
Creator Sketch
The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was created through the passage of the
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Act in July 1980. The Commission explored the implementation
of Executive Order 9066, its effects, and related actions of Japanese-American internment during World War II.
The Commission’s final report, entitled
Personal Justice Denied, stated that the
causes of the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans included wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and the failure
of political
leadership. The commission proposed that monetary reparations be paid to those Japanese Americans who were interned.
The
report and conclusions of the CWRIC was critical to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that granted monetary
compensation to former internees and issued a government apology.
Scope and Contents
The Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Los Angeles Hearings Video Collection,1981,
consists of approximately 26 hours of video testimonies, transcripts, and summaries from the 1981 Los Angeles public hearings
of the Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). 157 participants, including historians,
elected officials, Japanese Americans (including former internees), and community members testified during the three-day
and one evening session at the Los Angeles State Building and the Little Tokyo Towers.
The testimonies cover personal stories of former internees and their children, in addition to the range of effects
of Japanese American internment during World War II that cover property, business, and economic loss; psychological
impact; health impact; mental health impact; impact of FBI activities; voluntary relocation experiences; educational
impact; military and veteran experiences; search, seizure, and mistreatment; constitutional issues; and resettlement.
These testimonies encouraged Japanese Americans to push for reparations.
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR, then known as the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations) enlisted
Visual Communications to videotape the 26 hours of Los Angeles hearings (just one of the two cities that had its hearings
recorded). These digibeta tapes were later compiled into a 13-volume DVD set produced jointly by Visual Communications
and NCRR entitled “Speak Out for Justice.” Digitization of these testimonies was funded in part by grants from the
California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, Japanese American Community Services, the Aratani Foundation and
with
the help of many individual donors.
Organization and Arrangement
The holdings are organized into two series: I. Testimonies and II. Written materials.
Materials are mostly in English; a select few are in Japanese.
Series I consists of the bulk of the collection and consists of video testimonies varying in length and detail. Series II
contains short synopses of the testimonies, a Viewer’s Guide with summaries of the testimonies, and transcripts of the
testimonies.
Selected testimonies are available online at the Densho Digital Archive.
Alternate Format Available
Due to the fragility of the original magnetic tapes, the access DVDs should be viewed.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research use. Advance notice required for access. Contact repository for appointment.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holders.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Allard, Dean C., 1933-
Amemiya, Chizu
Amemiya, Enosuke
Antonovich, Michael D.
Baker, Lillian
Boss, Larry
Bradley, Tom, 1917-1998
Chikahisa, Paul
Chuman, Frank F., 1917-
DeLoyd, Akiyo
Edelman, Edmund D.
Embrey, Sue Kunitomi
Farrell, Robert C.
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
Fujii, James T.
Fujikawa, Fred
Fujimoto, M. Jack, 1928-
Fujimura, Bunʾyū, 1910-
Fukai, Mas
Fujita, Katsuichi
Fukushima, Jun
Furutani, Warren
Goldberg, Arthur J.
Goto, James
Hamasaki, Charles
Hara, Ben
Hashimoto, Elsie
Hashimoto, Harry S.
Hayamizu, Robert
Hayakawa, S. I. (Samuel Ichiyé), 1906-1992
Hayashi, Ken
Himeno, Edward Terao
Cheng, Lucie
Hironaka, Masaaki
Holmes, Hannah Tomiko
Honda, Francis L.
Horiuchi, Akira
Ichioka, Yuji
Ikemoto, Yoshio
Imahara, David
Imai, Judy
Imoshita, Mas
Inouye, Daniel K., 1924-2012
Ishizuka, Mary
Iwasaki, Mary
Kadomatsu, Marian
Kaji, Bruce
Kamei, Hiroshi
Kawahara, Harry
Kawaminami, Jim
Kawamoto, Harry
Kight, Morris, 1919-2003
Kikumura-Yano, Akemi, 1944-
Kinada, Thomas
King, Ernest Joseph, 1878-1956
Kitagawa, Frances C.
Kizu, June
Knox, Frank, 1874-1944
Kumamoto, Junji
Kuramoto, Ford Hajime
Kurihara, Mary F.
Lundgren, Daniel
Machida, Michiko
Marumoto, Barbara
Masaoka, Kathryn Nishimoto
Masaoka, Mark
Mass, Amy Iwasaki, 1935-
Matsuda, Ann
Matsuo, Dave Toru
Matsuoka, Jim
Matsushita, Marjorie
McGrath, H. Read
Meyer, Dillon S.
Miyamura, Hiroshi, 1925-
Miyashiro, Sheri
Mori, Kazuo
Morimoto, George
Morimoto, Linda
Morita, Carole Sei
Murakami, Henry
Murase, Ichiro Mike
Myers, Elsie Akita
Nabeta, Alfred
Nakagawa, Bill
Nakamura, Grace
Nakamura, Yoshio
Nakano, Roy
Nehira, Alice Tanabe
Nicholson, Herbert
Nishida, Mo
Nishikawa, Elizabeth
Nishio, Alan
Nishio, Esther Takei
Nishio, Jane
Nishizu, Clarence
Nozawa, Tsuye
O’Brien, Robert
Ochi, Rose Matsui, 1938-
Oda, Mary S.
Oda, Paul
Odagiri, Mary Fusako
Odoi, Mas
Ohara, Veronica K.
Ota, Mabel T.
Oekawa, Katsuyo
Ogata, Mamoru
Okamoto, Martha
Okrand, Fred
Okubo, Ruby
Ono, Yayoi Arakawa
Osaki, Rei
Ota, John J.
Ota, Peter K.
Reschke, Babe Toshiko
Ringle, K.D.
Roberts, John G.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945
Roth, George K.
Roth, Irma Brudbaker
Sagawa, Paul
Saito, John J.
Saito, Tetsu
Sakai, Henry
Sanchez, Gilbert
Sasahara, Mitsuru
Sasaki, Chiyoko
Sasaki, Hideko
Sato, Gerald M.
Sato, Kuniko Okumura
Seki, Sumio
Senzaki, Miyo
Shigekuni, Phil
Shigeta, William
Shinkai, Bill
Shironaka, Beth
Sonoda, Kiyoshi
Sugita, Saburō, 1921-
Takei, George, 1937-
Tamai, Joyce S.
Tamaki, Henry S.
Tanibata, Masaharu
Taniwaki, Marge
Terakawa, Alan
Tomach, Morry
Tsuboi, Mr.
Tsuji, Jeff
Tsuneishi, Selly
Tsuneishi, Arthur
Uchiyama, Hiro
Usi, Mitsuo
Watanabe, Hector
Watanabe, Teru
Watanabe, Tom
Wiedman, Raymond
Yagura, Katsumi
Yamada, Henry S.
Yamamoto, Joe
Yamashita, Kiyo
Yamashita, Stanley
Yoshida, Ewan
Yoshioka, Vernon
Subjects (Organizations)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Japanese American Citizens’ League
Life Magazine
Little Tokyo Peoples’ Rights Organization
Little Tokyo Service Center
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress
Rafu shinpō
San Francisco chronicle
United States. Army. Infantry Battalion, 100th
United States. Army. Regimental Combat Team, 442nd
United States. Army. Signal Corps
United States. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
United States. Selective Service System
United States. Supreme Court
United States. War Relocation Authority
Veterans' hospitals--California, Southern.
Visual Communications/Asian American Studies Central -- Archives.
Subjects
Atomic bomb
Bronze Star Medal (U.S.)
Buddhist priests
Discrimination
Emigration and immigration
Equality before the law-- United States.
Executive orders
Hostility (Psychology)
Interrogations
Japanese Americans
Japanese American soldiers
Japanese American veterans
Japanese Americans--Civil rights.
Japanese Americans--Economic conditions--20th century.
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
Japanese Americans--Hawaii.
Japanese--Peru
Loyalty oaths--United States
Martial law--United States.
Medal of Honor.
Mental illness--United States.
Military life
Minorities--Political activity.
Model minority stereotype
Nationalism and education--Japan
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
Personal property--United States.
Pledge of Allegiance
Poor--Health and hygiene.
Propaganda, Anti-Japanese
Race discrimination
Reparations for historical injustices
Sensationalism in journalism
Social justice--United States.
United States. Constitution. 1st-10th Amendments
United States. Immigration Act of 1924. Japanese
United States. War Powers Resolution.
War propaganda--United States.
World War II
Places
Bainbridge Island (Wash.)
Camp Joseph T. Robinson (Ark.)
Camp Livingston (La.)
Central Utah Relocation Center
Chicago (Ill.)
Crystal City Internment Camp (Crystal City, Tex.)
Denver (Colo.)
Fort Collins (Colo.)
Fort Lincoln (Washington, D.C.)
Fresno County (Calif.)
Gardena (Calif.)
Gila River Relocation Center
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)
Kodiak (Alaska)
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Little Tokyo (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Minidoka Relocation Center
Missoula County (Mont.)
New Orleans (La.)
Petaluma (Calif.)
Portland Livestock Center
Rohwer Relocation Center (Ark.)
Sand Island (Oahu, Hawaii)
Santa Anita (Calif.)
Stockton Assembly Center
Tacoma (Wash.)
Telluride (Colo.)
Terminal Island (Calif.)
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Arizona--Poston.
Preferred Citation
The Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Los Angeles Hearings Video Collection, 1981.
Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress and Visual Communications Archives.
Related Material
See also Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Redress Video Collection, 1988-1991, undated (2012-01).
Processing Information
This collection was digitized in 2008. Processed and arranged by Helen Kim in October 2012.
Finding aid written in October 2012 and encoded in February 2013 by Helen Kim.
S.I. Hayakawa, U.S. Senator
Barbara Marumoto, Hawaii House of Representatives
Edmund Edelman, L.A. County Supervisor
Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles
Mas Fukai, Gardena (CA) City Councilman
Enosuke and Chizu Amemiya
Robert Farrell, L.A. City Councilman
Kathryn Nishimoto Masaoka
Kiyo Yamashita (Japanese)
Michael Antonovich, L.A. County Supervisor
Reverend Herbert Nicholson
dvd 2012-03/12139
Volume 13 (Evening Session)
