This workshop is designed to introduce students to an important if little
known piece of the nation’s and the state’s history: the forced expulsion of Japanese Americans from
their West Coast homes, followed by their mass incarceration in prison camps, including two camps in
Arkansas, during World War II, and the struggles, challenges and triumphs they experienced.
The workshop will provide both a national and an Arkansas perspective of the Japanese American WWII
experience, with focus on the timeframe from the December 6, 1941, Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor
to the war’s conclusion in 1945. Students will also gain understanding of the circumstances which
resulted in the presence of Japanese Americans in this country, the citizenship status of the different
generations they represented, our government’s response to their presence after the Pearl Harbor
attack, the valiant role of Japanese American soldiers in defense of this country, and post-war efforts to
provide reparations.