05/19/2022
We are celebrating ten years of sharing “Gambatte! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit” across the nation when we open May 27 - August 7, 2022 at the Oregon Historical Society museum in Portland, Oregon. When I worked at the Oregonian newspaper in the late 1990’s, little did I know that two of my subjects, Jerry A*o and Jeanne Tomiko Shioshi also lived in Portland. 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated behind barbed wire in 10 desolate camps during WWII, forcibly removed from their homes in Oregon, Washington, California and part of Arizona.
The first exhibition in 2012, began on the 70th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066. Hanging in the BART San Bruno station, the exhibit opened during Asian Pacific American Heritage month. Meant to be up for just a month, it is now in its 10th year and 1000s of daily BART riders have seen the exhibit honoring nearly 8,000 San Francisco Bay Area Japanese Americans incarcerated at the former Tanforan Race track now the Tanforan Mall. A new redesigned permanent exhibition will debut July 30, 2022.
I’m so proud the exhibition was the catalyst for a beautiful permanent Memorial Plaza opening July 30, 2022 to honor all those who lived there during WWII and not let this story be forgotten. https://www.tanforanmemorial.org
It’s hard to image growing up in South San Francisco, a few miles away, I would have a personal connection with the historical significance on the site where my grandparents and dad’s family lived during WWII. As children riding in the back of our parents car, we would drive by the Tanforan Race track in the 1960’s and not one word was spoken. It was not until 1970 while taking a U. S. history class that I learned my parents and 120,000 Japanese Americans were locked behind barbed wire.
Hopefully we can educate future generation of this civil rights violation targeting an ethnic group so this does’t happen again in America.
Thank you to all the subjects in the project who have shared their stories.
Inspired by the Japanese concept of gambatte — to triumph over adversity — this exhibition features modern and historic photographs to present an intimate exploration of the lasting affect that the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II had on the nation and its citizens.
