Dear Friend,

We’ve spent the past 20 years at Densho collecting oral histories, photographs, and documents to keep the story of Japanese American World War II incarceration alive. As we continue to gather these stories, we’re also turning our attention to activist education. That is, we’re advocating for social justice and racial equity in the present day by making Japanese American history more widely known.

In February, we held our first digital teach-in. For the five days leading up to the Day of Remembrance we delivered short history lessons to the 700 people who had signed up for the challenge. In addition to covering the basics of Japanese American history, we also asked questions to encourage participants to think critically about how the mistakes of the past could make us better-informed in our reactions to current events. The teach-in was such a success that we’ve scheduled a second one for the first week of Asian-Pacific American heritage month (May 1-6). Sign up and spread the word here.

We also learned in February that we received grant funding from the Kip Tokuda Memorial Fund that will help us fund teachers to take our online course and implement it in the secondary classroom. The online course provides teachers with curriculum and primary source material for teaching Japanese American history and to encourage critical thinking among our next generation of leaders. With the Kip Tokuda funding we can make the online course even stronger by incorporating feedback from educators who have used the curriculum in the classroom. Learn more about how to apply for the Demonstration Project below. 

As Densho starts developing our activist education work, what else do you think we should be doing to connect the Japanese American story to current events? Email me at tom.ikeda@densho.org with your thoughts. 

Sincerely,

Tom Ikeda

Call to Playwrights