Japanese-American Detention Camps: Stories of Strength and Hope is title of May 5th talk

Storyteller Megumi will bring history to life — and she will bring along guests who lived through that history.

Storyteller Megumi has conducted dozens of personal interviews with American men and women of Japanese ancestry who experienced forced and “voluntary” eviction, incarceration, draft (and draft resistance) during World War II.

Based on these interviews, Megumi will tell true stories about the detention camps for the first half of the program, taking place on May 5 at 11:00 am in the Menlo Park City Council Chambers (701 Laurel St.)

Following her performance, she will lead a question-and-answer session with former prisoners Jimi & Eiko Yamaichi, who spent several years of their youth detained in camps including that at Tule Lake. Jimi Yamaichi went on to help found and build the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, which includes a replica of the spartan quarters his family occupied at Tule Lake.

This is one of a series of events in association with the traveling exhibition Wherever There’s A Fight: A History of Civil Liberties in California, on display throughout  May 2018 at the Menlo Park Main Library.

This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Menlo Park Library.