Search the Media Repository
Discover the curated images, videos, and primary sources featured throughout Foundations and Futures
History is more than just text on a page; it is the photographs, voices, and artifacts of the people who lived it. The images and recordings featured across Foundations and Futures are part of a meticulously curated media repository. Whether you are building a lesson plan or investigating an artifact, you can use this database to trace the provenance of our media: discover who created an asset, the historical context behind it, and how it can be used to bring Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences into your classroom.
Multimedia
Chapters
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Image
Freedom for Chol Soo Lee Poster
This 1977 photo (left) of Chol Soo Lee, taken in prison, became the inspiration for artist Wes Senzaki’s poster created for the movement to free Chol Soo Lee.
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Image
Chol Soo Lee Imprisoned
This 1977 photo (left) of Chol Soo Lee, taken in prison, became the inspiration for artist Wes Senzaki’s poster created for the movement to free Chol Soo Lee.
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Video
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066
View this clip from the documentary Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 to learn how military officials altered and destroyed evidence so they could justify to the US Supreme Court the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans.
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Japanese American Children
Many Nisei strove to assimilate and to provide their Sansei (third-generation Japanese Americans) children, like those pictured in this 1956 photo, opportunities to succeed in American society. Many Sansei grew up unaware that the U.S. government had imprisoned their parents and grandparents.
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Text
Swimming in the American
In this essay, Hiroshi Kashiwagi describes how attorney Wayne Collins painstakingly helped to secure the U.S. citizenship of thousands of Nisei, like Kashiwagi, who had renounced their citizenship under duress at the Tule Lake camp. Kashiwagi also recounts the circumstances of his renunciation and why he reacted negatively to the “loyalty questionnaire.”
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Chicago Resettlement Committee
In 1945, Japanese Americans formed the Chicago Resettlers Committee to assist former inmates find housing and jobs. In this photo, the group’s executive director meets with a person in need of help.
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Image
Evergreen Hotel
These girls lived in the Evergreen Hostel in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles after their families left camps. The hostel, one of several on the West Coast for returning Japanese Americans, provided a bed and food for $1–$1.50 a day.
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We Hereby Refuse p8
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p7
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p6
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p5
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p4
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p3
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p2
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse p1
This excerpt from the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse chronicles Jim and Gene Akutsu’s decisions to resist the draft, their subsequent trials, and imprisonment
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We Hereby Refuse (Page 3)
Excerpt from We Hereby Refuse on the real-life story of Hiroshi Kashiwagi.
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We Hereby Refuse (Page 2)
Excerpt from We Hereby Refuse on the real-life story of Hiroshi Kashiwagi.
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We Hereby Refuse (Page 1)
Excerpt from We Hereby Refuse on the real-life story of Hiroshi Kashiwagi.
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Video
James Omura Interview
In this clip, journalist James Omura provides a perspective critical of the JACL and Mike Masaoka.
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Video
Bill Hosokawa Interview
In this clip, Bill Hosokawa, a longtime columnist for the JACL’s newspaper, discusses why the JACL urged Japanese Americans to cooperate with the government.
