Echoes from the Past, Part 1: Inside Tule Lake
In this historically grounded and deeply moving presentation, siblings Dave and Peggy Doi explore the history surrounding the 1942 forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. Combining objective historical facts with intimate family history, the presenters will share their parents’ personal experiences of being ordered into the Tule Lake camp in northern California and what daily life was like for them behind barbed wire. This session offers a powerful, humanizing look into a critical chapter of American history and raises important questions for today.
This presentation is funded in part by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Echoes from the Past, Part 2: Leaving Tule Lake
Siblings Dave and Peggy Doi share how their parents ultimately left the Tule Lake incarceration camp. Learn how their father and three dozen other men from Tule Lake became the first to enlist in the US Army from their camp, attending a highly classified Military Intelligence Language School (MILS) near Minneapolis to prepare for vital service in the South Pacific. This presentation weaves together their father’s secret wartime contributions and their mother’s path to freedom through a marriage proposal, offering a unique perspective on courage and survival and inspiration for questions facing people of conscience today. No need to have attended the first presentation.
This presentation is funded in part by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Revolutionary Myanmar: Women on the Front Lines
Authors Edith Mirante and Jenny Hedström will discuss their latest books, including their first-hand experiences in Myanmar's war zones and a focus on the roles of women in the current struggle against a brutal military dictatorship.
This event is presented in partnership with PAEMA and World Oregon.
Screening: El Camino de los Pueblos Maya a Oregon / The Journey of Mayan Communities in Oregon
Join filmmakers Caty Lucas and filmmakers Elizabeth Lucas-Lucas for a screening of their new documentary "El Camino de los Pueblos Maya a Oregon," followed by a Q&A.
Over the past fifty years, hundreds of thousands of people of Maya descent have come to the United States, driven by genocide and economic deprivation. Some of them now live in Oregon. The size of the Maya population is hard to estimate, because it is so diverse: the Maya peoples comprise communities across Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras, who speak dozens of distinct languages. In this video, by Oregon Humanities Community Storytelling Fellow Caty Lucas, several Mayan Oregonians share their stories and why they came to the US.
50 Years After, Voices from a Diaspora: Thuy Tran
Thuy Tran talks about her experiences as an optometrist, member of the Oregon Air National Guard, and Oregon State Representative in this video by Kevin Truong.
Unapologetically Afghan American
Yalda Asmatey writes about straddling two worlds: Afghanistan, the country of her birth, and the United States.
Finding a Voice as an Advocate for Others
Sosan Amiri and Rozzell Medina speak about power, justice, education, and community.