Today is Civil Liberties Day of Remembrance, commemorating the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the removal and incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans.
To learn more, visit the Densho Encyclopedia, "a free and publicly accessible website that provides concise, accurate, and balanced information on many aspects of the Japanese American story during World War II." For thousands of photographs, letters, interviews, and other materials, pop over to the Densho Digital Repository. If you want to start locally, browse under Seattle.
What happened to the hundreds of Japanese-American students at the University of Washington when the order was issued? You've probably heard of Gordon Hirabayashi, who challenged the curfew and then relocation, all the way to the Supreme Court. (The injustice of the curfew struck him one night when he was studying late in Suzzallo Library. Why should he have to leave the library when his classmates didn't?) For more about the UW experience, see Interrupted Lives: Japanese American Students at the University of Washington, 1941-1942 from UW Libraries.
Last year's post on Civil Liberties Day of Remembrance highlighted a few books in our collection. Since Covid restrictions make it impossible to wander through the library, I updated the post to add links to ebook editions. Take a look! (One day, you'll be able to browse in the library again. We just don't know when.)
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