The Official Blog of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969
August 9, 2010 1 Comment
Photo: Darrell Kunitomi
Approximately 200 students were forced to leave the campus not long after the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Read more of this post
June 21, 2010 1 Comment
In recent weeks, more California colleges and universities bestowed honorary degrees on former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II. Read more of this post
June 2, 2010 1 Comment
Several campuses in the California State University system along with a number of California Community Colleges held commencement ceremonies recently in which former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II received honorary degrees. Read more of this post
May 21, 2010 6 Comments
The following is a story from UCLA Today, UCLA’s faculty and staff newsletter. It is reprinted here with permission. Original story: Bruins Return 70 Years Later To Receive Honorary Degrees.
48 of the 200 former Japanese American students (or their representatives) who were
forced to leave UCLA due to their forced relocation and imprisonment in
American concentration camps during World War II received honorary
degrees in a May 15, 2010 ceremony at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.
Photo: Todd Cheney/UCLA Photo
The auditorium in Schoenberg Hall was dark, save for a spotlight that shone on a single musician on stage. He raised a shakuhachi—a Japanese flute—to his lips and began to play a beautiful, mournful melody.
The curtain rose, revealing a group of degree candidates seated on the stage, clad in cap and gown. Joyful cheers burst forth from the packed house, followed by a long and enthusiastic standing ovation. The degree candidates smiled, and a few wiped away tears, as the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” filled the hall. Read more of this post
May 18, 2010 2 Comments
Photo: Darrell Kunitomi
Approximately 200 students were forced to leave the campus not long after the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Read more of this post
May 18, 2010 Leave a Comment
On May 17, 2010, San Diego State University honored its former Japanese American students who were forced to leave the campus due to their imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II by awarding them honorary degrees (see California State University System To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Internees).
43 former students were identified as being eligible to receive an honorary degree from SDSU. More than twenty received the degree at the ceremony, some by family members representing relatives who had already passed away. Read more of this post
March 26, 2010 6 Comments
The following was originally published by the Office of University Communications, California State University, Fresno. It is reprinted here with permission. Original story: Honorary Degree to Fresno State Alumnus Interned In WW II.
SELMA, CA — John Hiroshi Otomo, a San Joaquin Valley native, was awarded an honorary bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno two-thirds of a century after his college career was interrupted by his family’s internment at Gila River, Arizona.
Otomo, who is 87, received his diploma from University President John D. Welty on Thursday, December 24, 2009 at City Hall in Selma, the Fresno County community where Otomo was born.
“It’s an honor,” Otomo said before the ceremony. “Having a degree after 67 years is something.” Read more of this post
March 26, 2010 7 Comments
The following is a press release from California State University, Fresno (Fresno State).
HONORARY DEGREES: Fresno State will hold a special Commencement ceremony and luncheon on May 20, 2010, for Japanese Americans receiving honorary degrees and their families. The event will begin at 11:00 AM in the Satellite Student Union on campus.
California State University, Fresno is trying to locate 87 Japanese American former students who may be eligible for honorary degrees because their college studies were interrupted by Executive Order 9066, issued February 19, 1942. Read more of this post
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