The Official Blog of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969
June 21, 2010 2 Comments
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 2 Comments
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 7 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 3 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
March 12, 2010 9 Comments
The following is a press release from the California State University system.
LONG BEACH, CA — Do you know of a Japanese American student who was removed from a California State University campus in 1941-42 and incarcerated in a camp?
Six California State University campuses are searching for 250 Japanese American students who were forcibly removed from CSU campuses during World War II and relocated to prison camps, interrupting their academic careers.
The CSU campuses plan to award these Nisei students Special Honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters degrees as part of the CSU’s Nisei Honorary Degree Project. The CSU project is a result of Assembly Member Warren Furutani’s bill, Assembly Bill 37, which called upon the CSU, University of California and the community colleges to award the degrees. Read more of this post
February 18, 2010 6 Comments
The following is a press release from the UCLA Newsroom. Original story: UCLA Seeks Japanese American Students Whose Education Was Interrupted during World War II.
By Claudia Luther, UCLA Newsroom
February 17, 2010
To download a printable flyer detailing UCLA’s honorary degree program, click on the image above.
Some of the former students, most now in their 80s and 90s, are expected to attend the ceremony, and family members will receive diplomas on behalf of others who are unable to attend. Still others will receive diplomas by mail. Many former students are deceased.
Approximately 700 University of California students were affected by the World War II directive, more than 200 of whom attended UCLA. The UC Board of Regents voted last July to suspend its moratorium on honorary degrees in order to recognize the students forced from UC classrooms. Read more of this post
January 25, 2010 1 Comment
The following is from the University of California, Berkeley NewsCenter. It is reprinted here with permission.
By Cathy Cockrell, University of California, Berkeley NewsCenter
December 16, 2009
Yukio Kawamoto celebrates his
freshly minted UC Berkeley diploma.
Photo: Cathy Cockrell/UC Berkeley NewsCenter
In a special ceremony during the traditional December convocation on Sunday, December 13, 2009, the elderly Japanese Americans accepted their honorary diplomas. Mounting the stage in Haas Pavilion’s cavernous basketball arena, some with the help of canes, they sat in two long rows of chairs, wearing mortar boards, gowns, and blue-and-gold leis of origami cranes fashioned by local school children.
For 78 additional Japanese Americans now deceased or too infirm to attend, family members accepted diplomas in their honor. Read more of this post
January 25, 2010 13 Comments
The following was excerpted from press releases issued by the California State University system.
California State University System To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Internees: Seeking Former Students Who May Be Eligible
LONG BEACH, CA — The California State University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to grant honorary bachelor’s degrees to Japanese Americans who were enrolled at CSU campuses and forced to internment camps during World War II. Read more of this post
The official blog of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969.
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