Three-day commemoration event lineup marks Japanese American removal

By Luciano Marano • March 27, 2019 9:30 am
An Army soldier holds Setsuko Kino, 8, while they wait for the ferry Kehloken to arrive to take Japanese American families off Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942. (Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum)
An Army soldier holds Setsuko Kino, 8, while they wait for the ferry Kehloken to arrive to take Japanese American families off Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942. (Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum)

To commemorate the 77th anniversary of the forced removal and exile of 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, a special three-day lineup of events will be held next week.

The offerings include a film premiere, a public discussion, and a live multimedia play, among other attractions.

Presented by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, the National Park Service, the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum and Eagle Harbor Book Company, the proceedings begin on Thursday, March 28.

From 7 to 8 p.m. Eagle Harbor Book Company will host a conversation with historian Art Hansen, author of the new book “Barbed Voices: Oral History, Resistance, and the World War II Japanese American Social Disaster,” about the resistance movement in American concentration camps by Japanese Americans.

A full day’s worth of happenings are then slated for Saturday, March 30, including the commemoration ceremony itself:

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. First public display of rare and selected WWII-era Japanese American community artifacts, shown in tandem with the Bainbridge Island Japanese pioneer village exhibit Yama and Nagaya at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum. Admission is free; visit www.bihm.wpengine.com/yama-nagaya to learn more.

• 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. 77th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial (4192 Eagle Harbor Drive NE). Parking is extremely limited at the memorial site, carpooling is strongly requested. Visit www.bijac.org www.bijaema.org for more details.

• 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. World premiere of the National Park Service film “Bearing the Unbearable,” documenting the Bainbridge Island Japanese American WWII story, followed by a speakers’ panel featuring representatives of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community, film producers and the National Park Service at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.Admission is free, though seating is limited (first come, first served).

The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art will also be hosting three featured Momentum Festival events in their Frank Buxton Auditorium Saturday, all of which directly relate to Japanese American history and issues of social justice.• 3 to 4:30 p.m. “Within the Silence” by Living Voices, a live multimedia play that combines dynamic solo performances with archival film and sound, creating a moving and personal journey of one Japanese American family’s fight to sustain faith in the country that they love, followed by a question-and-answer session with the play’s cast and producers at BIMA. Admission is free, seating is limited (first-come, first-served) .

• 7 to 8:30 p.m. “Sparks and Catalysts: Social Justice and the Role of Book Arts,” a stimulating panel discussion at BIMA about how the intimate art form and immersive graphic, tactile qualities of artists’ books wrangle with critical and often poignant human issues. Moderated by Jane Carlin, panelists Fred Hagstrom, Carletta Carrington Wilson, Ellen Knudson, and Jeffrey Morin will share their perspectives and approaches to this important work.

Finally, on Sunday, March 31, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at BIMA, noted artist and professor Fred Hagstrom will be discussing his prolific work, highlighting two specific books about the Seattle area and Japanese American history. The Carlton College art professor’s work is represented in more than 50 collections including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Libraries, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Walker Art Center.

Visit www.biartmuseum.org/event/art-talks-fred-hagstrom to learn more.