Japanese Americans

Great Plains lecture: “Rescuing” Japanese American Histories of Nebraska (Read More)

Black and white photo of rows of Japanese people on stage, some in theater costumes and masks.
Learn about the vibrant histories of Japanese Americans in Nebraska from the late 19th Century to the present and the community-led efforts to maintain them in this screening and panel discussion. This event begins with a screening of Nebraska Public Media’s recently aired “Nebraska Stories: Rescuing the Japanese Hall” episode (30 minutes), followed by a panel of Japanese American community members, Vickie Sakurada Schaepler (Japanese Hall and History Project Coordinator), Kim Hachiya (community descendant), and Sharon Ishii-Jordan (Professor Emerita at Creighton University and community descendant), and the senior producer of “Nebraska Stories,” Kay Hall. This event will be moderated by Dr. Donna Doan Anderson. This is part of the Paul A. Olson Great Plains lecture series by the Center for Great Plains Studies.

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Early Japanese Settlers in Nebraska (Read More)

Although the majority of Japanese immigrants settled in Hawaii, California, and the West Coast, some pushed further inland, to work on the railroad and coal mines, ending up in Nebraska. A few died from illness, the Spanish Flu, train accidents, their gravestones written in Japanese characters. Others returned to Japan or moved to larger cities. But some stayed, put down roots, raised families, farmed, published newspapers, opened businesses, worked in meat packing plants, laundries, pool halls, and restaurants. This talk will illustrate their journey from Japan, and some of the various paths that brought them here, as well as the transitions they made along the way. Speaker: Julie Ushio, a member of the Advisory Board at Japanese Hall, Legacy of the Plains Museum, in Gering. She grew up in Alliance, Nebraska, where her Japanese grandparents settled.

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Righting a Wrong/Preserving a Legacy Exhibition (Read More)

Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian, examines the complicated history and impact of Executive Order 9066 which led to the incarceration of 75,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and 45,000 Japanese nationals following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Young and old lived crowded together in hastily built camps, endured poor living conditions, and were under the constant watch of military guards for two and a half years. Meanwhile, brave Japanese American men risked their lives fighting for the United States. Some 40 years later, members of the Japanese American community led the nation to confront the wrong it had done—and urged Congress to make it right. In partnership with Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, the exhibition “Preserving a Legacy: Japanese in Nebraska” expands on the story told by the traveling Smithsonian exhibition “Righting a Wrong.” The story of Japanese Americans in Nebraska is filled with hope and support in the state. This exhibit strives to tell these stories. Japanese Nebraskans lived mostly in western farming communities. They worked on farms and in stockyards, in hospitality and domestic service, in professions, and as entrepreneurs. Omaha’s small Japanese community included Harry Watanabe, who founded the Oriental Trading Company in 1932. Unlike the West Coast, Nebraska Japanese were not incarcerated during World War II, but some lost jobs and community leaders were arrested and questioned. Japanese immigrants were designated “enemy aliens.” Newspapers across the state reprinted warnings that they and their U.S.-born children might act as spies and saboteurs. Some Nebraskans responded with anti-Japanese hostility. Others spoke against mass incarceration and even hastened the release of those incarcerated by opening jobs to workers and enrollment to students. Nebraskans of Japanese ancestry have led the way in righting the wrongs of the 1940s, honoring the rights and dignity of all Americans today. Exhibit open during normal museum hours Tuesday through Saturday: Tuesday and Wednesday: 9:00AM – 4:00PM Thursday: 9:00AM – 8:00PM Friday and Saturday: 9:00AM – 4:00PM Sunday and Monday : Closed Closed during state observed holidays. Regular museum admission applies.

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