Monday Enrichment - Chicago's Japanese-American History: Resettlement Stories

The Japanese American Service Committee (JASC), founded in 1946 as the Chicago Resettlers Committee, invites you to explore the remarkable story of Chicago's Japanese American community. Community historian and writer Erik Matsunaga will share the little-known history of post-World War II resettlement, followed by moving, firsthand accounts from participants in JASC's Oral History Project. Through these personal stories of resilience and change, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the political and socioeconomic shifts that shaped Chicago in the decades after the war-culminating in an open discussion and Q&A with the audience.

Mike Tanimura joined the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) board in 2004 and served as president from 2008 to 2012. He chairs the Japanese Community Picnic, a major annual gathering for "new lssei," "new Nisei," and Japanese residents. A lifelong advocate for judo, he has served on the board of Tohkon Judo Academy since 1995. Erik Matsunaga is a Chicago-born community scholar and descendant of WWII-era Nikkei resettlers from California. He curates @windycitynikkei on Instagram and has shared his research on Japanese American Chicago through national and local cultural institutions. Linda Suzu Kawano is a lifelong Chicagoan whose American-born parents resettled in the city after WWII. Founder of Group Optima, she holds a doctorate in Biological Science and Experimental Pathology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Free and open to the public. Donations are welcome!
To live stream this program, visit our website.  A recording will also be available from the website one week later.
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