Throughout my years of reading children's literature, there have been a few books and topics that have completely consumed me as a learner. The very first nonfiction book that made an indelible mark on my soul as a young adult (I promise, I am not overstating) was I Am an American by Jerry Stanley. There has been an important museum that opened recently to help us remember this time in history, and it is an update to my permanent mental toolbox for helping young learners.
When I was 20 years old and a junior in college in Arkansas, I took Dr. Jenny Beth Petty's "Children and YA Literature" class. It changed my life. Another big statement that is also an understatement. One of the books we read was I Am an American by Jerry Stanley. This was the first I had heard of the Japanese Internment during WWII. I was shocked, horrified, and it was one of those young adult moments when I realized that my education to that point had holes. It dawned on me that perhaps I had not been told the whole story in history classes in high school. Yes, I knew about slavery in America, but now I realized there were big ugly parts of our history that had been omitted, whether by accident or on purpose. As a mature adult, I now realize that I must continue to seek. At twenty, I thought that high school American History class I took was very thorough, and this revelation was a shock.
There was a map of the Internment Camps on page 40. I was surprised to learn that there were two internment camps in Arkansas. Stanley wrote on p. 41 "The other two camps, Rohwer and Jerome, were in the damp, swampy lowlands of Arkansas, where the most poisonous snakes in North America lived." I immediately wanted to go and visit these places, which were about 3 hours from my campus, but all of my research into this found that these were just empty fields in 1996 with perhaps one small marker. I was disappointed and sad that there was no museum or larger monument that would mark the ugliness that occurred here and serve to educate future generations. Manzanar, the camp that is spotlighted in this book, is a National Historic Site in California, but there was nothing in Arkansas. As Santayana stated, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."
Not only was I drawn into the important story of The Japanese Internment through this book, I also became a huge fan of Jerry Stanley's writing. Stanley was a professor at UC Bakersfield, and he wrote children's NF literature after retirement. I did a major project about his writing when I took Dr. Sylvia Vardell's NF literature class, which is archived here at my blog that I kept during grad school. I will copy my review of I Am an American at the bottom of this post.
I follow George Takei through social media, and last week I was delighted and thrilled to see that he was in McGehee, AR to dedicate the Jerome-Rohwer Interpretive Museum and Visitor Center. Finally, there is a museum for people to visit to learn about this event in our history. Takei and his family were interned at Rohwer. While I was so sad to learn that aspect of his story, I am so glad that he is willing and able to publicize this important opening. I just cannot possibly say it better than he does, so here is his article on The Huffington Post, complete with pictures, etc. I WILL make it to this museum one day and take my children with me.
George Takei: Why We Must Remember Rohwer
Mr. Takei is also in a musical about the Japanese Interment! With Lea Salonga from another of my passions, Miss Saigon! Want to see that too.
Allegiance
And here is my review of I Am an American from grad school. This was a PhD level class, so reviews were extensive. If you don't want to read this whole thing, here is my blurb: Lots of pictures and students will be drawn into the history of this time through the narrative NF story of Shi Nomura.
Stanley, Jerry. 1994. I am an American: A true story of Japanese internment. New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 0590684442.
Shi Nomura is an all-American teenage boy who just happens to be of Japanese ancestry when Pearl Harbor is bombed on December 7, 1941. In I am an American, Jerry Stanley tells Shi's story of internment during World War II and in so doing gives readers a personal account of what life was like for these innocent citizens during that time.
Stanley writes in a very matter-of-fact style which neither over-dramatizes or glosses over the plight faced by Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals living in the United States. This is seen in his writing at the end of the introduction. In a simple sentence that belies the enormity of the situation, Stanley writes simply "But despite their loyalty, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt authorized the removal of all Japanese from the west coast and their confinement in relocation camps - not because they had done anything wrong but only because they were Japanese." (Stanley, p.4) Stanley also makes repeated and effective use of statistics that speak for themselves, such as "More important, America was also at war with Germany and Italy - but few citizens of German or Italian ancestry were interned during World War II. There were 51,923 Italian aliens and 19,422 German aliens living in California - more than all the Japanese aliens living in the United States. But only a handful of them were interned." (Stanley, p.23) The number paints a powerful portrait for how unjust the governments edicts were during this ordeal. By presenting these relevant statistics and then focusing on the life of Shi Nomura, Stanley is able to show both the bigger picture and also how those decisions affected individuals. Burns comments in her review that Stanley writes I am an American with "stunning intensity," and it is clear that he is passionate about telling this story.
I am an American includes a bibliographic note, picture credits, and an index. Stanley's extensive research is the strong point of this book. The book is filled with personal stories and remembrances, and the bibliographic note reveals that Stanley was able to interivew five of the characters in the book, some more than once. These personal accounts along with Stanley's background research combine well and result in writing that is full of human drama undergirded with facts that make it that much more real.
The text of this book consists of an introduction, eight chapters, and an epilogue which tells readers what happened in later life to the characters they have come to know throughout the book. The text is set in a medium to large serif font, and the lines of text have more than the average amount of white space between them. Black and white pictures of scenes of the times and also photographs of Shi and his friends give readers a more thorough look into this story. There are also maps that show where the internment camps were located, and reproductions of propaganda posters from World War II. The text itself is set toward the center of the book with white space on the outsides of each page.
Although there is much in this story that America should not be proud of, Stanley is careful to give a balanced look at the situation. Stories are told of a Japanese-American Infantry that became "the most decorated American unit to serve in World War II" (Stanley, p.65) and of other citizens who helped their friends and neighbors, such as "Amy's family packed their possessions in crates and gave them to Hattie Woods, their next-door neighbor, who was black. Mrs. Woods had two daughters Amy's age, and all three had grown up together as close friends. Hattie volunteered to store the crates in her basement and rent the family home." (Stanley, p.33) Marton calls this book an "eloqent account of the disastrous results of racial prejudice," and it is indeed a well-balanced book that tells the story well and educates at the same time.
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