National Day of Remembrance, observed annually on or around February 19, recalls President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942. The order resulted in the illegal incarceration of nearly 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent who were living mostly in Washington, Oregon, and California. On February 16, 2023, Washington State History Museum in Tacoma will honor the annual Japanese American Day of Remembrance with the opening of a new exhibit “Resilience – A Sansei Sense of Legacy”. Meet Susan Kamei, author of the acclaimed book “When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II”. She will be joined in conversation by Professor Lisa Hoffman of the University of Washington Tacoma. Kamei and Hoffman will discuss the book, which is a comprehensive historical narrative of the WWII imprisonment of more than 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. They will talk about the enduring impact of this shameful episode in our country’s history. Continue to explore the impacts of Executive Order 9066 through “Within the Silence”, an interactive performance presented by Living Voices. Admission is FREE. More info: 2023 Day of Remembrance – Washington State Historical Society (washingtonhistory.org)
