“Memory and the Nation” Program Will Feature a Panel Discussion
Date: Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, 1pm to 2:30 pm
Location: National Museum of American History 1300 Constitution Ave NW Warner Bros. Theater, 1 Center Washington, DC 20013
Registration Link (Seating is limited) HERE.
For more details about the program go HERE.
(Excerpted from press release) The JACL DC Chapter is excited to co-sponsor the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Day of Remembrance, the 82nd anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066, this Presidents Day, Feb. 19. The day will be commemorated with a panel discussion at the National Museum of American History.
The order granted the U.S. Army the authority to remove civilians from military zones established in Washington, Oregon and California during World War II, resulting in the forced removal and wrongful incarceration of more than 125,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. Forced to abandon their jobs, homes and lives, these individuals were relocated to 10 concentration camps in remote regions of the country.
Organized by the museum in alignment with the Smithsonian’s “Reckoning with Our Racial Past” initiative, this event will begin at 1 p.m. in the Warner Bros. Theater and will feature a panel discussion with William A. Harris, the director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum; artist and biologist Perrin Ireland, Roosevelt’s great granddaughter; and Madeline Y. Hsu, professor of history and director of the Center for Global Migration Studies at the University of Maryland. Moderated by David Inoue, the executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, the discussion resonates with the Smithsonian’s goal “to create a hopeful future for all people using history and reconciliation to contextualize and transform our understandings and responses to race and racism.” Information and registration details are on Eventbrite.