Resources
FILMS
ABOUT MIN YASUI:
Never Give Up! Minoru Yasui and the Fight for Justice by Holly Yasui and Will Doolittle, 2018.
Available on Vimeo for personal use: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/nevergiveup
For educational use, contact Kurt at info@oregonnikkei.org
Selected quotes from the film.
Family Gathering, by Lise Yasui, Center for Asian American Media, 1988.
Unfinished Business: The Japanese American Internment Cases, by Steven Okazaki, Farfallon Films, 1985.
An Alien Place: The Story of the Fort Missoula Detention Camp by the Historical Museum of Fort Missoula, 2015 (Masuo Yasui was imprisoned at this camp).
GENERAL:
The Orange Story, by Erika Street, Full Spectrum Features, 2016. An excellent digital multimedia project that includes film, photos and text documents.
Conscience and the Constitution by Frank Abe, 2011. Focuses on the Heart Mountain draft resisters.
Resistance at Tule Lake, by Konrad Adenaur, 2017. Focuses on the Japanese Americans who answered "no-no" on the so-called loyalty questionnaire, and were transferred to the segregation unit (Tule Lake) for so-called "disloyals."
A Flicker in Eternity, by Ann Kaneko and Sharon Yamato. Coming-of-age tale of a gifted teenager based on the diary and letters of Stanley Hayami, imprisoned in a Japanese American concentration camp and released to fight in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe.
Right of Passage by Janice Tanaka, 2014. Focuses on the redress movement and passage of the Civil LIberties Act of 1988 (redress bill).
Selected BOOKS
And Justice for All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps, edited by John Tateishi, Random House, New York, copyright 1984. One chapter on Min Yasui.
The Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, by Mitchell T. Maki, Henry H.L. Kitano, and S. Megan Bethold, University of Illinois Press, Chicago, IL. Some references to Min Yasui's role in the redress movement.
The Japanese American Cases: The Rule of Law in Time of War, by Roger Daniels, University Press of Kansas, copyright 2013. Yasui, Hirabayashi and Korematsu.
Justice at War: The Story of the Japanese-American Internment Cases, by Peter Irons, University of California Press, copyright 1983. Yasui, Hirabayashi and Korematsu.
Personal Justice Denied: the report of the Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation. First printed by the Government Printing Office in two volumes in 1982 and 1983. Reprinted by the University of Washington Press, 1997. The definitive federal report that recommended redress legislation.
Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment, by Eric Yamamoto, Margaret Chon, Carol L. Izumi, Jerry Kang, Frank H. Wu, published by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, copyright 2013. Yasui, Hirabayashi and Korematsu and other less well-known cases.
Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family, by Lauren Kessler, Oregon State University Press, copyright 2005. About the Masuo and Shidzuyo Yasui family.
Selected ARTICLES and NEWSCASTS
Smithsonian Institute on Min Yasui
http://npg.si.edu/blog/testing-law-minoru-yasui%E2%80%99s-centenary
Rachel Maddow on Minoru Yasui and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/minoru-yasui--historic-hero-for-our-times-573023299609
Frances Wang on Minoru Yasui and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/will-minoru-yasui-get-presidential-medal-freedom-n325826
Oregon Legislature makes March 28 Minoru Yasui Day, by Joseph Rose
Why Denver Is Celebrating Civil Rights Activist Minoru Yasui, by Andrea Dukakis
http://www.cpr.org/news/story/why-denver-celebrates-civil-rights-activist-minoru-yasui-today
Daughter's View of Minoru Yasui, Civil Rights Hero, by Holly Yasui
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/1/8/view-of-minoru-yasui/
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which authorized the military to exclude
"any and all" persons from areas designated by the U.S. Army as military zones.
Western Defense Command Military Areas map, from the 1942 Final Report, Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, by General John L. DeWitt
Public Proclamation #3, issued by General John L. DeWitt, declaring the curfew and travel restrictions for German enemy aliens, Italian enemy aliens and all persons of Japanese ancestry.
Arrest of Minoru Yasui as reported in the Oregon Journal. March 30, 1942.
Letter from Min Yasui to General John L. DeWitt, April 4, 1942
JACL (Mike Masaoka) disavowal of Min Yasui and Yasui's rebuttal. April 17, 1942.
Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry poster for Hood River, OR. May 27, 1942.
Japanese American concentration camps - a map showing locations within western states.
Civil Liberties League flyer. Minidoka, ID. January 1943.
FBI Report on Civil Liberties League. February 10, 1943.
Loyalty Questionnaire, administered by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) in the Japanese American concentration camps in 1943.
Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award, Denver City Council resolution, January 24, 1977.
Day of Remembrance and JACL drafts Redress bill article. Pacific Citizen (official newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League, JACL). March 2, 1979.
Nikkei of WW2 Supreme Court cases seek reversal of decisions. Pacific Citizen. January 28, 1983.
Presidential Medal of Freedom citation. November 24, 2105.
Resolution passed by Oregon legislature creating Minoru Yasui Day. February 2, 2016.
LEGAL DOCUMENTS
The Constitution in Time of War, a play based on the transcript of Minoru Yasui's trial at the Oregon District Court, June 12, 1942, narration by Judge Denny Chin, adapted by George Taylor and Karen Fink.
U.S. District Court decision, United States v Minoru Yasui. Judge James Alger Fee, November 16, 1942.
U.S. Supreme Court decision, United State v Minoru Yasui, June 21, 1943.
Minoru Yasui's Colorado Bar Admission documents. 1945-46
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS
"Notes on Evacuation" - unpublished autobiography of Minoru Yasui, August 25, 1982
"Testimony presented by Minoru Yasui to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civlians" July 16, 1981
"Minoru Yasui: You Can See the Mountain From Here" by Barbara Bellus Upp, PhD Dissertation, University of Oregon, 1997. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/22970
WEBSITES
densho.org - A grassroots organization dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans in order to deepen understandings of American history and inspire action for equity. Search for "Minoru Yasui" in Encyclopedia and Digital Archives.
oregonencyclopedia.org - A project of the Oregon Historical Society, "An Authoritative and Free Resource on All Things Oregon. " Search for "Yasui" for information about Min Yasui and his family in Hood River.
btot.pbworks.com - Request access to the digital curriculum, Beyond the Oregon Trail: Oregon's Untold History_a Social Science Curriculum Exploring Oregon's Racial History. The BTOT curriculum and teacher's guide is designed to inform our students and encourage accurate, honest and open conversation about Oregon’s multiracial history. By providing stories from many groups who came to Oregon and an overview of racist and exclusionary laws and practices, BTOT helps teachers engage students with a more inclusive history.
QUOTES
by Minoru Yasui - from the film Never Give Up! and other sources