Category: Education

This year has been another productive year for the Twin Cities JACL Education Committee. Below is an update of our committee’s activities since last year’s banquet.

Speaker Requests

Our committee filled the following requests for speakers:

• December 16, 2013 – Two classes at Century Middle School in Lakeville, MN
• March 11, 2014 – Christ’s Household of Faith School in St. Paul, MN in Pamela Alsbury’s 10th grade American History class
• March 20, 2014 – North Mankato Taylor Library for “One Book, One Community,” the first of a series of Community Read events centered around When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka
• May 9, 2014 – Charaka Community Support Program in Bloomington, MN
• May 22 and 28, 2014 – Six classes of 6th grade students at Pioneer Ridge Middle School, Chaska, MN
• May 29, 2014 – U.S. Attorney’s Group at the Federal Building in Minneapolis, MN
• September 30, 2014 – Seven AP Literature classes at Irondale High School, New Brighton, MN. Students were studying the book When the Emperor Was Divine
• November 3, 2014 – New Sociables Women’s Organization in Apple Valley, MN

National History Day

We provided assistance to the following students with their National History Day projects:

• March 11, 2014 – Three 10th grade students at Christ’s Household of Faith School in St. Paul, MN. Anders Strandlund, Wynston Harms, and Tim Rohlf received Honorable Mention at the state competition in the senior group documentary category for their video titled, “Behind Barbed Wire: Violations of Japanese Americans’ Civil Rights During World War II.”
• March 25, 2014 – Three 7th grade students, Kashia Yang, Solomon Xiong and Andrew Hoang, students of Steve Cox at Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul, MN for their junior group documentary project.
• June 1, 2014 – Mary Jo Dalsin, 7th grader from St. Wenceslaus School in New Prague, MN. She went on to win 3rd place in the Junior Individual Documentary category at the National History Day Contest in Washington, D.C. for her documentary film titled, “Japanese Internment Camps: Rights, Responsibilities, and Reparations.” Her video can be viewed at: http://www.tcjacl.org/archives/619

Other Committee Activities

• Participated in the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies and Great Lakes Area 2014 Annual Conference held on March 11, 2014 at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington. Staffed an information booth and distributed free copies of our committee’s teaching curriculum on the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School. Also distributed complimentary copies of the JACL National Education Committee curriculum and resource guide. Supported by a grant from the JACL Legacy Fund.
• Participated in “Many Stories, Many Perspectives: A Community Conversation” to help shape the future of Historic Fort Snelling, held on October 9, 2014 at Historic Fort Snelling Visitor Center. Since the Military Intelligence Service Language School was relocated during World War II from the Presidio in San Francisco, CA, to Camp Savage, MN, then to Fort Snelling, our committee felt that input from our community is vital to ensure that the MIS story continues to be told. Nearly 6,000 Nisei soldiers received intensive and accelerated training in the Japanese language in Minnesota. After training, these soldiers served in the Pacific Theater of Operations as translators, interpreters, and interrogators, and their work is credited with shortening the Pacific War by two years. After the war, MIS soldiers served during the Occupation of Japan in the war tribunals and during the rebuilding process.
• On December 31, 2013, our committee met with Eric Saul, curator of the exhibit, “Go for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers Fighting on Two Fronts.” We have been meeting with staff from the Minnesota Historical Society and the National Japanese American Historical Society about bringing the exhibit to our area. The exhibit is scheduled to open in April 2015 at the historic Ft. Snelling Visitors Center.
• The Twin Cities is one of five sites selected for a Teacher Training Workshop on “The U.S. Constitution in Times of Crisis,” presented by the National JACL Education Committee with funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program. Our committee is hosting the workshop, scheduled on April 24, 2015 at the Historic Ft. Snelling Visitors Center, St. Paul, MN.

Educational Resource Collection

We added several resource materials to our collection donated from the estate of Tom and Reiko Ohno. For a complete list of videos/DVDs, books, teacher guides and other resource materials, visit: http://www.tcjacl.org/education/materials.

Donations

The Education Fund received donations given in memory of Reiko Ohno from Carolyn Nayematsu and Vincent Platt, Al and Kay Yamamoto, Joyce Yamamoto and Steve Markgraf, and George and Judy Murakami.

Committee Members

Members of the Twin Cities JACL Education Committee are: Sally Sudo (co-chair), Carolyn Nayematsu (co-chair), Janet Maeda Carlson, Sylvia Farrells, Lil Grothe, Cheryl Hirata-Dulas, Lucy Kirihara, Gloria Kumagai, Karen Tanaka Lucas, and Matthew Walters. For more information, contact Sally Sudo at 952-835-7374 or ssudo@comcast.net.

Photo: Seventh grader, Mary Jo Dalsin, from New Prague, Minnesota, at the National History Day Competition in Washington, D.C., with her 3rd place medal in the junior individual documentary division for her video on the Japanese American Internment during World War II. Photo credit: Emily Dalsin.

Every year the Twin Cities JACL Education Committee receives requests from students who are participating in the National History Day competition. The requests include using resource materials from the chapter’s extensive collection, oral history interviews, or advice and feedback on their projects.

National History Day is a year-long academic program focused on historical research. Students work individually or in groups conducting primary and secondary research around an umbrella topic. The theme for 2014 was Rights and Responsibilities in History. This year about 600,000 students, 6th–12th graders from across the United States, America Samoa, Guam, International Schools, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe and Asia participated in the competition.

Over the past several years the Twin Cities JACL has had students win awards at the local, regional, and state level, but not until this year has a student received an award at the national competition held in Washington, D.C. In June, Mary Jo Dalsin, a 7th grader at St. Wenceslaus School in New Prague, MN, about 40 miles from the Twin Cities, was awarded third place in the junior individual documentary division for her 10 minute video titled, “Japanese Internment: Rights, Responsibilities, and Reparations.” She interviewed TC JACL Education Committee chair, Sally Sudo, for inclusion in her documentary. “It is always interesting to see how students are able to incorporate the Japanese American World War II experience into the History Day theme,” stated Sudo. “The TC JACL heartily congratulates Mary Jo for her efforts and fine work.”

Mary Jo’s mother, Emily Dalsin, describes her experience during the national competition as follows: “Each student is given a 20 minute timeslot for presenting her project. Documentary students begin their presentation by giving each of the three judges a written 500 word essay on their topic and an annotated bibliography. The judges read the written information, and then the student plays her ten-minute documentary. After the documentary ends, the judges interview the student. The interview/ question portion of the program takes about 5 – 7 minutes during which the student is quizzed on many aspects of the project. During the interview, MJ was eloquent and educated. She answered the judges’ questions thoughtfully and with poise. We had been working with her all week to get her ready for the interview portion of the competition. I thought I had come up with every possible question, but I was wrong. At the end, one judge asked, ‘Where do you come down on this issue? How should the line between government responsibility for national security and citizens’ rights be drawn?’ My heart started beating a mile a minute. I didn’t even know if MJ had ever considered how she felt about this issue. She knew how others felt … but had she ever considered her own opinion? When she spoke, I almost fell over. She was clear, articulate, and thoughtful. She could have been a college freshman, not a 12 year old little girl as she spoke to her judges. I was beyond impressed! At that moment, I understood the strength of the NHD program. My kid was the expert, and she was telling a story that she knew inside and out. She kept the judges’ attention and provided details that I didn’t know she knew. I was so proud!”

View Mary Jo’s award-winning video below.

Leaders from the National JACL have selected the Twin Cities as one of five locations to present a teacher training workshop, “Constitutional Vigilance in Times of Crisis.” Several times in our nation’s history, political leaders have been faced with balancing constitutional rights with issues of national security. This workshop, planned for spring of 2015, will cover the historical background of the Japanese American incarceration during WWII and connect it to current events with the ongoing lessons of civil liberties, discrimination, and justice. The project is sponsored by the National JACL with funding from the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. The TC JACL Education Committee is looking for volunteers to help with the planning and implementation of this project. If you are interested in volunteering to help, please contact Carolyn Nayematsu, nayem001@umn.edu or (651) 699-7407.

Other recent activities of the Education Committee include participation in the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies and Great Lakes Area 2014 Annual Conference, and fulfilling speaking requests.

On March 2, Sally Sudo and Lucy Kirihara set up a display table at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington, and Sally spent the next day with educators providing information and distributing complimentary resource materials, including the Twin Cities JACL curriculum guide on the MIS Language School at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling (CD-ROM), the Densho Civil Liberties Curriculum (CD-ROM), and the National JACL Education curriculum guide on “A Lesson in American History: Japanese American Experience.” A grant from the JACL Legacy Fund supported the chapter’s participation in the conference. Three teachers requested a speaker on the Japanese American World War II Experience. Participation in the conference was made possible through a grant from the JACL Legacy Fund.

For the first school speaking engagement, Sally gave a 40-minute presentation on March 11 to 10th grade history students at Christ’s Household of Faith School in St. Paul. Afterwards, Sally was interviewed by three of those students for their National History Day project. This year’s theme is “Rights and Responsibilities in History,” and in addition to the interview, the students also used materials from the Twin Cities JACL educational resources collection for their project.On March 20, Sally participated in the My Mankato “One Book, One Community” program. The book selected this year was “When the Emperor was Divine” by Julie Otsuka, and organizers gave out 500 free copies. Sally’s presentation on the Japanese American Experience During World War II was the first of three accompanying events organized by Delta Kappa Gamma, a group of women educators in Mankato.

Over 50 people attended the program, and one participant commented on Facebook: “Outstanding Community Read Program last night! Sally Sudo from the Japanese American Citizens League (and an internee at a camp as a child) gave the audience a vivid picture of life as a Japanese American in the internment camps during WWII.”The two other events in conjunction with the program are: screening of “A Time of Fear,” a documentary about the two camps in Arkansas on March 27, 6:30-8 p.m., and a discussion of Otsuka’s book, led by retired English teacher, Beth Christensen, on April 3, 7-8 p.m., both to be held at the North Mankato Police Annex Meeting Room at 1001 Belgrade Avenue, North Mankato.

We are in the planning process of bringing to Minnesota an exhibit titled, “Go For Broke: Japanese American Soldiers Fighting on Two Fronts,” curated by Eric Saul, retired from the Military Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco. The photographic exhibition chronicles the history of Japanese American Nisei soldiers from the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) who served during World War II to prove their loyalty to the country of their citizenship, the United States. This exhibit was presented at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, and opened at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii in Honolulu in March 2014.

The Education Committee has done preliminary work, including meeting Eric Saul at Sally Sudo’s home in December 2013, and meeting with representatives from the Minnesota Historical Society in March to discuss possible venues for the exhibition, including Fort Snelling Visitors Center and the Minnesota History Center.

Lastly, the Twin Cities Education Committee is accepting nominations for its inaugural “Power of Truth” Teacher Award, which will recognize a Minnesota educator in grades K-12 (not limited to a classroom teacher) who goes beyond the required Minnesota curriculum standards in teaching about the Japanese American World War II experience. The educator who is selected will be honored with a monetary award and recognition at our chapter’s annual banquet in Fall 2014. The deadline is June 15, 2014. Download the nomination form or apply online.

Please feel free to contact the Education Committee with questions about any of our projects or programs. Current members are: Sally Sudo (chair), Carolyn Nayematsu (co-chair), Janet Maeda Carlson, Lucy Kirihara, Lil Grothe, Sylvia Farrells, Gloria Kumagai, Matthew Walters, and Cheryl Hirata-Dulas.

The Education Committee’s primary focus this year was spreading the word about the role that Japanese American soldiers who trained in Minnesota played during World War II. In 2007, our committee published the first version of its Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) Teachers Curriculum and Resource Guide. This guide helped those who teach Minnesota and World War II History understand the part that our state played in instructing nearly 6,000 Japanese American soldiers in the Japanese military language at Camp Savage and Ft. Snelling. These men and women then went on to participate in every major campaign in the Pacific Theater and are credited with shortening the war by two years. This year, new academic standards for teaching Social Studies were adopted by the Minnesota Department of Education, thereby necessitating the updating and revising of the curriculum guide. We would like to give a special thanks to Matt Walters, who spearheaded this work, committee members who helped with this project, and funding from the JACL Legacy Grant. This guide can be downloaded from our chapter’s website www.twincitiesjacl.org.

One of the highlights of our year was being able to spend a day with former MIS Master Sergeant Roy Matsumoto. Roy, who celebrated his 100th birthday this year, traveled to the Twin Cities with his daughter, Karen, for the reunion of Merrill’s Marauders from his home in San Juan Island, WA. Carolyn Nayematsu conducted an oral history interview of Roy, which was filmed by Bill Kubota and Steve Ozone. Roy’s heroic actions while serving in the Burma jungle not only saved many lives, but led to victory over the enemy. Roy trained at Camp Savage and was anxious to see what was left of the site. We were graciously escorted by Janet and Will Williams of the Dan Patch Historical Society and Savage Community Library on a tour of Savage and posed for pictures by the plaque dedicated to the Japanese American soldiers at Camp Savage.

Another major project was putting on a Teachers Workshop at the Education Minnesota Professional Conference on October 17 at the River Centre in St. Paul. This is the largest educational conference in the state and is attended by some 10,000 educators. The title of our workshop was “Minnesota’s Yankee Samurai: America’s Secret Weapon in World War II.” Carolyn Nayematsu served as the moderator. Edwin (Bud) Nakasone gave an overall history of the MIS. Then Ed, along with Al Yamamoto, and Sally Sudo participated on a panel, each giving their experiences of how their lives were affected by World War II. Teachers were introduced to the use of our new MISLS Curriculum and Resource Guide. It was interesting to note that of the 31 educators attending our session, none of them had any knowledge that the MISLS was located here at Camp Savage and Ft. Snelling, and they knew very little about the role of the MIS during WWII. In addition to the workshop, Lucy Kirihara and Sylvia Farrells staffed an exhibit booth, and Jan Kirihara Monson helped with setup. Our participation in this conference was made possible through a grant from the JACL Legacy Fund.

In the September 20-October 3, 2013 issue of the Pacific Citizen, an article was published about the “Power of Truth” Teacher Award, which our committee is introducing for the first time this year. Any parent, student, or colleague (or the teachers themselves) can nominate a Minnesota educator in grades K-12 (not limited to a classroom teacher) whom they feel goes beyond the required Minnesota curriculum standards in teaching about the Japanese American experience during WWII. The winner will be honored with a monetary award and recognition at our chapter’s Fall Banquet in 2014. We hope to make this an annual award. For more information, contact Sally Sudo ssudo@comcast.net or (952) 835-7374.

We filled requests for speakers for the following schools and community groups:

• Edina South View Middle School
• “One Book, One Community” event at Lakeville, MN
• Lakeville North High School
• Eagan High School
• Control Data Ceridian Retirement Group at Creekside Community Center Bloomington, MN
• SALT (Senior Adults Learning Together) in Burnsville, MN
• Lakeville Senior Heritage Center

As for future projects – the Minnesota History Center has expressed an interest in bringing the “Go for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers Fighting on Two Fronts” exhibit to the Twin Cities. The national JACL Education Committee will be sponsoring one of their Teacher Workshops in our area in the spring of 2015. Both of these events will require a lot of man power and we will be looking for volunteers to help with these projects.

We would like to thank Mary Yoshida, Seiki Oshiro, and Sylvia Farrells for their contribution of resource materials for our library of World War II related materials. Donations to the Education Committee enable us to carry on with our work and are always appreciated. Monetary donations are 100% tax deductible, and can be made to “Twin Cities JACL Education Fund,” and sent to TC JACL treasurer Karen Lucas, 8625 Hunter Way, Apple Valley, MN 55124. For a complete list of available resources, check our website at www.twincitiesjacl.org.

Those serving on the Education Committee are: Janet Maeda Carlson, Sylvia Farrells, Lillian Grothe, Cheryl Hirata-Dulas, Lucy Kirihara, Gloria Kumagai, Carolyn Nayematsu, Sally Sudo, and Matt Walters. A special thanks to Ed Nakasone and Al Yamamoto for their advice and help with MIS-related projects. For any questions about our work, feel free to contact any committee member.

This article was originally published in the March 30, 2007, issue of the Asian American Press.

By Cheryl Hirata-Dulas

Photo: Lil Grothe (left) and Lucy Kirihara displaying the Twin Cities JACL’s new MIS Curriculum Guide at the 2007 Great Lakes Regional social studies conference. (Photo by Cheryl Hirata-Dulas)

The Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League(JACL) Education Committee unveiled its newly published curriculum guide on the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) at Great Lakes Conference ’07, a seven-state regional meeting of social studies teachers, hosted by the Minnesota Council on the Social Studies at Mystic Lake on March 8-9, 2007.

Included in the materials are biographies of local Japanese American World War II MIS veterans. Harry Umeda was in the first MIS class at Camp Savage in May 1942, and recalled the sparse quarters and initially having to study on the floor. After training, he was assigned to the Central Japanese Prisoner of War (POW) Compound in New Guinea, where he interrogated Japanese POWs for combat and strategic intelligence.

Toshio William Abe was also in the first graduating class at Camp Savage, and was sent to the China-Burma-India theater as a replacement for Merrill’s Marauders, where he served in continuous combat for eight months. He was on the front lines fighting as an infantryman, and translated captured documents and interrogated Japanese POWs there.

The other local MIS veterans highlighted are George Suzuki, Edwin (Bud) Nakasone and Bill Doi.

The project was prompted because the Minnesota Department of Education’s Academic Standards in History and Social Studies, approved in 2004, includes “Fort Snelling language school” as one of the examples to be taught under Minnesota and World War II History in grades 4-8.

The U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Service (MIS) program was established in November 1941, a few weeks before Pearl Harbor, at the Presidio of San Francisco. In 1942, the order to exclude Japanese Americans from the west coast necessitated a move inland. While most governors were against having the MIS program moved to their states, Gov. Harold Stassen felt that the people of Minnesota could provide a friendly and accepting atmosphere to the Japanese American soldiers. The MIS program was moved to Camp Savage in May 1942, and later to larger facilities at Fort Snelling from August 1944 to June 1946.

The highly classified MIS program has been called “America’s secret weapon in the war against Japan.” Six thousand soldiers, mostly second-generation Americans of Japanese ancestry (Nisei), were given intense and accelerated training in the Japanese language.

Shipped overseas in small teams, the MIS soldiers accompanied American and Allied combat troops in every major landing in the Pacific. Their Japanese language skills enabled them to provide the American and Allied forces with critical information about the Japanese military tactical and strategic plans. After the war, MIS soldiers acted as interpreters at the war crimes trials, and served under General Douglas MacArthur’s occupation force in Japan.

According to General Charles Willoughby, Chief of Staff for Military Intelligence for General MacArthur, “the Nisei shortened the Pacific war by two years, and saved probably a million American lives and saved probably billions of dollars.”

A historical marker placed in 1995 by the Savage Chamber of Commerce at Highway 13 near Xenwood Avenue in Savage, identifies the site of Camp Savage and describes the role of the MIS during World War II.

The MIS soldiers played such an instrumental role during World War II, however, it is only fairly recently that their efforts have come to public attention.

“We are happy that government documents have been declassified and that the experiences of the MIS soldiers are being recognized and taught to students,” stated Sally Sudo, chair of the Twin Cities JACL Education Committee.

The MIS curriculum guide is available to educators for no charge through generous support from the family of the late Toshio William Abe and from George Suzuki. Lesson plans and learning activities are included that incorporate important aspects of the MIS, such as training at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, interrogating Japanese prisoners of war, and translating the Japanese language.