Resource Guide for Educators: Photographs in History
Japanese Incarceration History and Gordon's Journey in Photographs
“Deru kugi wa utareru.” Dad first said it to me. “The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hit.” It’s an old Japanese proverb. To stay out of danger or harm’s way, one must conform. One must obey. One must be...inconspicuous."
From Hold These Truths, Jeanne Sakata
This center is a converted racetrack. Shown here are horse stalls that were remodeled into living quarters for families.
Dorothea Lange/Courtesy The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
From NPR's study--Follow for all images
"After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. War Relocation Authority made a decision it would soon regret. It hired famed photographer Dorothea Lange to take pictures as 110,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes on the West Coast and interned at remote military-style camps throughout the interior.
The agency had hoped Lange's photos would depict the process as orderly and humane.But the hundreds of photos that Lange turned over did the opposite. She considered internment a grave injustice, and her photos depict it that way."
More about Hold These Truths:
Resource Guide For Educators: Further Resources
Educators: Further Resources on the History of the Play
Resource Guide for Educators-Timeline of the Japanese American Story in WWII
Educator Resource- Timeline following the Japanese American Story
Reviews of "Hold These Truths"
"Hold These Truths is what theater should be: instructive, entertaining, thought-provoking, eye-opening."
"Hold These Truths": A Message from the Playwright
"Gordon's story is a vitally important American one ... his tenacious quest for freedom echoes those of all who hunger and fight for justice ..."
"Hold These Truths" Cast and Creative Team
Hold These Truths features some of the artists who collaborated on the world premiere production of this powerful play.
The New York Times Remembers Gordon Hirabayashi
“Surprisingly, even though I lost, I did not abandon my beliefs and my values,” he said. “It is an American case, with principles that affect the fundamental human rights of all Americans.”
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