Quiet Americans is a digital storytelling project about Japanese American history — stories of injustice, resilience, and resistance. We explore the lessons we’ve learned and the ones we failed to, from the past.
This project is inspired by the life of one Nisei (a second-generation Japanese American) who went from incarceration camps to volunteering for the U.S. Army. He served in the Pacific, worked in post-war Japan as a Military Intelligence Service officer, and later fought in the Korean War. Yet, like so many in his generation, he rarely spoke about it. He carried his story quietly. We’re here to tell these stories, so we never forget.
Latest Stories
Ōyama v. California
On January 19, 1948, the Supreme Court ruled in Ōyama v. California, dealing a major blow to California’s Alien Land Laws. Civil rights attorney A. L. (Abraham Lincoln) Wirin helped make that possible.
Mary Tsukamoto
Born in 1915, Mary Tsukamoto overcame poverty, arthritis, and unjust incarceration to become a pioneering educator and civil rights leader whose legacy still shapes California classrooms today.
Japanese Canadian Incarceration
January 14, 1942 marked the beginning of a seven-year exile for Japanese Canadians. More than 27,000 people were removed, incarcerated, and barred from returning home until 1949.
Moab Isolation Center
In January 1943, the U.S. government opened the Moab Isolation Center in Utah to imprison Japanese American men labeled “troublemakers.” They were already incarcerated. Moab existed to punish those who refused to stay silent.
Mamie Tape
On January 9, 1885, the California Supreme Court ruled that denying Mamie Tape admission to public school because she was Chinese violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The law was clear. California’s response was not.
Kakurō Shigenaga
On January 7, 1942, authorities arrested Kakurō Shigenaga by mistake. They were looking for his brother. When they realized the error, they arrested the brother too — and kept them both.
Trending Stories
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor shook the nation — and fear quickly turned on Japanese Americans. Propaganda, arrests, and mass incarceration followed, reshaping more than 120,000 lives.
Lost Battalion
The Lost Battalion rescue remains one of the most extraordinary acts of courage in U.S. military history, carried out by soldiers whose own families were imprisoned back home.
Executive Order 9066
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced removal and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans. The order paved the way for one of the largest violations of civil liberties in U.S. history.