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
Frank Chin
In 1978, when redress seemed stalled and political leaders dismissed reparations as “guilt mongering,” playwright Frank Chin helped rewrite the script. He helped launch the first Day of Remembrance, urging a community to publicly relive incarceration, reigniting a movement that would eventually lead to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
Bombardment of Ellwood
On February 23, 1942, a Japanese submarine shelled the California coast in the Bombardment of Ellwood. The damage was minor, but panic spread. The next night, the so-called “Battle of Los Angeles” sent more than 1,400 U.S. anti-aircraft shells into the sky. Within days, mass removal of Japanese Americans formally began.
Kristi Yamaguchi
When Kristi Yamaguchi won Olympic gold in 1992, she made history as the first Asian American woman to do so in winter sports. But her victory also exposed deeper tensions about race, identity, and who was seen as marketable in America.
Bhagat Singh Thind
In 1923, the Supreme Court ruled that “white” meant what the “common man” believed it meant — not what science said. Bhagat Singh Thind, a World War I veteran classified as Caucasian, lost his U.S. citizenship because he was not considered white enough.
Day of Remembrance
February 19 marks the signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942. In 2022, it was formally designated as the national Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Incarceration, recognizing decades of survivor testimony and the movement that led to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907
In 1907, amid rising racial tensions in California, the United States quietly pressured Japan to stop sending laborers. The “Gentlemen’s Agreement” avoided formal legislation, but it set a precedent: immigration would be limited not by equality, but by race.
Trending Stories
Kanaye Nagasawa
Kanaye Nagasawa was the first Japanese national to live permanently in the United States and became the first Wine King of California. His legacy tells a story of ambition, success, and an American dream that could not be passed on because of discriminatory laws.
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.
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.