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
Leupp Isolation Center
150 military police guarded fewer than 60 unarmed men at Leupp Isolation Center. Most were never charged with a crime. No one could explain why they were there, not even the people who ran it.
Gordon Hirabayashi
Gordon Hirabayashi refused curfew and removal orders and turned himself in to force a legal challenge in 1942. When the government wouldn’t take him to prison, he hitchhiked. He believed the Constitution would prove him right.
George Takei
Before the final frontier, there was barbed wire. George Takei’s story traces a path from incarceration camps to Star Trek and a lifetime of advocacy.
Fujii V. California
The California Supreme Court struck down the Alien Land Law in Fujii v. California (1952), nearly 40 years after the state first barred Japanese immigrants from owning land through laws rooted in race.
A.L. Wirin
Born in Russia to a Jewish family, A. L. Wirin became one of the fiercest legal defenders of Japanese American civil rights, helping challenge California’s alien land and discriminatory fishing laws in landmark Supreme Court cases.
Native Sons of the Golden West
California’s anti-Japanese hostility did not begin with Pearl Harbor. The Native Sons of the Golden West helped turn decades of prejudice into policy.
Trending Stories
Miyoshi Umeki
In 1958, Miyoshi Umeki became the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award. It was a historic moment, but not a turning point. Her career reflects the limits placed on Asian performers in Hollywood, even after the highest recognition.
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.
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.