June 16, 2010

The 5th Annual Civil Liberties Symposium

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:14 am by chiyokomartinez

This year the Minidoka Pilgrimage will be attending the Civil Liberties Symposium on Friday, June 25 hosted by the College of Southern Idaho.

Pilgrimage Participants do not have to register for the Friday symposium, but you should register if you want to attend the Thursday portion.

Here is more information on the symposium:

Thursday, June 24 & Friday, June 25

8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Canyon Crest Event Center

This year’s event will explore the role that art plays in periods of conflict over civil liberties and will utilize several perspectives, including the long and continuing struggle for civil rights. Japanese Americans in camps like Minidoka used art in various ways to cope with their incarceration and to make statements about that experience and this will be a focus of the conference. Artists have continued to revisit this period and continue to inform us about its significance in the continuing struggle for justice. All facets of artistic expression will be examined, including photography, literature, painting, film, and music.
For more information, contact Russ Tremayne, 732-6885 or email rtremayne@csi.edu;
Lauri Watkins, 732-6850 or email lwatkins@csi.edu

Official Website: https://www.csi.edu/forms/civilliberties/index.asp

Guest Speakers/Presentations:

Will be lecturing on his latest book Mine Okubo: Following her own Road. The book is a wide-range anthology on the life and career of the Nisei artist/writer Mine Okubo, who defied conventional assumptions about women, Japanese Americans and creative artists during a career that spanned nearly seven decades, and it represents a companion volume to Okubo’s renowned memoir of her camp experience, Citizen 13660.

Will be giving a lecture on his exhibition, “An American Diary.” His is a retired professor at the University of Kansas after teaching there for 35 years. He has had over 125 solo exhibitions of paintings and prints, as well as his experimental theater pieces such at such venues as the Franklin Furnace, New York City, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Will be giving a lecture her experiences in camp and on her book. She is the author of the acclaimed Farewell to Manzanar. Published in 1972, the book is based on what her family went through before, during, and after the war.

Abstract: Photographs of the Camps
Momohara will go through historic and contemporary images of the camps, as well as resources to find useful photographs for educational purposes.

Will read from his book A Cold Wind in Idaho. He was born in the Minidoka Idaho War Relocation Center during World War II. Matsuda had a Ph.D. in education and was recently a visiting professor at Seattle University.

• Idaho State University Political Scientist

Dave Adler specializes in the fields of Public Law, The Supreme Court, Presidency, and American Political Thought.

• Emeritus Historian, Boise State University

Bob Sims has been at BSU since 1970 and served as dean of the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs for nine years. He is currently preparing a manuscript on Minidoka, the World War II Japanese American camp located in Idaho.

Megumi (legal name: Grace Fleming) is passionate about telling World War II Japanese American Internment Camp Stories based on dozens of interviews she has conducted with former internees. She has been presenting the Japanese American Detention Stories of Strength and Hope since 1996 at schools, conferences, theaters, and pilgrimages.

Will do a special presentation on Friday night. Established in 1994, they aspire to create taiko (the Japanese word for drum and the name of the art form) performance of the highest artistic quality to touch the universal in all of us and to provide a strong and beautiful voice for Asian America.

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