Posts – Page 2 – Digital Museum of the History of Japanese in NY

Minoru Yamasaki, a Japanese American architect, is regarded as one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century for his design of the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. He was born and grew up in Washington State, attended college at the University of Washington, and relocated to Manhatted in 1934, where he enrolled at New York University to pursue as master’s degree in architecture.

After graduating, he secured employment with the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which was instrumental in keeping him out of the internment camps during WWII.

He was chairman of the Resettlement Council of Japanese American Organizations in New York City, and a representative of the Art Council of Japanese Americans for Democracy.

Yosei Amemiya

Yosei Amemiya was born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1908. He moved to New York from the West Coast in 1914. He worked as both a painter and architectural and commercial photographer during the 1920s.

Issei and Internment at Ellis Island

In the early 20th century, New York’s predominantly Issei Japanese community comprised a diverse range of professionals, including businesspeople, diplomats, merchants, industrial workers, business owners, domestic workers, artists, and writers. As the war intensified in the late 1930s, Japanese businesses began to close their New York offices, leading many Japanese-born workers and their families to […]

Japanese and Japanese Americans in the 1940s

Unforgotten New York Stories: Japanese and Japanese Americans in the 1940s Despite the wealth of information available on the history of Japanese Americans on the West Coast, the history of Japanese, Japanese Americans, and their pro-democracy movement in the New York area during World War II remains largely overlooked. In commemoration of the 80th anniversary […]

Japanese American Committee for Democracy

The Japanese American Committee for Democracy (JACD) was an anti-fascist civil rights and social organization that united New York’s wartime Japanese community. Heavily influenced by the Communist Party, its members were engaged in both politics and the arts.

The JACD was founded in 1940 under the leadership of Reverend Alfred Akamatsu, the pastor of Manhattan’s Japanese Methodist Church.

The JACD was active throughouth WWII. First, it worked to build support for the war effort. Committee members organized a well-publicized blood donor brigade for soldiers, and made public statements calling for victory over Japan. Meanwhile, JACD members joined forces with the Office of War Information to make pro-allied radio broadcasts and pamphlets. They also focused on community activism and support, helping families find homes, employment, and social support networks.

After the Allied victory in summer 1945, JACD activities tapered off, before disbanding in late 1950.