LOS ANGELES — On March 2, the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee announced that it has been selected as the recipient of a $5,000.00 grant from the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Community Outreach Program Fund, sponsored by the UCLA Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center For Japanese Studies.
This fund is designed to promote deeper understanding among members of the Japanese American community of their rich and diverse heritage.
The grant will be used to fund education and outreach efforts, including those at the 40th Manzanar Pilgrimage, scheduled for Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the Manzanar National Historic Site. The grant will also fund preservation and archival of historical materials related to the Manzanar Committee’s sponsorship of the annual Pilgrimage, along with its work to preserve and protect Manzanar and its eventual establishment as a National Historic Site.
“The award will be used to provide a venue for former internees to share their stories, the younger generation to learn, educators to teach and the general public to dialogue,” said Manzanar Committee member James To, the primary author of the grant proposal. “The funds will also be used to address our preservation and archival needs related to the Manzanar Committee’s work over the past forty years.”
“We are grateful to the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Community Outreach Program Fund for supporting our education and outreach efforts during these difficult times,” said Bruce Embrey, Co-Chair of the Manzanar Committee. “This grant will help us to expand our efforts to educate the broader public about the unjust incarceration and violation of civil liberties of the Japanese American community during World War II and about how the lessons learned from this sad chapter in American History still apply today.”
“We are proud to receive this grant and thankful that organizations such as the Terasaki Community Outreach Program Fund value the work of grass-roots organizations such as the Manzanar Committee,” added Embrey.
The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site. For more information, call (323) 662-5102 or check our web site at https://manzanarcommittee.org. You can also post a comment here on our web site.
-30-
The Manzanar Committee’s Official web site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this site are required. Photographs, graphic images, and other content not specified are subject to additional restrictions. Additional information is available at: Manzanar Committee Official web site – Licensing and Copyright Information.
Manzanar Committee Comment Policies
Manzanar Committee 
Please post your comment on this story below