Books
- NCRR: The Grassroots Struggle for Japanese American Redress and Reparations by Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR)
- The Soil of Leadership by Britt Yamamoto
- Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen
- Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp by Douglas Nelson
- Remembering Heart Mountain: Essays on Japanese American Internment in Wyoming by Mike Mackey
- Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II by Eric Muller
- Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps by Eric Muller
- The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America by Bradford Pearson
- Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II by Roger Daniels
- A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America by Greg Robinson
- Historical Memories of the Japanese American Internment and the Struggle for Redress by Alice Yang Murray
- When Can We Go Back to America? by Susan Kamei
- They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott
- Lone Heart Mountain by Estelle Ishigo
- Stanley Hayami: Nisei Son by Stanley Hayami and Joanne Oppenheim
Films/Videos
- Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation online programming library
- The Heart Mountain Root Cellar, by Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation
- The Resistance: Fighting the Draft at Heart Mountain, from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation
- Conscience and the Constitution, documentary about the draft resistance movement at Heart Mountain
- Film Gathering, documentary film by Lise Yasui that chronicles her exploration of her family’s hidden history—especially that of her paternal grandfather, Masuo Yasui —through interviews and family home movies and photographs.
- Moving Walls, documentary chronicling what became of the barracks built to house 11,000 Japanese Americans at the Heart Mountain concentration camp
- Days of Waiting: The Life and Art of Estelle Ishigo, documentary about artist Estelle Ishigo, one of the few Caucasians to be incarcerated with Japanese Americans in 1942
- Arthur and Estelle: A Heart Mountain Love Story
- Full 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians LA Hearings
- Speak Out for Justice (August 6, 1981) | 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Los Angeles hearings, testimony of Amy Iwasaki Mass
- NCRR Shortened Video (~5 min)
- Omoiyari: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi, documentary of Kaoru Ishibashi’s music journey to understand WWII era Japanese Incarceration, assimilation, and what it means to be a minority in America today
- The Cats of Mirikitani, documentary of an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of community, art and cats
Podcasts
- Look Toward the Mountain: Stories from Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp
- Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order
Artists/Exhibitions
Terminology
In the 1940s, government officials and military leaders used euphemisms to describe their punitive and unjust actions against people of Japanese ancestry in the United States. The deceptiveness of that language can now be judged according to evidence from many sources, most notably the government’s own congressionally-ordered investigation, documented in Personal Justice Denied (1982-83), the report of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC).
Today, these decades-old euphemisms persist in textbooks, news sources, and other platforms—meaning that most Americans learn about this history through a distorted lens that diminishes the harsh realities of Japanese American WWII incarceration. Learn more here: https://densho.org/terminology/.
Acknowledgements
Our appreciation to Nikkei Progressives, Densho, and Little Tokyo Service Center for their contribution to this guide.
To learn more about Heart Mountain and the incarceration of Japanese Americans, click here.
