During the 1960s when the civil rights movement was demanding redress for the historic racial inequality in the United States, Japanese and other Asian Americans were often portrayed as “model minorities” who overcame discrimination through their own efforts.

This talk will take another approach, showing how Japanese Americans underwent a process of selective immigration, return migration, and family formation. The Nisei were a result of this triple-selection process because their parents were more educated and had a higher occupational status, compared to both Japanese immigrants and Japanese in Japan.

Masao Suzuki is professor of economics at Skyline College.  He has a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford, where he wrote his dissertation on Japanese American economic achievement, 1900 to 1942.  He lives in San Jose with his wife and daughter  and is a long-time activist with the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee and the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression.
Cost: Event is free with admission to the museum (non-members, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free).
Please email PublicPrograms@JAMsj.org or call the JAMsj office at (408) 294-3138 to reserve your spot.