Jonathan van Harmelen

jonathan

Jonathan van Harmelen is currently a Ph.D student in history at UC Santa Cruz specializing in the history of Japanese-American incarceration. He holds a BA in history and French from Pomona College and an MA from Georgetown University. He can be reached at jvanharm@ucsc.edu.

Updated February 2020

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Fresno Stories

Dutch Leonard - The Ballplayer who challenged Fresno's racism

By Jonathan van Harmelen
6 Mar 2023

“Dutch” Leonard is no longer a household name, but he left behind an enduring reputation in baseball history. Originally born in Birmingham, Ohio and raised in Fresno, California, Hubert Benjamin Leonard became one of the greatest pitchers in baseball as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. In 1914, he achieved the modern-era record for lowest single-season earned run average (ERA) of all time at 0.96 – a record that he still holds to this day. He led the Red Sox to World Series championships twice, first against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1915, and then the fol…

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Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 2

By Jonathan van Harmelen
21 Feb 2023

Read Part 1 >> In January 1952, Masaoka again approached Yates for a private bill. Unlike the other cases, here Masaoka pleaded Yates to help a war husband. The case involved Yoshiko Joy Okamoto, a translator working for the U.S. Air Force in Japan. Okamoto, born in New York City, had been stranded in Japan during World War II, during which time she met Toshio Tsuzuki. Although Okamoto was initially stripped of her U.S citizenship because she had lived in Japan during the war, following a lengthy investigation the United States reinstated her citizenship in 1946. After the war, O…

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Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 1

By Jonathan van Harmelen
20 Feb 2023

The wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans resulted in thousands of former inmates migrating throughout the United States. Among the cities to welcome resettlers leaving camp, Chicago received the most. By the end of the war, over twenty thousand Japanese Americans called Chicago home, making it the second-largest Japanese American community in the United States. Although the exodus of Japanese Americans to Chicago was significantly smaller than the Great Migrations of African Americans from the South during the early 20th century, both movements shaped the dynamics of the city. Historia…

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Bill Mauldin – An Artist with a Cause

By Jonathan van Harmelen
10 Feb 2023

Few artists captured the wartime experiences of American GIs like Bill Mauldin. One of the most prolific cartoonists of the mid-20th century, Mauldin chronicled the stories of American soldiers across the European Theater of Operation, capturing their everyday struggles and instilling humor amidst the horrors of war. Mauldin then took up work as a political cartoonist after the war, and consistently focused on the causes of everyday individuals and those facing unjust persecution. Some of the earliest examples of his support for those unjustly persecuted are his comics on Japanese American…

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Joe Oishi’s Nursery and The Promised Year

By Jonathan van Harmelen
23 Jan 2023

In October 2022, during a trip to Berkeley, California to do research at the Bancroft Library, I stopped in at Eastwind Books. Normally, when I go book shopping, I usually look for copies of older works that are either out of print or unavailable online. Sometimes, by good fortune, I find a book that I have always wanted to read but never was able to purchase online. As I rummaged through the dollar cart at Eastwind, I pulled out a copy of Yoshiko Uchida’s 1959 book The Promised Year. I have long been intrigued by Uchida’s writing career, and I had previously published an artic…

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Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Jonathan van Harmelen

Fresno Stories

Series this author contributes to

Two Worlds: The Life and Photography of Wakaji Matsumoto

Wakaji Matsumoto: An Artist in Two Worlds

Grammy-Nominated Musician Masa Takumi and His Move to the U.S. in 2018

Telma Shiraishi Gives a Unique Flavor to Japanese Cuisine with Brazilian Ingredients

Who is Nikkei? A Conversation with the President of The Association of Nikkei & Japanese Abroad, Mr. Katsuyuki Tanaka

Aloha, France — Part 2

Aloha, France — Part 1

Finding Forgiveness: Director Stafford Arima on Bringing the Award-Winning Memoir to the Stage

オハヨウ・ボンディア II

「バッチャン」は人気の言葉

Ancestry and Toxicity: Breaking Free From Old Patterns and Toxic Relationships

書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

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Aloha, France — Part 2

Aloha, France — Part 1

Finding Forgiveness: Director Stafford Arima on Bringing the Award-Winning Memoir to the Stage

Ancestry and Toxicity: Breaking Free From Old Patterns and Toxic Relationships

A Letter to My Community Urging Protection of Minidoka

Journal Entry #At Least 4500 Years Old: "Infinite Bands..."

When We Enable Racism

Surrender

Thomas Takashi Nakahara

Pacific Bridges' Innovative Approach to Financial Services

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 2: The Japanese American Response

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 1

Dutch Leonard - The Ballplayer who challenged Fresno's racism

Toronto Japanese Canadian Duo Releases Groundbreaking EP

Yasuko Aratani—She Never Stopped Dreaming

Tokita Tales—Only in America

Journal Entry #My Top 6: "Holy Crappy Cartoon, Batman!"

Being Blasian

Bill Mauldin – An Artist with a Cause

70th Anniversary of Fukuoka Kenjinkai Mexico

Staff Sergeant Higuchi

Remembering Roger Daniels

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Barbed Wire, Guard Tower, Tar Paper Barracks, Roll Call

Lessons Realized

American Dream

Journal Entry #Only 2 Choices: "Do or Not Do..."

Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 2

OBITUARY - Juan Pollo Restaurant Founder Albert Okura, 71

Ask a Historian: How Did Alaska Natives Wind Up Inside Japanese American Concentration Camps?

Celebrating a Century: Nisei War Veteran and Esteemed Journalist Frank Moritsugu Turns 100

Setsuko Moriya — Part 1

The Morgenthau Diaries and FDR's Troubling Views of Minorities

Journal Entry #6am – 8am: "Childhood Delusions..."

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 2

Tea with my Ancestors

Journal Entry #15th C. Prose: "Weapons are Bad for Me..."

Maia Harima – Distinctive Fashion Designer

Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans II: A Day at the (Olympic) Races

Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 1

Flight

Setsuko Moriya — Part 2

The Search for Truth: Piercing Three Layers of Deception

Journal Entry #Lesson 3450: "Sharpen Your Pencils!"

Mercedes Luna: Thriving Within Her Rich Heritage - Part 2

Journal Entry #1 Supplier: "A Company Making Everything..."

Seiichi Higashide — A Man With Three Homelands

Futon, Shoyu, and More: Japanese Words Incorporated into the Vocabulary of Brazil

Remembering Them—Tsuchiya Family Honors Elders Through Ireichō

Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans I: A Night at the Opera

Setsuko Moriya — Part 3