What Happened to Portland's Japantown? Place, Community and Identity in the Stories of Coming Home

Lecture by Jacqueline Peterson Loomis, Ph.D. (curator of Coming Home, current exhibit at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center) and panel discussion with Nisei narrators

Local scholar and public historian Jacqueline Peterson Loomis, the Curator of Coming Home: Voices of Return and Resettlement, 1945-1965 and Nisei narrators, will provide an overview and discussion of the process by which the exhibit's content, primary themes, and design elements were identified and developed. The process involved an extended dialogue and collaboration with community advisors, nine Nisei narrators, and with a team of local artists and media professionals. The narrators' personal stories were ultimately grouped into four thematic video installations, establishing a dramatic arc for the exhibition. But the stories and accompanying photographs and objects also frame a larger historical narrative and conversation about immigration, ethnic and national identities, race and racism in America, and loss and recovery. Peterson Loomis is Professor Emerita of History at Washington State University Vancouver and the founder of the Old Town History Project. This lecture will be held at PSU, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 238.

Coming Home: Voices of Return and Resettlement, 1945-1965 is an exhibit that traces the reestablishment of the Japanese American community in Oregon after World War II and examines the injustices of war-time relocation. The Coming Home exhibition has been woven from personal stories of return and resettlement by Nikkei — men, women, and children of Japanese descent — forced from their Oregon farms and homes and incarcerated as "enemies" during World War II. Most were American citizens. Many had lost everything. Determination and memories of place, family and community guided them home. Visit www.oregonnikkei.org to learn more about Coming Home.

This exhibition and programming are made possible in part by the Oregon Heritage Commission and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department; Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH's grant program; Portland State University, Center for Japanese Studies; University of Oregon; Samuel Naito; and Friends of Oregon Nikkei Endowment.

Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center
121 NW 2nd Avenue
Portland, OR  97209
503-224-1458
www.oregonnikkei.org