Lincoln (Neb.) - Sept. 17, 2001 - A Sept. 28 conference hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will explore the history of race relations in Nebraska and the university's 1942 decision to buck public sentiment, which focused on Japanese-Americans as the enemy.
In 1942, the University of Nebraska admitted more than 100 Japanese-American college students who had been placed in internment camps by the U.S. government in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. The university's decision to admit this large number came despite a state history of hostility toward "enemy" and minority populations, yet the students were warmly received on campus and in Lincoln.
"This is an interesting twist on Nebraska society," said Andrew Wedeman, director of UNL's Asian Studies Program. "We're really interested in answering why these people were here. In a state with terrible race relations, why is it that the University of Nebraska took on one-fourth of the students coming out of the internment camps during 1942?"
Among the presenters will be Bill Hosokawa, a retired Denver Post editor, and Gary Okihiro, a Columbia University professor, both of whom have written on the internment and college relocation programs. Hosokawa was himself interned and later paroled to work at the Des Moines Register.
The conference is set for 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 28 at Embassy Suites, 1040
P St. It is free and open to the public. Wedeman said the presentations
will take the form of story telling, oriented to a mass audience.
For questions regarding these releases, contact:
tsimons1@unl.edu
(402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825