WWII Japanese-American Internment and civil liberties today to be subject of Jan. 28 lecture

BELLEVUE, WASH. -- Bellevue Community College will present noted historian Roger Daniels speaking on “The Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II and Civil Liberties Today” at 9:30 a.m. on January 28.

The free, public event will be held in Carlson Theatre on the college’s main campus (3000 Landerholm Circle SE, Bellevue).

One of the foremost authorities on the history of Asian Americans, Daniels is the Charles Phelps Taft Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati.

He has published 12 books, including Prisoners without Trial–Japanese Americans in World War II; Coming to America–A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life; and American Racism–Exploration of the Nature of Prejudice.

Daniels was the primary consultant for the Presidential Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians and a member of the history committee that helped plan the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island in New York City.

The lecture is a presentation of Bellevue Community College’s Center for Liberal Arts, which through its BCC Reads! program is promoting the study of Japanese-American internment this year.

Each year, the BCC Reads! program selects one topic and one book to be incorporated in as many courses as possible across the curriculum. This year, the book is Julie Otsuka’s novel, When the Emperor Was Divine, a story of one Japanese-American family’s experience in a World War II internment camp.

Daniels’ lecture is made possible through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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