"The children we are teaching today are members of the digital generation. They are tech-savvy and hungry for more."

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THE PROGRAM

From the nineteenth century until World War II, Alameda had a thriving Japantown with its own bath houses, baseball teams, and a large Buddhist Temple. But today, even longtime Alameda residents know very little about this Japantown, or the ways in which Alameda offers a unique perspective on the Japanese-American experience.

The first commercial and airmail flights to Asia originated here, with Pan Am's China Clipper in the 1930s.

Many Alamedans were among the 120,000 Japanese-Americans whose lives were disrupted when they were forcibly moved to internment camps in World War II, losing homes, businesses, family and community ties.  (Later, the Buddhist Temple served as a home for those returning from the camps.)

Further, Alameda's Naval Air Station played an extremely significant role in World War II - serving as launchpad for Doolittle's Raid on Japan, and a place from which many of the battles and maneuvers of the Pacific Theater were planned.   There were even Japanese-American internee recruits stationed at this location, serving the country that had interned them.

Thus, the history of Alameda itself lends a unique spin to the history of this group of Japanese-Americans, and their stories merit careful preservation.

The Alameda Free Library is undertaking a documentary series of videotaped oral history stories with Japanese-Americans of Alameda - especially residents of Alameda's old 'Japantown' area, and members of the congregations of Alameda's Buddhist Temple and the Buena Vista Methodist Church. Research, collection, production, and screening of these first-person stories will investigate the conditions that shaped the Japanese-American experience in Alameda, particularly of the Issei and Nisei generations.

Japanese-American community members - either former or current residents of Alameda - will record mini-documentary videos after meeting with team members to develop their stories and digitize images they wish to contribute. The video stories will then be professionally edited by Media Specialist Jeannette Copperwaite, combining music, titles, photographs, home movies and other media components as appropriate.

"The use of biographies...and other narrative artifacts from our past is encouraged to foster students' understanding of historical events by revealing the ideas, values, fears and dreams of the people associated with them. Found in archives, museums, historical sites, and libraries across California, these original materials are indispensable resources. The State Board hopes schools will take advantage of these repositories and encourage students' direct contact with history."

History/Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools (Intro. page vi)

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