Films and books have explored the appalling circumstances of the 120,000 Japanese immigrants and their families, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, incarcerated in ten camps situated in eight western states from 1942 until 1946. This work constructs a personal testimony from hundreds of interviews with those who lived in the wartime camps.

From these initially unrelated circumstances a movement was born that involved national organizations and eventually gained congressional attention in the 1980s. Robert Sadamu Shimabukuro has constructed a very personal testimony from hundreds of interviews with those who lived in the wartime camps and with those who initiated the campaign to seek a public apology from the United States government.

Contents
Foreword - Chizu Omorii
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Awakening
2. Roadblocks
3. Remembrance
4. Circumvention
5. Testimony
6. Gestures
7. Determination
8. Arrival
Appendix 1 An Appeal for Action
Appendix 2 An Open Letter to Senator Hayakawa
Appendix 3 An American Promise
Notes
Sources
Index