Reckoning With Redress

About this History

Decades after their wrongful incarceration and forced resettlement during WWII, people of Japanese descent organized to hold the U.S. government accountable. These efforts led to hearings held by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, where over 750 people testified about their experiences and compelled the nation to reckon with its wrongdoings.

Reckoning with Redress tells that story: how a community gathered evidence, shared their stories, built a case, and won redress, and what these efforts can teach us today. 

3 Educational Experiences

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Animated scene

Scene of a formal Commissioners’ hearing. The view looks out toward the public seating area from the perspective of two grey-haired men who preside over the hearing. In the audience there are dozens and dozens and dozens of Japanese Americans sitting in rapt attention to one man who is about to speak his testimony into a microphone.
SCENE DETAILS. The camerashot is framed as if you are looking down the hallway of Mary's high school during a break in classes. An American flag is hanging high up the wall on the left-side lockers, and the flag has a glowing icon hovering above it, because you can choose to examine it more closely. In the center of the hallway, a teenage boy and girl are animated in a dance move, smiling as they shuffle their feet! There is a glowing icon above these two students, because you can choose to walk up to them more closely. On the right-hand side of the scene, two teenage girls are leaning against the lockers in matching bomber jackets, and there is a glowing icon hovering above them, because you can choose to walk up to them more closely. Finally, on the left stands Mary, a shorter teenager, at her locker. She is staring into the mirror on her locker door, and there is a glowing icon hovering above her, because you can choose to talk to her.

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Hearing Room