The events, descriptions, and details in this story are based on hours of interviews with Kazuo Ideno, Karen Ideno Chiou, Jaclyn Chiou, and Ryan Chiou. They’re also based on photographs, documents, and memorabilia the family generously shared. Numerous scholars have been consulted for their perspectives, as were research materials, oral histories, and archival collections.
The definitions for key terms featured in this story are in part derived from the Japanese American Citizens League’s “Power of Words Handbook, ” the Densho Encyclopedia, and Densho’s Curriculum Guide, “Examining Racism and Discrimination Through Oral History.”
Archives and Manuscript Collections
Brethren Archives - Japanese Relocation Collection
Chicago Japanese American Historical Society
Densho Digital Repository
Japanese American Service Committee
National Archives
UC Berkeley Bancroft Library - Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Records
Books
Cahan, Richard, et al. Un-American: the Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. CityFiles Press, 2016.
Harden, Jacalyn D. Double Cross: Japanese Americans in Black and White Chicago. University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
Lillquist, Karl. Imprisoned in the Desert: The Geography of World War II-Era, Japanese American Relocation Centers in the Western United States, www.cwu.edu/geography/sites/cts.cwu.edu.geography/files/ja_relocation.pdf.
Murata, Alice K. Japanese Americans in Chicago. Arcadia, 2002.
Myer, Dillon. Uprooted Americans: The Japanese Americans and the War Relocation Authority. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1971.
Osako, Masako. “Japanese Americans: Melting into the All-American Melting Pot.” Ethnic Chicago: a Multicultural Portrait, by Melvin G. Holli and Peter d'A Jones, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007, pp. 409–435.
REgenerations. Oral History Project: Rebuilding Japanese American Families, Communities, and Civil Rights in the Resettlement Era. Japanese American National Museum, 2000.
Samors, Neal S., et al. The Old Chicago Neighborhood: Remembering Life in the 1940s. Chicago's Neighborhoods, 2003.
Weglyn, Michiko Nishiura. Years of Infamy. William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1976.
Wu, Ellen. The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the origins of the model minority. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Bulletins
"Evacuee Bulletin to Minister-Counsellors [sic]," Folder "Chicago Church Federation and United Ministry to Resettlers," box 3, Japanese Relocation Collection, Brethren Archives, Elgin, IL.
“Instructions to Hostelers,” The Brethren Relocation Hostel. Japanese Relocation Collection, Brethren Archives, Elgin, IL.
Smeltzer, Ralph E. "Present Status of the Community Integration Program in Chicago." typescript, July 9, 1943, box 4, Japanese Relocation Collection, Brethren Archives, Elgin, IL.
Dissertations and Theses
Doi, Elizabeth. (2016). What Happens to a Dream Conferred? Japanese American race, space, and place in Chicago, 1945-1965. [Unpublished Master's thesis]. University of Chicago.
Films and Videos
Ginzberg, Abby and Ken Schneider, directors. And Then They Came For Us. Social Action Media, 2017.
Street, Erika, director. Orange Story, Full Spectrum Features, 2016, https://theorangestory.org/.
Takada, Anna and Maria Pimentel, directors. Resettled Roots. Resettled Roots: Legacies of Japanese Americans in Chicago, https://resettledroots.com/.
War Relocation Authority in cooperation with the Office of Strategic Services, director. The Way Ahead, Department of the Interior, 1943, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZLDHd_7tnM.
Government Documents
People in Motion: The Postwar Adjustment of the Evacuated Japanese Americans, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946.
The Evacuated People: A Quantitative Description, Department of the Interior, 1946.
United States, War Department. Leave Clearance Interview Questions - 25 August 1943, Assistant Secretary of War, 1943.
United States, War Relocation Authority. When You Leave the Relocation Center, War Relocation Authority, 1945.
Journal Articles, Reports, and News Articles
Charlotte Brooks, In the Twilight Zone between Black and White: Japanese American Resettlement and Community in Chicago, 1942–1945, Journal of American History, Volume 86, Issue 4, March 2000, Pages 1655–1687, https://doi.org/10.2307/2567582
Miyamoto, Shotaro Frank. Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study, 1944, Interim Report of Resettler Adjustments in Chicago.
Social Analysis Committee. Chicago Resettlers Committee, 1947, Chicago Resettlement 1947 A Report.
Petersen, William. “Success Story, Japanese American Style.” The New York Times. 9 January 1966. Print.
Shibutani, Tamotsu. Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study, 1944, The First Year of the Resettlement of Nisei in the Chicago Area.
Takeshita, Yumika. “Resisting Integration: Japanese-American Recreational Activities and Development of Civic Identity in Postwar Chicago.” Clio's Scroll, vol. 17, no. 2, 2016, pp. 47–60.
Tanaka, Togo. Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study, 1944, Adjust Problems of Chicago Resettlers.
Maps
Pease, Ben. San Francisco's Japantown (Western Addition) 1940 to 2004, Japantown Atlas, 2007.
Newspapers, Periodicals, and Serials
New York Times
Oakland Tribune
Sacramento Bee
San Francisco Examiner
Oral Histories and speeches
Ideno, Kazuo. Interview by Anna Takada. August 24, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. Japanese American Service Committee.
Ralph E. Smeltzer, "Present Status of the Community Integration Program in Chicago," typescript, July 9, 1943, box 4, Japanese Relocation Collection, Brethren Archives, Elgin, IL.
Private Collections
Ideno family papers and photos
Chiou family papers and photos
Websites
Hatta, Julie. “Exploring the Japanese American Internment through Film and the Internet.” Exploring Japanese American Internment, National Asian American Telecommunications Association , caamedia.org/jainternment/.
Matsunaga, Erik. “Japanese Americans on Chicago’s South Side - Oakland/Kenwood 1940s-1950s - Part 1.” Discover Nikkei, 1 Dec. 2015, www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2015/12/1/oakland-kenwood-1/.
Matsunaga, Erik. “Japanese Americans on Chicago’s South Side - Oakland/Kenwood 1940s-1950s - Part 2.” Discover Nikkei, 2 Dec. 2015, www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2015/12/2/oakland-kenwood-2/.
Matsunaga, Erik. “Japanese Americans on Chicago’s South Side - Oakland/Kenwood 1940s-1950s - Part 3.” Discover Nikkei, 3 Dec. 2015, www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2015/12/3/oakland-kenwood-3/.
Payne, Sarah. “Confinement in the Land of Enchantment: Japanese Americans in New Mexico During World War II.” Arcgis.com, Public Lands History Center, 2017, www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=7b919435f0f84b4b8581a7062fcc18a2.