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"You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone — any person or any force — dampen, dim or diminish your light … Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge. Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won."

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"Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America."

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Described as "One of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing personal dignity and building what he calls "The Beloved Community." He has displayed a sense of ethics and morality that has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues in the United States Congress.

John Lewis was born the son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940 outside of Troy, Alabama. He grew up on his family's farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University; and he is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. He has also been awarded numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities throughout the United States, including Clark Atlanta University, Duke University, Howard University, Brandeis University, Columbia University, Fisk University, Morehouse College, Princeton University and Williams College. John Lewis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize and the NAACP Spingarn Medal. John Lewis is also the recipient of the John F. Kennedy "Profile in Courage Award" for lifetime achievement and the National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.

At an early age, John Lewis developed an unwavering commitment to the Civil Rights Movement. For more than forty years, he has been in the vanguard of progressive social movements and the human rights struggles in the United States. As a student, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1961, John Lewis volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which were organized to challenge segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life and was beaten severely by mobs for participating in the Rides.

During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, from 1963 to 1966, Lewis was the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. SNCC was largely responsible for the sit-ins and other activities of students in the struggle for civil rights.

Despite his youth, John Lewis became a recognized leader in the Civil Rights Movement. By 1963, he was recognized as one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. (The other Big Six leaders were Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer and Roy Wilkins). Lewis, at the age of 23, was one of the planners and a keynote speaker at the historic "March on Washington" in August 1963.

In 1964, John Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voters' registration drives and community action programs during the "Mississippi Freedom Summer." The following year, Lewis led one of the most dramatic nonviolent protests of the Movement. Along with fellow activist, Hosea Williams, John Lewis led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. Alabama state troopers attacked the marchers in a confrontation that became known as "Bloody Sunday." That fateful march and a subsequent march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Despite more that 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. After leaving SNCC in 1966, he remained active in the Civil Rights Movement through his work as Associate Director of the Field Foundation and his participation in the Southern Regional Council's voter registration programs. Lewis went on to become the Director of the Voter Education Project (VEP). Under his leadership, the VEP transformed the nation's political climate by adding nearly four million minorities to the voter rolls.

In 1977, John Lewis was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.
John Lewis's first electoral success came in 1981 when he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. While serving on the Atlanta City Council, Lewis was an advocate for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. He resigned from the Council in 1986 to run for Congress.
Elected to Congress in November 1986, Lewis represents Georgia's Fifth Congressional District. The Congressional District encompasses the entire city of Atlanta, Georgia and parts of Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton and Cobb counties. In 1996, John Lewis was unopposed in his bid for a sixth term and is currently serving his ninth term in office.

In the 108th Congress, Lewis is a member of the influential House Budget Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Health. Congressman Lewis serves as Senior Chief Deputy Democratic Whip. As such, he sits in a direct line of succession to the number two Democratic leadership position in the House.

Congressman Lewis also serves on the Democratic Steering Committee. He is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Committee to Support Writers and Journalists. Additionally, Congressman Lewis serves as Co-Chair of the Faith and Politics Institute.
Since joining the U.S. Congress, John Lewis has drawn much praise from political observers who have predicted a bright future for him in national politics. In 1990, the National Journal named John Lewis as one of eleven "rising stars in Congress." The Journal stated, "Few House Members ... have had such momentous experiences before coming to Washington that other Members of Congress want to hear about them. John R. Lewis, D-GA., has that cachet and he has made it a plus in his House service." In 1998, Congressional Quarterly named John Lewis a Liberal Stalwart in its edition "50 ways to do the job of Congress."
John Lewis has been profiled in numerous national publications and network television and radio broadcasts, including a profile in a Time Magazine (Dec. 29, 1975) article entitled "Saints Among Us;" and profiles in The New Yorker (Oct. 4, 1993); Parade Magazine (Feb. 4, 1996); and The New Republic (July 1, 1996). John Lewis, with writer Michael D'Orso, authored Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement (June, 1998). The book is a first-hand account of this nation's civil rights movement.

John Lewis's wife, Lillian, lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she is Director of External Affairs, Office of Research and sponsored Programs at Clark Atlanta University. The Lewis's have one son, John Miles Lewis.

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Described as "One of the most courageous persons the Civil Rights Movement ever produced," John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing personal dignity and building what he calls "The Beloved Community." He has displayed a sense of ethics and morality that has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues in the United States Congress.

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Aaron Douglas, visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance - National Gallery of Art

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Aaron Douglas, visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance - National Gallery of Art

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“If you don't understand, ask questions. If you're uncomfortable about asking questions, say you are uncomfortable about asking questions and then ask anyway. It's easy to tell when a question is coming from a good place. Then listen some more. Sometimes people just want to feel heard. Here's to possibilities of friendship and connection and understanding.”

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Arab American Heritage Month in April is an opportunity to share PBS programs and clips featuring Arab Americans and also to highlight the work of New York City's Arab American community groups that are partners of Thirteen in the Community.

Who Are Arab Americans?

Arab Americans include many faiths, races and ethnicities, and ancestry in any one of 22 Arab countries that span northern Africa to western Asia. What these diverse countries share most in common is the Arabic language.

To illuminate some facts about Arab American identity, we looked to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI. Its 2019 Educational Book is an excellent primer and is free to download on the Arab American National Museum site. One common misunderstanding for Americans is to equate Arab with Middle Eastern, or Arab with Muslim. Arab countries represent one-fifth of the world's Muslims, and in turn, Arabs are a minority among the U.S. Muslim population.

Arab immigration to the U.S. first began in the 1890s from the Ottoman Empire's Syria area (today's Syria, Lebanon and Palestine). In New York City, most of the first Arab Americans were Christian and by 1910 had established the now disappeared "Little Syria" neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. With the construction of the Battery Tunnel that started in 1940 and the World Trade Center in the mid-1960s, much of the population relocated to another community in Brooklyn.

The number of Arab Americans in the U.S. today is estimated to be between 2 and 3.6 million; the largest group are Lebanese Americans, who have the longest history of immigration.

Theme in 2021

The theme of Arab American Heritage Month in 2021 is "Mosaic," with a focus on educators, writers, poets and musicians, said Warren David, president of the national Arab America foundation. Between April 11 and April 25, Arab America will present three online events to celebrate the month.

The first on April 11 includes Dr. Debbie Almontaser, a Yemeni American and founding and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, NY. The school in Boerum Hill is named after the writer and artist Khalil Gibran, who eventually settled in New York City in 1911. Gibran, together with other immigrant writers from the area of Syria that is now Lebanon, reformed The Pen League in 1920, the aim of which was to modernize Arabic literature. Gibran's poetry-prose book, The Prophet (1923) remains one of the best-selling books of all time and has been translated into 100 languages.

Films and Programs

Films BYKids: Poet Against Prejudice

Moving to a new country was challenging for Faiza Almontaser, a 17-year-old from New York City, who immigrated with her family to the U.S. from Yemen when she was in middle school. Mentored by the legendary pioneer of direct cinema, Albert Maysles, Faiza's film documents her courageous and inspiring journey from victim to activist. Season 3 of Films BYKids premieres April 18, 2021, on THIRTEEN.

Arab American Poet Fady Joudah

ThePBS NewsHour arts and culture series, CANVAS, recently featured Fady Joudah, a Palestinian American poet and physician. Jeffrey Brown spoke with Joudah in a segment that examines the intersection of the alchemy of health and art.

Arab American Author Laila Lalami

Writer Laila Lalami was born in Rabat and educated in Morocco, Great Britain, and the U.S. Today, she is a full professor at the University of California. Her 2014 novel, The Moor's Account, won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Her recent bestselling novel, The Other Americans, was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her latest book, Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

On May 26, 2021, she is one of the author panelists in The WNET Group virtual town hall series: New American Dream. BRAVER THAN THE ONE BEFORE IT: In Search of the New American Dream will be a conversation with Lalami and four other major authors on what America means and can become for people long kept at its margins. Learn more about the free online event.

Arab American Politician Donna Shalala

Former Representative Donna Shalala, a Lebanese American, lost her bid for re-election in 2020 in Florida. The Democrat lost her race against Maria Elvira Salazar by 2% and joined Judy Woodruff on PBS NewsHour to discuss why Republicans had success in gaining seats. Donna Shalala served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton.

Arab American Scholar and Candidate Ralph Nader

In 2000, Lebanese American Ralph Nader ran for president against Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. Nader wanted to shift politics to favor "the people." Nader is featured in the special Perot and Nader - The Independents, part of '16 for '16: The Contenders.

POV: Natour's Grocery

Filmmaker Nadine Natour turns her lens on her parents and her hometown, Appomattox, VA, to capture the story of her parents' emigration from Palestine to the United States. The film is part of POV, television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films.

PBS Resources for the Classroom

WNET Education offers educators free tools to promote understanding of Islam in the classroom. This includes background on religious holidays like Eid al-Fitr (Idul-Fitr) and Eid Al-Adha (Idul-Adha), history and culture, and how to dispel stereotypes.

New York City-Based Arab American Groups

Thirteen's Community Engagement team and leaders of the Arab American community in New York have met along with other groups for the past three years to discuss important concerns for its community. We are pleased to highlight the aims and work of these community partners. (See all of Thirteen's community partners.)

Arab-American Family Support Center

The Arab-American Family Support Center (AAFS) provides trauma-informed social services to all low-income immigrants and refugees in New York City, and has developed expertise in serving the Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities.

In March the center received a community service award from the Brooklyn Heights Association and celebrated the opening of a second Queens-based office. AAFSC also provides youth services at Khalil Gibran International Academy, a New York City public high school that AAFSC helped found and which is dedicated to fostering intercultural understanding.

The center is very active and welcomes volunteers. Learn how to get involved.

ArteEast

Based in New York, ArteEast provides support to artists and art organizations from the Middle East and North Africa in order to broaden the global audience for contemporary culture from the region. In March, ArteEast co-presented the seventh annual Arab Film Festival with the Arab American National Museum and other groups.

Currently in its Artist Spotlight is Eleana Antonaki, a New York based artist with an MFA from Parsons, The New School in New York City. See more of its artist picks and catalogs on its linktr.ee page.

Muslim Community Network

The Muslim Community Network aims to help facilitate the emergence of an inclusive Muslim-American identity that transcends class-based boundaries while building bridges with other communities of faith to build peaceful, just, and inclusive communities. The network's programs focus on civic education & advocacy, leadership development, and diversity education. In 2020 it helped New York Muslims complete the 2020 Census, know how to vote in the 2020 election, and to report hate crimes. The Muslim Community Network was was founded in New York City in 2003.

Applications are currently open for mentors in its Bridge Mentorship program for youth.

Its cross-generational female book club meets next on May 2, 2021. See the book to discuss and sign up for the Zoom session.

See more of events and news on the Muslim Community Network site.

Association of Muslim American Lawyers

Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL) provides programs and activities to help support American Muslim lawyers at every step: whether pre-law, law student, a young associate, solo practitioner, or senior partner. It also offers "Know Your Rights" workshops.

In February 2021, it co-hosted an event on the need for faith-based alternative dispute resolution in service to Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities.

Network of Arab-American Professionals

The Network of Arab-American Professionals is a non-partisan, volunteer-based organization dedicated to the development of a prosperous and influential Arab-American community connected through its national network. It seeks to connect, organize and empower the Arab-American community by channeling the interests and passions of our members through social, cultural, professional, political and service initiatives. Its LinkedIn group has nearly 3,000 members.

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Arab American Heritage Month | THIRTEEN - New York Public Media

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Arab American Heritage Month in April is an opportunity to share PBS programs and clips featuring Arab Americans and also to highlight the work of New York City's Arab American community groups that are partners of Thirteen in the Community.

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Asian Americans In The Humanities - UPenn

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Asian Americans In The Humanities - UPenn

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Ronald Takaki is a true pioneer in the field of ethnic studies. During the 1960's there was a growing demand for the development of ethnic programs at universities across the United States and it was Takaki who was one of the first to step forward and put together a curriculum.

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Immigration & Relocation in US History - Library of Congress

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Immigration & Relocation in US History - Library of Congress

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Lots of ethnicity groups included in this resource.

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The history of the United States has always been shaped by peoples and communities who came to its shores or moved within its borders. Some sought a better life, some fled oppression, and some were moved against their will. This presentation uses Library of Congress primary sources to explore moments and experiences from several of these communities.

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Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress

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The history of the United States has always been shaped by peoples and communities who came to its shores or moved within its borders. Some sought a better life, some fled oppression, and some were moved against their will. This presentation uses Library of Congress primary sources to explore moments and experiences from several of these communities.

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Stonewall Riots (LGBTQ+ History) - Library of Congress

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Stonewall Riots (LGBTQ+ History) - Library of Congress

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June 28, 1969 marks the beginning of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of events between police and LGBTQ+ protesters which stretched over six days. It was not the first time police raided a gay bar, and it was not the first time LGBTQ+ people fought back, but the events that would unfold over the next six days would fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism in the United States. While Stonewall became well known due to the media coverage and the subsequent annual Pride traditions, it was a culmination of years of LGBTQ+ activism. Historians have noted that the shift in activism, if Stonewall truly represented one at all, was a shift primarily for white cisgender people, as people of color and gender non-conforming people never truly had the benefit of concealing their marginalized identities.

While the events of Stonewall are often referred to as "riots," Stonewall veterans have explicitly stated that they prefer the term Stonewall uprising or rebellion. The reference to these events as riots was initially used by police to justify their use of force.

"The rebellion ( it was never a 'riot') lasted five inconsecutive nights ( they were not 'riots')..." -STONEWALL Veterans' Association

It is important to note that there were a number of uprisings against police & state brutality, harassment and entrapment of the LGBT+ communities in the U.S. in the years before Stonewall. These events and the people involved have not received as much historical attention as Stonewall, but are just as central to understandings of U.S. LGBTQIA+ histories. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisings included:

Pepper Hill Club Raid, Baltimore, Maryland in 1955. Over 162 people arrested.

Hazel's (Hazel's Inn), Sharp Park, California February 1956

Coopers Do-Nut Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1959

Black Nite Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961

Compton's Cafeteria Raid, San Francisco, California, 1966

Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967

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Research Guides: LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide: 1969: The Stonewall Uprising

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The collections of the Library of Congress tell the rich and diverse story of LGBTQ+ life in America and around the world. This research guide serves as an introduction into the excellent collection of LGBTQ+ resources available at the Library of Congress

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Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected official in the United States

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Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected official in the United States

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Harvey Milk, was a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk's unprecedented loud and unapologetic proclamation of his authenticity as an openly gay candidate for public office, and his subsequent election gave never before experienced hope to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people everywhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. His remarkable career was tragically cut short when he was assassinated nearly a year after taking office.

Harvey was born May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. Harvey and his one sibling, Robert, worked in the family's department store, "Milks"; his Lithuanian born father, William, served in the U.S. Navy and as did his spirited, independent mother Minerva, also of Lithuanian heritage, who was a Yeomanette during World War I. Harvey came from a small middle-class Jewish family that had founded a Jewish synagogue and was well known in the New York "Litvaks" community for their civic engagement. He knew he was gay by the time he attended Bayshore high school, where he was a popular student with wide-ranging interests, from opera to playing football.

While in college at New York State College for Teachers (now State University of New York) in Albany, where he studied math and history, Milk penned a popular weekly student newspaper column where he began questioning issues of diversity with a reflection on the lessons learned from the recently ended World War. He graduated in 1951 and enlisted in the Navy. He attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and subsequently was based in San Diego, where he served as a diving instructor. In 1955, he resigned at the rank of lieutenant junior grade after being officially questioned about his sexual orientation.

Following his time in the Navy, Milk entered the civilian working world in New York, as a public school teacher on Long Island, as a stock analyst in New York City, and as a production associate for Broadway musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair. During the 1960s and early 70s, he became more actively involved in politics and advocacy and he demonstrated against the Vietnam War.

Late 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco, where he opened a camera store on Castro Street, in the heart of the city's growing LGBTQ community. It quickly became a neighborhood center. Milkâ€™s sense of humor and theatricality made him a popular figure. Little more than a year after his arrival in the city, he declared his candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He lost that race, but emerged from the campaign as a force to be reckoned with in local politics.

After some area merchants tried to prevent two gay men from opening a store, Milk and a few other business owners founded the Castro Village Association, a first in the nation organizing of predominantly LGBT businesses, with Milk as president. He organized the Castro Street Fair in 1974 to attract more customers to area businesses. Its success made the Castro Village Association an effective power base for gay merchants and a blue print for other LGBT communities in the US.

In 1975, he ran again for the combined San Francisco City/County supervisor seat and narrowly lost. By now, he was established as the leading political spokesman for the Castroâ€™s vibrant gay community. His close friend and ally Mayor George Moscone, appointed him to the city's Board of Permit Appeals, making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States.

Milk soon filed candidacy papers for the state assembly, but lost his race to represent the Sixteenth Assembly District. Realizing that he would have a greater chance of political success if he relied on voters in the Castro, he then worked with with his campaign manager, Anne Kronenberg and Mayor Moscone for the passage of an amendment that would replace at-large elections for the Board of Supervisors with district elections. In 1977, he easily won his third bid, and was inaugurated as a San Francisco City-County Supervisor on January 9, 1978. This was an important and symbolic victory for the LGBT community as well as a personal triumph for Milk. His election made national and international headlines.

A commitment to serving a broad constituency, not just LGBT people, helped make Milk an effective and popular supervisor. His ambitious reform agenda included protecting gay rightsâ€"he sponsored an important anti-discrimination billâ€"as well as establishing day care centers for working mothers, the conversion of military facilities in the city to low-cost housing, reform of the tax code to attract industry to deserted warehouses and factories, and other issues. He was a powerful advocate for strong, safe neighborhoods, and pressured the mayor's administration to improve services for the Castro such as library services, and community policing. In addition, he spoke out on state and national issues of interest to LGBT people, women, racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized communities

One of these was a California ballot initiative, Proposition 6, which would have mandated the firing of gay teachers in the state's public schools. State Senator John Briggs, seeking to marshal anti-gay sentiment and an agenda of hate and diminishment for political gain, spearheaded the initiative. With strong, effective opposition from Milk and others, it was defeated at a time when other political attacks on gay people were being successfully waged around the US.

Attendance swelled at gay pride marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles as Milk and others campaigned against the Briggs Initiative.

In one of his eloquent speeches, Milk spoke of the American ideal of equality, proclaiming, that Gay people, we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. "We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out".

Many other qualities in addition to his eloquence made Milk a successful politician and leader. He pioneered the building of coalitions between diverse groups-women, asians, hispanics, the disabled-and even brought together the teamsters and gay bar owners in return for a pledge from the teamsters to hire more gay drivers, Milk asked bar owners to stop selling beer from certain distributors while drivers were striking.

On November 27, 1978, a disgruntled former city Supervisor assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Dan White sneaked into City Hall through a basement window, avoiding the metal detectors at the official entrances, went to Moscone's office, killed him, then walked down the hall to kill Milk. That night, a crowd of thousands spontaneously came together on Castro Street and marched to City Hall in a silent candlelight vigil that has been recognized as one of the most eloquent responses to violence that a community has ever expressed.

Given the hatred directed at gay people in general and Milk in particular, he received daily death threats, he was aware of the likelihood that he may well be assassinated. He recorded several versions of his will, "to be read in the event of my assassination". One of his tapes contained the now-famous statement, â€œIf a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door". His nephew, Stuart Milk, a teenager at the time, and close with his uncle, came out, along with countless others across the nation, on the day his uncle was killed. Shortly after Milk's death, people marching for gay rights in Washington, D.C., chanted "Harvey Milk lives".

Dan White, Milk's assassin, was acquitted of murder charges and given a mild sentence for manslaughter, partly as a result of what became known as the â€œtwinkie defense.â€ His attorney claimed that White had eaten too much junk food on the day of the killings and thus could not be held accountable for his crimes. He was sentenced to less than eight years in prison on May 21, 1979; the day before what would have been Milk's 49th birthday, igniting what came to be known as the White Night Riots. Enraged citizens stormed City Hall and rows of police cars were set on fire. The city suffered property damage and police officers retaliated by raiding the Castro, vandalizing gay businesses and beating people on the street.

The life and career of Harvey Milk have been the subjects of an opera, books, and films. These include the Shilt's biography, The Mayor of Castro Street (1982); the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk by Robert Epstein(1984); and the Gus Van Sant directed drama Milk (2008). The latter film received eight Academy Award nominations, winning in two categories: Sean Penn was named best actor for his performance in the title role, and Dustin Lance Black won an Oscar for his screenplay.

There are several public schools named after Milk, the Harvey Milk High School in New York City and in his old Castro neighborhood, the elementary school bears his name. In San Francisco, there is a federal building at the US Job Corps Center on Treasure Island named after Milk, as well as a public recreation center, a branch of the public library, and a public plaza. A memorial plaque reads, "His life is an inspiration to all people committed to equal opportunity and an end to bigotry".In 2012, San Diego, California named the street that leads to the doors of that city's LGBT center Harvey Milk Street and the City of Long Beach, California dedicated the Harvey Milk Oceanside Promenade and Park. Abroad, the gay community center in the city of Verona, Italy is named after Milk as is the LGBT center in Anuncion Paraguay. Harvey was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

A statue of Milk was unveiled in the center rotunda at San Francisco City Hall in 2008. On August 12, 2009, Harvey's nephew, Stuart Milk accepted the posthumously awarded Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, who praised Milk's "visionary courage and conviction" in fighting discrimination. Stuart Milk also accepted Harvey's induction into the California Hall of Fame in 2009 from then First Lady Maria Kennedy Shriver. A bill designating Milk's birthday, May 22, as an annual "Harvey Milk Day" was introduced by Senator Mark Leno and championed by Harvey's nephew, Stuart Milk and Equality California - the non-fiscal Milk holiday was passed by the California State Legislature in 2009 and signed into law by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Milk's day is observed with events across the nation and around the globe. In 2014, the White House, the United States Postal Service and the Harvey Milk Foundation hosted a historic first day of issuance ceremony at the White House for the USPS Harvey Milk Forever Stamp, marking the first time that an openly LGBT official has joined the limited number of "great and accomplished Americans to grace the corner of an envelope and represent the US to the world".

Harvey Milk believed that government should represent individuals, not just downtown interests, and should insure equality for all citizens while providing needed services. He spoke for the participation of LGBT people and other minorities in the political process. The more gay people came out of the closet, he believed, the more their families and friends would support protections for their equal rights. In the years since Milk's assassination, public opinion has shifted on gay marriage, gays in the military, and other issues, and there have been hundreds of openly LGBT public officials in America, yet the work continues. The Harvey Milk Foundation, established by his nephew, Stuart Milk, and Anne Kronenberg, his campaign manager and aide, is dedicated to realizing his vision of equality and authenticity for everyone, everywhere.

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Harvey Milk, was a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

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4 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Where Asian Americans Fought For Civil Rights - NPR

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4 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Where Asian Americans Fought For Civil Rights - NPR

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Court decisions can change the course of history. And while the " model minority" myth often characterizes Asians living in the U.S. as hard-working, successful and cooperative citizens, historically, many have had to fight unjust laws to be recognized as full-fledged Americans. From questions of land ownership to immigration, here are four cases where Asian Americans fought injustice in the courts.

Chy Lung v. Freeman

A California law passed in 1875 authorized state immigration officials to inspect people coming to the state and screen out those deemed "lewd and debauched." These individuals would be denied entry to the U.S. unless the captain of the ship transporting them paid a bond for them.

Chy Lung was one of 22 women detained aboard a ship from China in 1875. The women were denied entry because they had traveled to the country without their husbands or children.

Chy Lung challenged the constitutionality of the law, and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor, saying that the power to set immigration laws rested with the federal government.

United States v. Wong Kim Ark

In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. for ten years. It was extended for another 10 years by the Geary Act, and became permanent in 1902. It wasn't repealed until 1943.

Wong Kim Ark was born in 1873 in the U.S. to Chinese parents who were legally domiciled residents in San Francisco. At 21, he visited China and was denied entry to the U.S. upon his return due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. In his 1897 Supreme Court Case, Wong argued he was a U.S. citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, which declared "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The court decided in Wong's favor, defining the parameters for ensuring the citizenship of children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents. The concept is popularly known as birthright citizenship.

Ozawa v. United States

The Naturalization Act of 1790 set up the first set of rules for U.S. citizenship. The law limited citizenship to "any Alien being a free white person" who had lived "within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years" and could prove they were a "person of good character."

Takao Ozawa was a Japanese immigrant who challenged the definition of a "free white person" after applying for citizenship in Hawaii in 1914. He was denied on the grounds that he was ineligible because he was Japanese.

The Supreme Court ruled against Ozawa in 1922. Justice George Sutherland delivered the opinion. He argued against defining who was white by just the "mere color of skin," as skin tone varied too greatly even "among persons of the same race." Thus, Sutherland wrote that "to adopt the color test alone would result in a confused overlapping of races and a gradual merging of one into the other, without any practical line of separation." He argued that people considered "white" should be "confined to persons of the Caucasian Race."

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind

In 1923, Justice Sutherland contradicted his own opinion in Ozawa v. United States in the case against Bhahat Singh Thind.

Thind, a Sikh immigrant from India, applied for and was granted citizenship in the state of Oregon. However, a naturalization examiner appealed an Oregon District Court decision in favor of Thind's application on the grounds that he was not white.

In his Supreme Court Case, Thind argued that he was of "high-caste Hindu stock, born in Punjab, one of the extreme northwestern districts of India, and classified by certain scientific authorities as of the Caucasian or Aryan race."

The court ruled against Thind, with Sutherland writing that the phrase "free white persons" should only be considered "synonymous with the word 'Caucasian' only as that word is popularly understood." The Court essentially ruled that in addition to being of Caucasian decent, individuals must have white skin tone to gain citizenship.

It wasn't until the Immigration Act of 1952 that naturalization became a color-blind process, and Asian immigrants could become U.S. citizens.

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4 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Where Asian Americans Fought For Civil Rights

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Court decisions can change the course of history. And while the " model minority" myth often characterizes Asians living in the U.S. as hard-working, successful and cooperative citizens, historically, many have had to fight unjust laws to be recognized as full-fledged Americans.

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Experience Oregon Curriculum - Oregon Historical Society

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Experience Oregon Curriculum - Oregon Historical Society

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Includes:
The Geography of Indigenous Oregon
My Oregon Experience: Race and Our State

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Curriculum for the Oregon Historical Society’s (OHS) core Oregon history exhibition, Experience Oregon, aligns with state and national standards. All classes can use this curriculum, regardless of whether they physically visit the exhibit. OHS offers units for kindergarten and grades 1–2, 3–5, 6–8,…

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5 Hispanic Leaders Who Changed Labor History - US Department of Labor

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5 Hispanic Leaders Who Changed Labor History - US Department of Labor

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Hispanic workers have played an important role in the history of the nation and the labor movement. Here are five labor leaders who have made important contributions to work in America.

Cesar Chavez

One of the country's most famous labor advocates, Cesar Chavez led the United Farm Workers of America. Embracing non-violent acts of civil disobedience, Chavez drew attention to discrimination and brought about policies that improved working and living conditions for farmworkers around the country. For Chavez, strikes and other forms of peaceful protest were tools for improving the lives of others. "The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people," he said.

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers) with Cesar Chavez in 1962. Huerta directed a national grape boycott to protest the dangers of pesticides on grape pickers, which led the entire California table grape industry to adopt safer practices. She also negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement with an agricultural business to secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers. Throughout her career, Huerta fought for world peace and the rights of immigrants, women, minorities, at-risk youth and LGBTQ+ Americans.

Santiago Iglesias Pantin

An outspoken advocate for workers' social and economic wellbeing, Santiago Iglesias Pantin served as the American Federation of Labor's organizer for Puerto Rico and Cuba at the start of the twentieth century. When the San Juan News accused him of violent agitation, Iglesias defended himself, saying, "My mission is most eminently American. For the organization of the working people, for their education, and for their liberty." He was the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico from 1933 until his death in 1939, and his successor Bolivar Pagan described him as "the main voice heard in a 40-year fight to raise up conditions of labor, to make the common man be conscious of all the rights and privileges under American democratic institutions."

Luisa Moreno

A passionate advocate for women and immigrant laborers' rights, Luisa Moreno helped create a coalition of Latino labor rights activists in the 1930s. Moreno, who was born in Guatemala, organized New York garment district workers, Louisiana cane workers and Florida cigar rollers. She also helped found the National Congress of Spanish-Speaking Peoples, which advocated for integration and fair treatment of Latino laborers.

Emma Tenayuca

Mexican American labor organizer Emma Tenayuca participated in the 1933 walkout of women cigar workers, and later helped form two International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union locals. She also protested border patrol abuses, led demonstrations and strikes, and advocated for Mexican immigrant workers' right to unionize without fear of deportation. In 1938, when Tenayuca was in her early twenties, she led a pecan shellers' strike after factory owners sliced wages. The strike was one of the largest in U.S. history, and one of the first significant labor equity victories for Mexican Americans.

While they came from different background and worked in different industries, Chavez, Huerta, Iglesias, Moreno and Tenayuca all recognized that a fair day's work deserves a fair day's wages, and their sacrifices and leadership have contributed to safer, healthier, fairer working conditions for all of America's workers.
Jeff Freund is the director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
5 Líderes Hispanos que Cambiaron la Historia del Trabajo

Por Jeffrey Freund

Los trabajadores hispanos han jugado un papel importante en la historia de la nación y del movimiento sindical. Estos son cinco líderes laborales que han hecho importantes contribuciones al trabajo en Estados Unidos.

César Chávez

Uno de los más célebres defensores de los trabajadores del país, Cesar Chávez lideró el sindicato Unión de Campesinos. Adoptando actos no violentos de desobediencia civil, Chávez llamó la atención sobre discriminación e impulsó políticas que mejoraron por todo el país el trabajo y las condiciones de vida de los trabajadores agrícolas. Para Chávez, las huelgas y otras formas de protesta pacífica fueron instrumentos para mejorar la vida de la gente. "La lucha nunca es sobre uvas o lechugas. Es siempre sobre personas", dijo.

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta cofundó la Asociación Nacional de Trabajadores Agrícolas (más tarde, Unión de Campesinos) con César Chávez en 1962. Huerta organizó una protesta nacional contra la uva para oponerse a los peligros de los pesticidas sobre los recolectores de uva. Esta protesta condujo a toda la industria de la uva de mesa de California a adoptar prácticas más seguras. Huerta también negoció el primer convenio colectivo con una empresa agrícola para lograr mejores salarios y condiciones laborales para trabajadores agrícolas. A lo largo de su carrera, Huerta luchó por la paz y los derechos de inmigrantes, mujeres, minorías, jóvenes en riesgo y estadounidenses LGBTQ+.

Santiago Iglesias Pantín

Firme defensor del bienestar social y económico de los trabajadores, Santiago Iglesias Pantín se desempeñó como organizador de la Federación Regional de Trabajadores de Puerto Rico y Cuba a principios del siglo 20. Cuando el San Juan News lo acusó de agitación violenta, Iglesias se defendió afirmando que "mi misión es eminentemente americana. Por la organización de la gente trabajadora, por su educación, y por su libertad". Fue comisionado residente de Puerto Rico desde 1933 hasta su muerte en 1939, y su sucesor Bolívar Pagán lo describió como "la principal voz de una lucha de 40 años para alzar las condiciones laborales, para que el hombre común sea consciente de todos los derechos y privilegios otorgados por las instituciones democráticas Americanas".

Luisa Moreno

Apasionada defensora de los derechos de la mujer y los trabajadores inmigrantes, Luisa Moreno ayudó en la década de 1930 a crear una coalición de activistas latinos por los derechos laborales. Moreno, que nació en Guatemala, organizó a trabajadores del distrito de la costura de Nueva York, a trabajadores de caña de Luisiana, y a los enrolladores de puros de Florida. Ella también ayudó a fundar el Congreso Nacional de Pueblos de Habla Española, que abogó por la integración y el trato justo de los trabajadores latinos.

Emma Tenayuca

La organizadora laboral mexicoamericana Emma Tenayuca participó en la huelga de 1933 de las trabajadoras de puros y más tarde ayudó a formar dos sucursales del Sindicato Internacional de Trabajadoras de la Costura. Tenayuca también protestó abusos de la patrulla fronteriza, encabezó manifestaciones y huelgas, y defendió el derecho de trabajadores inmigrantes mexicanos a sindicalizarse sin temor a ser deportados. En 1938 y con poco más de veinte años, Tenayuca encabezó una huelga de desgranadores de nueces después de que los dueños de fábricas recortaran los salarios. La huelga fue una de las más grandes en la historia de Estados Unidos y una de las primeras victorias significativas de los mexicoamericanos en materia de equidad laboral.

Aunque tuvieron diferentes orígenes y trabajaron en diferentes sectores, Chávez, Huerta, Iglesias, Moreno y Tenayuca reconocieron todos que un día de trabajo justo merece un salario justo. Sus sacrificios y liderazgo han contribuido a condiciones de trabajo más seguras, saludables y justas para todos los trabajadores de América.
Jeff Freund es el director de la Oficina de Normas Obrero-Patronal del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

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5 Hispanic Leaders Who Changed Labor History

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Learn more about five labor leaders who have helped improve work in America.

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Japanese Americans In Oregon - Oregon Historical Society

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Japanese Americans In Oregon - Oregon Historical Society

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Immigrants from the West

Resting in the shade of the Gresham Pioneer Cemetery, there is a grave marker with the name Miyo Iwakoshi. The name is not widely known in Oregon, but it is historically significant since Iwakoshi was the matriarch of the first Japanese family to settle in the state. Her arrival in 1880 spawned the immigration of thousands of people from Japan who would contribute to the state's economic development as they struggled against discrimination and tested America's civil rights. Iwakoshi arrived with her Scotsman husband, Andrew McKinnon, and their five-year-old adopted daughter, Tama Nitobe. Oregon was growing rapidly at the time, and McKinnon built a steam sawmill called Orient. The community of Orient still exists near Gresham.

Since the 1850s, laborers from China had arrived in Oregon to work primarily on the railroads. They lived in crowded quarters, spoke a language that was unfamiliar to most Americans, and did not assimilate readily. To appease West Coast working-class resentment against the cheap labor and what many considered the racial impurity of Chinese laborers, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The immigration of labor from China came to a halt. Still, workers were needed, so the labor market in Japan was exploited.

Japantown

In Oregon, labor contractors arranged for workers to come through Portland before going to their work assignments in eastern Oregon, Idaho, and points beyond. As hundreds of immigrants arrived in Portland, a Japantown ( Nihonmachi) formed in the Old Town area between Northwest Second and Sixth Avenues. There were demands for hotels, restaurants, bathhouses, barbershops, and other services. Because new arrivals spoke only Japanese, entrepreneurs were usually immigrant Japanese. Japantown existed in Portland from 1890 through 1942.

Japantown was predominantly composed of young bachelors. Although many wanted to simply work hard and earn money to send home, others were drawn into the easier life of drinking, gambling, and having a noisy good time. In 1893, the Rev. Sadakichi Kawabe established the Portland Japanese Methodist Church, with prominent members of the community participating in a campaign to rid the community of its vices. This church continues today as the Epworth United Methodist Church.

The first Buddhist priest arrived in 1903. The Rev. Shozui Wakabayashi established a church and dormitory and offered assistance to meet the spiritual and social needs of the community. He began an early outreach program, visiting logging and farm camps to spread his teachings. In eight years, there were 570 parishioners. This church continues today as the Oregon Buddhist Temple.

Thousands of Japanese laborers obtained jobs and gained help with their working needs and travel arrangements from labor contractors. Among those, Shinzaburo Ban, who also ran a mercantile store on Northwest Third and Couch in Portland, was the most prominent. By 1910, many of the 3,418 Japanese immigrants, or Issei, in Oregon had fulfilled their contracts and were no longer the young bachelors who had arrived ten or fifteen years earlier. Their original intentions to work in America for a few years, become rich, then return to Japan, had faded. Many decided to stay in America, but they needed wives to raise families.
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Families

Because the 1922 Cable Act punished citizens for marrying aliens, the Japanese men who had enough savings returned to Japan to seek wives. Others who could not afford the expense sent flattering photos of themselves to family members. In return, families sent photos of prospective brides. A real incentive for these "picture brides" was the realization that there would be no mothers-in-law in America. After the 1907-1908 Gentlemen's Agreement between Japan and the United States allowed family members to immigrate, the number of Issei women in Oregon increased from 294 in 1910 to 1,349 in 1920.

In Portland, families moved into various parts of the city and started grocery stores, barber shops, and hotels, but the core of Japanese businesses remained in Japantown. There, business transactions and social contacts could be conducted in Japanese and among friends, and many families lived in the rear of their businesses. Japantown grew, with more than a hundred Japanese businesses and offices, including Teikoku and Furuya grocers, Ota Tofu, S. Ban Mercantile, the Royal Palm Hotel, Kobayashi express company, Yabuki Laundry, newspaper, Tokio Sukiyaki restaurant, and dentists Dr. Kei Koyama and Dr. Kiyofusa Katayama. Portland's Japanese population increased from 20 in 1890 to 1,460 in 1910.

By the 1920s, the demographics changed considerably with the birth of large numbers of Nisei, the second generation. Children of Japanese and Chinese families living in Old Town attended Atkinson School, a dilapidated, wooden building located near Northwest Eleventh and Davis Streets. Japanese students living in Southwest Portland attended Shattuck School. High school students living on the west side attended Lincoln High School, now a building on the Portland State University campus.

By the time students attended public schools, the communication among Nisei students and between parents and children was often a mixture of Japanese and English. Because most students attended Japanese school after regular school each day, few had time to participate in extracurricular programs. Two Japanese schools operated in Portland: North School, at Northwest Fifth and Flanders, and South School on Southwest First and Mill Streets. Other Japanese schools were located wherever there were concentrations of Japanese families, including Milwaukie, Hood River, Gresham, Banks, and Salem. The curriculum consisted of reading, writing, and speaking Japanese. Japanese calligraphy was taught on Saturday mornings.

Agriculture

Japanese agricultural communities developed in rural areas. By 1909, after many invested their earnings as migrant laborers, more than one-quarter of the 3,873 Oregon Issei were involved in farm labor. In east Multnomah County, they raised berries and vegetables. Hood River, where Issei received marginal property (stumpland and marshland) in exchange for clearing land, had the second largest settlement. There, Issei grew berries and asparagus as quick cash crops between their apple and pear seedlings. North of Salem in Lake Labish, Issei produced Golden Plume Celery, developed by local grower Roy Fukuda. From 1907 to 1910, the number of Japanese farmers increased from 71 to 233.

The increased number and success of Issei farms brought fears of Japanese competition. In 1919, an Anti-Asiatic Association formed in Hood River, pledging not to sell or lease land to Japanese. That year "Potato King" George Shima purchased land near Redmond and hired Japanese potato experts to raise seeds for his California farms. The county farm bureau stood against his project and forced him to withdraw.

By 1923, about 60 percent of Oregon's Japanese population was involved in agriculture. That year, after three unsuccessful bills, the Oregon legislature passed the Alien Land Law, which prohibited Issei from owning or leasing land. There was a loophole in the law, however, that allowed Issei to buy land in the name of their American citizen children. A year later, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, prohibiting aliens who were ineligible for citizenship from entering the United States altogether.

By 1940, the older Nisei were in their early 20s. Many had gone on to universities, but job prospects for them were dismal, and, following graduation, many returned to work on their family farms or grocery stores. Issei continued as the elders and as community and family leaders in the Japanese community.
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Executive Order 9066

Nineteen forty-one was the year that changed the lives of almost all persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war on December 7, 1941, prejudice grew against anything or anyone Japanese. Many Caucasian farmers organized to rid successful Japanese of their farms. The Ku Klux Klan, the American Legion, and other "patriotic" groups wanted to deport all Japanese. One major obstacle stood in the way. Seventy percent of the 120,000 persons who would be affected by an evacuation program were American citizens and, technically, protected by the Bill of Rights.

To skirt this issue, pressure was brought on President Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 9066. The order, signed on February 19, 1942, gave Lt. Gen. John DeWitt, commander of the Western Defense Command, authority to designate areas as strategic for military purposes and to exclude anyone he chose from those zones. DeWitt designated a zone approximately 200 miles wide along the West Coast and ordered the removal of all persons of Japanese ancestry. To justify his position, he publicly made the statement that "a Jap is a Jap."

In Portland, the exclusion order issued on April 28, 1942, required all Portland residents to report by May 5 to the assembly center in North Portland. Other orders followed around the state, with those from Hood River and Marion counties sent to Pinedale in northern California. Because people could only take what they could carry, families had to dispose of their businesses, furniture, and personal possessions. They had no idea where they were going or when they would return. It was a time of doubt, fear, and confusion.
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Portland Assembly Center

The Portland Assembly Center had previously been used as stockyards, and the dirt ground that normally housed livestock was covered with a plank floor. Cubicles with eight-foot walls housed families, with space only large enough to accommodate family members' cots. Privacy was almost nonexistent. Night noises from adjoining cubicles could easily be heard over and through the thin walls.

The assembly center housed about 3,500 people. A board of leaders organized a small city within the center and set up a post office, security department, fire brigade, mess hall, and publishing office, along with recreational and educational activities. Residents ate meals in two shifts, served family style for maximum efficiency. Workers washed dishes quickly via an assembly line. For recreation, young people held dances, viewed movies once a week, and checked out sports equipment and games. Issei were generally bored, but eventually women's groups organized English and craft classes. There were church services conducted for various religions and denominations on Sundays. Despite these activities, the barbed wire and armed guards were a constant reminder that the civil rights of those of Japanese ancestry were being denied.

A number of exceptional incidents occurred in the Portland Assembly Center during its four months of existence. Dysentery broke out and there was a desperate rush to use the limited toilets. One can imagine the agony and desperation suffered by those afflicted. One day, a Military Police cook came through the gate to borrow food items from the center's kitchen. A Military Police guard shot him in broad daylight-a sobering sight for the internees. The incident that everyone remembered later occurred on a hot day in the spring of 1942, when the Center resembled an oven. The fire department came up with a solution. They would hose down the hallways and, as the water evaporated, the surfaces would cool down. It was a good idea, but they forgot one variable. As the halls were doused, water seeped through the plank floors and moistened the dirt and manure mixture underneath. The result was stench and hordes of flies. For days, thousands of flypaper rolls hung throughout the Center.
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Life in the Camps

By early September, the ten "permanent" concentration camps were completed, built in desolate desert areas in several western states. With the autumn leaves turning color, the Portland contingent was moved by train to the Minidoka camp near Twin Falls, Idaho, and Oregonians from Pinedale transferred to Tule Lake in northern California. All of the camps consisted of hundreds of tarpaper barracks, guard towers, and barbed wire fences.

The barracks were approximately 20 feet by 100 feet and sectioned into five or six one-room "apartments." With only what they could carry, family members stepped into rooms that were bare except for an army cot and a mattress for each person, a potbellied stove, and a single light bulb. From huge piles of scrap lumber, residents built chairs, tables, screens, and other items. For those who could not build for themselves, volunteers were happy to help. Later, many men carved art objects using scrap lumber and desert plants.

Camp life confirms that humans are adaptable. Issei and Nisei learned to live without running water, privacy, or electrical outlets. They adjusted to walking 40 or 50 yards to wash or shower and learned to tolerate an apartment covered with dust from windstorms. During cold winter months, it was a simple matter to create skating ponds. The coal-burning, potbellied stoves glowed red, and fire was a constant concern.

Life in camp was more difficult for the older Issei who were accustomed to working ten or twelve hours a day on their farms or managing hotels or grocery stores. In the camps, they had to adjust to boredom. Young people had no difficulty organizing sports programs, planning dances, or playing cards. As those activities went on, the family structure slowly disintegrated. Family members spent most of the day and evening with friends and seldom were together to share experiences and thoughts. They even ate meals separately.
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The Military

Nineteen forty-three was the year of turmoil and upheaval. More than 3,000 West Coast Nisei were serving in the military service before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Following December 7, 1941, those Nisei who had 1A classifications and who were ready to be inducted were reclassified to 4C, "enemy aliens." During the spring of 1943, authorities reversed their decision. They inducted Nisei into military service and encouraged as many internees as possible to relocate to eastern cities.

To carry out this program, they devised a questionnaire to separate the "loyal" from the "disloyal." The critical questions were so ambiguous that confusion and anger resulted. About ten percent of internees from the ten camps, classified as "disloyal," were segregated at the Tule Lake camp. The "loyal" Nisei and Issei were allowed to apply for work or education leaves or to volunteer or be drafted into the army. Japanese on the Hawaiian Islands were largely excluded from internment, with fewer than 2,000 of the 158,000 sent to concentration camps.

Thus, two major all-Nisei military units were formed. Around 4,500 served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) after studying Japanese language at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The MIS became "America's secret weapon" in the South Pacific, for they eavesdropped behind enemy lines, translated Japanese documents, and interrogated prisoners of war. Eighteen thousand from Hawaii and the mainland trained for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The 442nd RCT saw combat in Italy and France and became the most decorated unit in the history of the United States Army for its size and length of service. It also suffered the highest combat casualty rate of any unit that served.

One group of Japanese Americans who refused to serve in the United States military were classified as "no-no" boys. Some were opposed to the United States. Others were angry at the treatment of Japanese Americans and offered to serve only if their families were given their freedom. Their requests were not granted, and they were sentenced to prison, not to be released until after the war.
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Resettlement

As the war continued, the majority of Japanese Americans remained in the camps, primarily because they no longer had homes or businesses. In 1944, Californian Mitsuye Endow successfully challenged the constitutionality of E.O. 9066 before the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, in 1945, the camps closed.

Many families decided to start new lives in eastern locations. Almost 69 percent of Japanese Americans in Oregon returned to their former hometowns, but they often faced campaigns to exclude them from their communities. In Gresham, the Japanese Exclusion League held rallies for a law that would deny citizenship to those of Japanese descent. Hood River gained national notoriety when the local American Legion post removed the names of sixteen Nisei servicemen from a public honor roll and sponsored full-page newspaper ads warning "Japs are not wanted in Hood River."

The period of resettlement after the war was significant in that Japanese Americans assimilated throughout the country. The English-speaking Nisei were starting their own families. Culturally, they were more American than the Issei and had more options choosing their life goals. In Portland, there was no longer a Japantown. Rice, sake, soy sauce, and other Japanese products were becoming available at the Safeway and Fred Meyer stores. Eventually, the third and fourth generations of young people appeared, and most of their friends were Caucasians.

New Generations

As the fourth and fifth generations of Japanese Americans have come of age, they socialize within the larger population. Intermarriage has become the norm, with 31 percent of Japanese Americans in 2000 identifying themselves as multi-racial. People who do not necessarily look Japanese have Japanese names. They seem to be part of the "multicultural" world that is emerging in these times.

In 2000, 85 percent of those with Japanese ancestry in Oregon lived in just eight counties: Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Lane, Marion, Jackson, Benton, and Malheur. The population of Malheur County is distinctive, having the highest percentage of Japanese Americans (still less than two percent of its population) and, among those, the lowest percent who are biracial, at 16 percent.

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Resting in the shade of the Gresham Pioneer Cemetery, there is a grave marker with the name Miyo Iwakoshi. The name is not widely known in Oregon, but it is historically significant since Iwakoshi was the matriarch of the first Japanese family to settle in the state.

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As we gather in community, we welcome everyone here with open hearts and minds. We offer gratitude for the land and our opportunity to be here today. Let us pause to acknowledge our presence on the unceded homelands and waters of the Atfalati (“at-fall-uh-tee”) Kalapuyans (“cal-uh-poo-yuns”). Today, they are represented by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. It is our duty to acknowledge the generational impacts of settler colonialism, forced displacement, and assimilation on Native American families. We recognize these First Peoples, who coexisted in interdependent and sustainable relationships with the land: they are still here and connected to this place. We honor past, present, and future Indigenous members of the Tualatin community.

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It's important to remember our history, particularly the parts that may be unpleasant.

This piece of art by Diane Smith, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, is on display at the Five Oaks Museum at Portland Community College's Rock Creek Campus and was used by the City of Tualatin to illustrate its plans for a formal Land Acknowledgment statement. Courtesy/Five Oaks Museum

That is at least part of the motivation behind the Tualatin City Council's move to draft and adopt a formal land acknowledgement that will recognize the region's Indigenous people and their history of displacement by American settlers during the nineteenth century and beyond. A draft land acknowledgement statement being developed by Tualatin is aimed specifically at recognizing the way in which the Atfalati and Kalapuyan tribes were displaced during the latter part of the nineteenth century after Oregon formally gained statehood from the federal government. It's a history that, until very recently, has largely been ignored by public schools and local and state government. But that's beginning to change, thanks in part to an initiative spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture and inspired by similar movements in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries with similar histories of colonialism.

"The discomfort of whites is not intended to be divisive, but an opportunity to recognize the feelings of Indigenous community members and hopefully inspire future actions," Tualatin Parks and Recreation Committee member Beth Dittman said at the Nov. 5 city council meeting.

The land acknowledgement currently under development is intended to be read aloud at public and community events and will generally be used to guide future City actions so that they are respectful of Indigenous history. It is the first step in recognizing how the land in the City of Tualatin was acquired, a process that included both ratified and unratified treaties between local tribes and the U.S. government. Included in these are the 1850 Oregon Land Donation Claim Act, unratified treaties of 1851 and 1854 and the Dawes Acts of 1887, which led to the forced removal of tribal members from their ancestral lands.

Current members of both the Atfalati and Kalapuyan tribes are today represented by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. Both played an important role in developing a draft land acknowledgement statement. Additional work will be carried out in the coming months to finalize the statement and lay out a process for continuing public education surrounding Indigenous history, Dittman said.

"We'd like for this to be something you use citywide," Dittman said. "We also recognize that might take some dialogue and discussion amongst you before there is a level of comfort around that."

Councilors expressed unanimous support for the effort.

"I'm hearing that folks are very supportive of the effort and that we want to accept the work that has been done," Mayor Frank Bubenik said. "It sounds like we want to hand this off to our ad hoc DEI committee, get more community input and then circle back with what their recommendations are and then eventually have a land use acknowledgement."

Draft Acknowledgement:
As we gather in community, we welcome everyone here with open hearts and minds. We offer gratitude for the land and our opportunity to be here today. Let us pause to acknowledge our presence on the unceded homelands and waters of the Atfalati ("at-fall-uh-tee") Kalapuyans ("cal-uh-poo-yuns"). Today, they are represented by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. It is our duty to acknowledge the generational impacts of settler colonialism, forced displacement, and assimilation on Native American families. We recognize these First Peoples, who coexisted in interdependent and sustainable relationships with the land: they are still here and connected to this place. We honor past, present, and future Indigenous members of the Tualatin community.

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Tualatin advances Indigenous land acknowledgement statement - Tualatin Life

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It's important to remember our history, particularly the parts that may be unpleasant. That is at least part of the motivation behind the Tualatin City Council's move to draft and adopt a formal land acknowledgement that will recognize the region's Indigenous people and their history of displacement by American settlers during the nineteenth century and [...]

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Adrienne C. Nelson, first Black judge on Oregon Supreme Court

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Adrienne C. Nelson, first Black judge on Oregon Supreme Court

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First African-American, Adrienne Nelson, appointed to Oregon Supreme Court

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For the first time in Oregon, an African-American judge will serve on the state’s highest court.

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

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Thurgood Marshall, first black Supreme Court Justice

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Thurgood Marshall, first black Supreme Court Justice

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"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."

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Tim Manugian, Public Education Intern

This Women's History Month, we have chosen to honor some of the innumerable LGBTQ women, non-binary people, and femmes who have impacted the world throughout history. Our community is powerful, and each person has their own remarkable part to play. We celebrate them this month, and all year long: those who came before us, or are making history right now. At GLAD we remain committed to uplifting these voices and building a world that celebrates them unreservedly.

Marsha P. Johnson

Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 - July 6, 1992) was an outspoken gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Along with her close friend Sylvia Rivera, she was one of the key people involved in the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Stories differ on whether she threw a brick or threw a shot glass, but she became a symbol involved with the event to this day. A popular member of the New York Art scene, she worked with Andy Warhol and as a drag performer. After working in the Gay Liberation Front, Marsha co-founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.). She worked with STAR for years, founding the STAR House, a shelter for gender-nonconforming and transgender youth. She moved specifically into AIDS-related activism in the 1980s, working with groups like ACT UP.

Marsha was a cornerstone of the queer community in New York and beyond until she died in July of 1992. Her death was originally ruled a suicide, but after extensive pressure from her close friends and family, advocacy groups, and fellow activists, it was reopened as a possible homicide. Since her passing, she remains one of the most well-known figures in the queer community. Her story, recently memorialized in the documentary " The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson," inspired many activists and LGBTQ people today to fight for what they believe in. In her memory, the Marsha P. Johnson Foundation fights for the equality and rights of Black transgender individuals.

Pragati Singh

Pragati Singh is an activist and one of the preeminent leaders of the asexual rights movement in India. She began her career as a maternal health doctor, when she discovered that there were no online communities for anyone on the asexual spectrum in India. She created Indian Aces, a group designed to help foster community and support. Dr. Singh also conducted research to identify the unique challenges and hopes of India's asexual community. She was able to push against a rigid medical establishment to get her research published, helping to raise awareness of people on the ace spectrum in both the medical field and the country at large. Her groundbreaking work enabled her to present at international conferences and was chosen to be one of the BBC's 100 Women of the Year in 2019. She continues to work to provide a space and a voice for the ace community in India. Read Dr. Singh's interview with Asexual Magazine here.

Christine Jorgenson

Christine Jorgenson (May 30, 1926 - May 3, 1989) was the first person in the United States widely known to have received gender-confirming surgery. The Bronx native and World War II veteran received medical care in Denmark in 1952 and immediately became a media sensation. Christine originally intended to live a private life but realized she had a platform to speak up. She became a performer, went on talk shows and radio shows, and wrote her autobiography. From the '60s to the '80s, she toured college campuses and other venues to speak about issues of transgender rights. Christine passed away in 1989 from cancer, but her legacy helped change the way people thought about LGBTQ people. Her fame brought about visibility at a time when there were very few people living openly as transgender and shaped the national discussion on gender identity.

Tammy Baldwin

Tammy Baldwin was the first openly gay person to be elected to both chambers of Congress. Baldwin has been an advocate for LGBTQ rights, access to healthcare, and student debt relief. She introduced the Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act which sought to fund research and cultural competence for LGBTQ healthcare. She has regularly fought for these issues, including supporting the upcoming Equality Act, which would close many gaps in nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, women, people of color, and people of minority faiths.

Brenda Howard

Brenda Howard (December 24, 1946 - June 28, 2005) was heavily involved in planning the first Pride event in 1970 after coordinating rallies to commemorate the 1-month, 1-year, and subsequent anniversaries of the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969. Known by some as "Mother of Pride," Brenda is widely credited with coming up with the modern idea of the week-long pride event that we see celebrated internationally. Initially active in the feminist and antiwar movements, in 1987 she turned more towards bisexual-specific organizing with organizations like BiNet USA and the New York Area Bisexual Network. She helped plan dozens of marches and brought issues of bisexual representation to the forefront in the queer community, and worked for kink and polyamory visibility. Sadly, she passed away from cancer in 2005, but her legacy lives on Pride celebrations worldwide.

Kim Coco Iwamoto

Kim Coco Iwamoto is a politician from Hawaii. From both her lived experience as a transgender individual and her grandparents' experience as survivors of Japanese internment in California, she grew up no stranger to the pressing need to protect all people's rights. To this end, she served on the Hawaii Board of Education, and later on the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. This made Kim the first openly transgender person elected to statewide office in the country. She ran both for Lieutenant Governor and State Representative, only narrowly losing both races. Kim continues to push the boundaries for the Asian-American LGBTQ community and fights to represent all people's interests in her work, including leading advocacy efforts for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness in Hawaii.

Janet Mock

Janet Mock is a transgender rights advocate, writer, and media producer. Originally from Hawaii, she worked as the staff editor for People magazine, where she came out as transgender. She wrote her first autobiography in 2012, which began her entry into more overt advocacy by speaking on her experience transitioning as a teen in Hawaii. She worked for a medley of media organizations and formats before settling into screenwriting. After writing her second autobiography, she began writing the critically-acclaimed show Pose on FX. Pose was groundbreaking for casting trans actors to play trans characters and accurately depicting the Ballroom scene of 1980's New York. Janet is the first openly transgender woman of color to write a television episode and secure a major studio deal. Her work on and off-screen has increased crucial transgender representation in the media.

Amazin LeThi

Born in Saigon, Amazin LeThi is a fierce advocate for LGBTQ kids in sports. Amazin was adopted into a white family in Australia and began her lifelong passion for athletics as a bodybuilder at age 6. She was bullied both for being Asian and LGBTQ, and her work at the intersection of these identities has been influential. She founded the Amazin LeThi Foundation, which works to prevent anti-LGBTQ and anti-AIDS discrimination. She works tirelessly for the inclusion of LGBTQ people in sports and has worked publicly to further queer Asian representation in sports and the media with Athlete Ally, the BBC, and the Obama White House, among many others.

Angela Davis

Angela Davis is a longtime activist, first in the movement against the Vietnam War and as a defining second-wave Black feminist. A self-identified, long-time Communist, she has been a vocal advocate for prison abolition and alternatives to incarceration. Angela has been an educator for many years, lecturing on feminism at colleges across the globe. Through her work in these movements, Davis has consistently advocated for women and the LGBTQ community, even to the point of breaking with other leaders who were not listening to those voices. She has been a leading advocate for intersectional advocacy and activism and has led the field by example. She lives now with her long-time partner and fellow UC Santa Cruz professor Gina Dent.

Jennicet Gutierrez

Jennicet Gutierrez is an advocate for the trans undocumented community. Jennicet moved to the US at 15, learning English and being subjected to intolerance simultaneously. Famously, she interrupted President Obama during an LGBTQ Pride reception to raise the issue of his administration's treatment of transgender immigrants. This generated a national conversation on the issue and the politics of respectability in the LGBTQ movement. She was a founding member of La Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, an organization that works at the local and national levels to achieve the collective liberation of trans, queer, and gender-expansive Latinx people.

Yasmin Benoit

Yasmin Benoit is an asexual and aromantic activist in the UK. She is one of the first and most successful Black alternative models. Pushing into a white-dominated field with Eurocentric standards of beauty, she got many questions from journalists and had to advocate for herself from the beginning of her career. As a model, she has also gotten many questions about her asexuality and fights many misconceptions about the ace community. Benoit has said in interviews, "I'm not trying to sell myself, I'm selling a product," a refrain she has had to repeat over her career. She has worked with AVEN, the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (where she now serves on the Board of Directors), to increase the knowledge of and acceptance for the asexual and aromantic community. She is also lending her perspective to a movement that often is dominated by white voices, showing how diverse the queer community really is.

Deborah Batts

Deborah Batts was the nation's first openly gay federal judge. She served as an Assistant US Attorney in New York and was a professor at Fordham Law School before she was nominated for the Southern District of New York seat, following the recommendation of Senator Patrick Moynihan. Her confirmation in 1994 made her the first openly lesbian federal judge, not to mention the first African-American lesbian judge. While she never stressed her sexuality, she understood that she was a role model for many. In a 2019 interview, when asked about her thoughts on being a role model, she said "You can certainly be a mentor, someone who encourages people who think that they can't do it. They can do it."

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Honoring LGBTQ Leaders for Women's History Month - GLAD

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Tim Manugian, Public Education Intern This Women's History Month, we have chosen to honor some of the innumerable LGBTQ women, non-binary people, and femmes who have impacted the world throughout history. Our community is powerful, and each person has their own remarkable part to play.

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"If we want a beloved community, we must stand for justice." - bell hooks

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"If we want a beloved community, we must stand for justice." - bell hooks

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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Exhibits & Collections

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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Exhibits & Collections

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We Are Here is the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's first middle-grade anthology. The book and corresponding digital resources in the Smithsonian Learning Lab shares stories of resilience, adversity, and joy. The book includes profiles of AAPI activists, artists, musicians, actors, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.

Image credit: We Are Here, illustration by Illi Ferandez

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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2023 - Exhibits and Collections

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We Are Here is the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's first middle-grade anthology. The book and corresponding digital resources in the Smithsonian Learning Lab shares stories of resilience, adversity, and joy. The book includes profiles of AAPI activists, artists, musicians, actors, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.

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Thurgood Marshall was one of America's foremost attorneys. As chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, he led the legal fight against segregation, argued the historic 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and ultimately became the nation's first Black Supreme Court Justice.

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The hard-won advancements of civil rights were made possible by the struggle, commitment, and work of people who stood up to discrimination and white supremacy. We look to these heroes from our past for lessons and inspiration as we continue their important work into the future.

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Misty Copeland, first Black women to be principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre

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Misty Copeland, first Black women to be principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre

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You may have seen dancer Misty Copeland on TV, on stage or even on tour with Prince, but she's a classically trained ballet dancer who starred in "Swan Lake" and many other works.

In 2015, Copeland became the first Black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, known as ABT, and has also written several books.

Her latest, "Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy," is a nonfiction book for kids. In it, Copeland tells the stories of the women who came before her, who often faced discrimination and exclusion by the white-dominated ballet world of the early 20th century.

Many of those ballerinas found a home at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the country's first Black ballet company. The company, founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook, performed around the country and the world.

Copeland says she believes it's her responsibility to tell the untold stories of trailblazing Black ballerinas who came before her. At a WBUR CitySpace event in December, she credited them with paving the way for her to shine in her craft.

She wants aspiring young Black ballerinas and parents wanting to put their kids into dance classes to know that they do belong.

"I've struggled with that once I became a professional, being the only Black woman at ABT for the first decade of my career," Copeland says. "How do I fit in?"

That sentiment struck a chord for Carla Shelton Benjamin, former ballerina at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. As part of the Colorado Ballet in her early dance years, she was the only consistent Black ballerina in the company.

It wasn't until she witnessed Lydia Abarca Mitchell on the cover of Dance Magazine in 1975 - the first Black female ballerina to appear on the magazine's cover - that she discovered there were Black ballerinas, let alone an entire dance company of them.

In the fourth grade, future cover star Abarca Mitchell remembers performing a choreographed dance on stage to "Waltz of the Flowers" from "The Nutcracker." Her teacher, a nun, rushed to Abarca Mitchell's mother afterward.

"I don't know what I did on stage," she says, "but she told my mother, 'you have got to get this girl formal training.' "

She auditioned at The Juilliard School and received a full scholarship. After years of dancing at Juilliard and then Harkness House for Ballet Arts, taking classes she wasn't interested in, she asked herself: "Why am I doing this?"

The summer she graduated high school, Abarca Mitchell's sister informed her that there was a Black man teaching ballet in Harlem.

"I said, 'Well, maybe he'll make ballet interesting.' I'd never had a Black teacher before," Abarca Mitchell recalls. "It was Arthur Mitchell."

For Sheila Rohan, ballet entered her life after surviving the polio epidemic as a child. The doctor told her she needed exercise, so she enrolled in a local dance school. She knew instantly that she loved ballet, she says.

Rohan "never thought" she was going to be a professional ballerina because she never saw ballerinas that looked like her. It wasn't until one day, her sister told her about Arthur Mitchell and his troupe in Harlem.

At first, she was too timid to audition. But her sister kept pushing Rohan to at least try.

"I said, 'No, I'm not good enough and I'll be embarrassed.' And she said, 'Go ahead.' And I did - and I passed the audition," Rohan says.

Like Abarca Mitchell, Gayle McKinney Griffith studied dance at Juilliard. But university administration turned down her dreams to be a ballet major and suggested she take up modern dance. She remembers feeling crushed and "crumbling" outside the administration's door.

At that moment, a friend approached her and suggested looking into Arthur Mitchell's ballet company in Harlem. "I just packed my bag that same day and went uptown," she says.

McKinney Griffith, Rohan, Abarca Mitchell and Shelton Benjamin all shared their memories of dancing with the groundbreaking Arthur Mitchell, who had been a dancer himself. In 1955, he became the first Black principal dancer at the New York City Ballet.

"He was a tornado, and we were caught up in it," Abarca Mitchell says.

The ballet dancers represented a mission as part of Arthur Mitchell's troupe, so they were to dress, act and speak properly.

One profound but simple act of representation was wearing dance garments that matched their skin tones rather than the traditional ballet pink color, known as European pink. They would dye their tights with tea and dust their pointe shoes with face powder, makeup and spray.

Racism in the ballet arts, Rohan says, meant people would make remarks about the Black ballerinas' bodies - such as their chests being "too busty" or their thighs being "too thick."

Copeland says she's reflected on her debts to these four women. "You've all contributed to getting me to where I am. I wouldn't be a principal dancer with ABT without all of your efforts," she says.

Rohan quickly chims in.

"But you should also know how proud we are of you, not just us, the whole dance community," she says. "Just to see you in American Ballet Theatre and 'Swan Lake' and 'Firebird.' "

"And we're always here for you," McKinney Griffith adds.
Emiko Tamagawa produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web.

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Dancer Misty Copeland and the legacy of the 'Black Ballerinas' who preceded her into the dance world

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You may have seen dancer Misty Copeland on TV, on stage or even on tour with Prince, but she's a classically trained ballet dancer who starred in "Swan Lake" and many other works. In 2015, Copeland became the first Black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, known as ABT, and has also written several books.

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Who is Anna May Wong? Hollywood's First Chinese-American Trailblazer - Asian Actress Ryan

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On the late star's birthday, L'OFFICIEL looks back on the life and legacy of Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, who paved the way for Asian representation