[Review of] Bill Hosokawa . Nisei-The Quiet Americans

Authors

Kumiko Takahara

Orginal Publication Date

1993

Journal Title

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Volume

13

Issue

ess/vol13/iss1

First Page

30

Last Page

31

Abstract

Nisei, meaning American-born second-generation Japanese, is an epic scale undertaking of the recording of a brief but eventful history of the Japanese immigration to America by a Japanese American journalist. The book consists of twenty-seven chapters which are divided into three parts. The initial focus is on the settlement of the first generation Japanese immigrants in the 1870s, mainly in California and the Pacific states. Then the topic shifts to the emergence of a substantial Nisei population during the 1930-40 period, followed by their maturation through prewar segregation and the wartime internment experience. The third part accounts for the post-internment social ascension of Nisei as respected Americans, along with their success stories in practically every social position and professional field. In legal areas, the determined struggles of Nisei for equality and justice were finally fulfilled when their alien parents who had been "ineligible" for reasons of their racial origin were finally granted citizenship. Their efforts were extended into the 1960s until racial barriers were removed from the immigration law.

Rights

Copyright, ​©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1993