Community Projects
Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese ancestry have participated in America’s history in many ways. Capturing the Japanese community’s experiences through the use of oral histories is by far the most significant aspect of our organization’s work. However, we understand that the captured histories alone do not edify the public. Consequently it is important for us to bridge this treasure of history with audiences willing to hear and experience it.
Here are just a few of our community outreach projects:
- Discussion Panels – we create a panel of people from the Japanese community who have shared a particular experience (e.g., World War II internment, etc.) and we put this panel in front of college students to establish a dialog that transcends the typical classroom environment and allows for interactive and didactic learning.
- Publications – our staff helps community organizations create various publications that help create awareness and interest in the group’s initiatives. For example, JA Living Legacy is working with the Japanese American Korean War Veterans (JAKWV) to create a book of stories written by Korean War veterans of Japanese heritage.
- Project Management – JA Living Legacy’s staff is comprised of professionals from various fields. This diversity lends itself to providing business project management to help Japanese community organizations achieve their goals. JA Living Legacy is instrumental in helping the Americans of Japanese Ancestry World War II Memorial Alliance (AJA War Vets) create a searchable online database of their comrades who were killed-in-action (KIA). This online database also is a registry of surviving veterans.
- Historical Archiving – along with the many oral histories we capture, many of our oral history participants have documents and artifacts that require professional archiving and organization to help protect and preserve these items against natural and accidental damage.