Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong is superintendent of the Hono'uli'uli National Historic Site and a Gosei. During World War II, the United States government incarcerated her family in prison camps at Manzanar and Minidoka. Wakatsuki-Chong was born in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986. She grew up mostly in Boise, Idaho, and attended Boise State University and Johns Hopkins University. Wakatsuki-Chong's public history career has included work at Tule Lake National Monument and Minidoka National Historic Site. In this interview, Wakatsuki-Chong discusses growing up in Idaho, including experiences of racism; her Japanese American and Korean American heritage, as well as multicultural family traditions; connections to Japanese American and Korean American communities, including Friends of Minidoka; education and work history, including positions at Japanese American confinement sites; family's experiences at Manzanar and the long-term impact of incarceration; Great Aunt Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's book Farewell to Manzanar; attending pilgrimages to Japanese American confinement sites; interpretation of incarceration history, including terminology changes; the eightieth Day of Remembrance event; Manzanar's impact on popular culture; thoughts on intergenerational trauma and healing; and reflections on personal identity.
Details
Title
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong: Japanese American Confinement Sites and My National Park Story
Note
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong, "Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong: Japanese American Confinement Sites and My National Park Story" conducted by Amanda Tewes in 2022, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2023. Interview date(s) 2022
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