Nisei Voices: Japanese American Students of the 1930s--Then & Now
by Joyce Hirohata
Category: Children of immigrants

Nisei Voices documents and celebrates the lives of the first Japanese American valedictorians of California public schools in the 1930s. The students are called Nisei (pronounced "nee-say") which means second-generation children of Japanese immigrants. In the 1930s Paul T. Hirohata first published the valedictorians' speeches in a book called Orations and Essays. Seventy years later, Hirohata's granddaughter, Joyce Hirohata, has updated and expanded her grandfather's work. In this new edition, she documents the valedictorians' lives and adds a collection of poignant photographs to the original 1930s material. The fifty manuscripts of the valedictorians' orations give a rare glimpse into the words and thoughts of Japanese Americans in the period between World Wars. Over 160 images bring to life the history of the Nisei students and their generation. Through interviews with the valedictorians, as well as their families and friends, Nisei Voices creates a collage of the students' lives, forged in hope but tested by the adversity of incarceration during World War II. An epic story of triumph, Nisei Voices lends a powerful, personal perspective of Japanese Americans before, during and after World War II, and the decades that followed. Visit www.niseivoices.com for more information.