Page 41 - Laguna Blanca Magazine Summer 2018

Valerie Yoshimura

EXHIBITING

RESILIENCE

Laguna French Teacher Valerie Yoshimura
earned a doctorate degree in French Language
and Literature, but that’s not the only thing
she’s passionate about teaching. For the past
35 years, she’s committed herself to educating
the community about the Japanese-American
internment, which shattered the lives of more
than 100,000 people—including that of her
own father, who was forced from his home in
Hawaii to an internment camp in Arkansas in
1942.
“He told me when I was 10-years-old—the The Yoshimura family pictured outside the family barracks in Rohwer, Arkansas, c. 1943.
same age he was when he was taken,” Valerie
says. “I could never think of my life the same
way again.” LASTING MEMORIES “To see my name on that wall amidst the
It was a realization that put Valerie on Valerie eventually left Santa Barbara to earn photos of so many Japanese American family
a lifelong journey to learn more about the her M.A. and Ph.D. in French Language and photos—which I had originally curated
Japanese-American evacuation and internment, Literature at the University of Michigan. She myself—was gratifying,” Valerie says. “But
and to share those experiences with the world. went on to serve as president of the Japanese more importantly, the permanent exhibit will
American Citizens League, Detroit Chapter, allow a new generation to learn about the
AN EXHIBIT OF RESILIENCE from 1994 to 1998, before deciding to teach experiences of our ancestors.”
Valerie attended UC Santa Barbara, French at independent schools. Valerie continues to focus full-time on
studying sociology and French, but her passion Twenty-seven years went by before Valerie French education. She recently received
for unearthing artifacts and information about returned to El Presidio to discover that it had the Friedel & Otto Eberspacher Award for
the internment period continued. Shortly after created a permanent exhibit about the Japanese- Excellence in Teaching of Modern European
finishing college, El Presidio de Santa Barbara American experience in Santa Barbara, based Languages from Johns Hopkins University’s
State Historic Park invited her to create a on her original 1991 project. The installation Center for Talented Youth. Still, she continues
short-term exhibit about the experiences of chronicles 40 years of life in the Japanese- to advocate on behalf of the greater Japanese
Japanese Americans in Santa Barbara before, American neighborhood (Nihonmachi), which American community whenever she can. She is
during, and since World War II. With Valerie’s was located on the El Presidio site during the thrilled to be part of the Laguna community.
help, it blossomed into a two-day festival for first half of the 20th century.
the entire Santa Barbara community.
“For me, the most emotional part of
the experience was the photos of everyday
moments,” Yoshimura says. “To see children
playing baseball or going to boy scouts; it was
typical American stuff, and it was all taken
away from them so abruptly.”
The exhibit highlighted the resilience of
Japanese Americans who had made a home in
Nihonmachi, Santa Barbara’s Japan Town. But
she never expected the exhibit itself to last. SUMMER 2018
“Nihonmachi Revisited” is open daily at El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park.
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