Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 26, 1934 Inglewood, California |
| Notable work(s) | Farewell to Manzanar |
| Spouse(s) | James D. Houston |
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (born September 26, 1934) is an American writer. Her writings are mostly focused on the ethnic diversity of the United States. She is best known for her autobiographical novel Farewell to Manzanar which details her own experiences as a Japanese American in the World War II internment camps.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
She was born in Inglewood, California on September 26, 1934, attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and graduated from San Jose State University.[1] She studied sociology and journalism.[2]
[edit] Farewell to Manzanar
In her book Farewell to Manzanar (1973), Houston writes about her family's experiences at Manzanar, an internment camp in California's Owens Valley where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II.[2] The novel was adapted in to a television movie in 1976, starring Nobu McCarthy, who portrayed both Houston as well as her mother in the film.[3]A Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston was born in Inglewood, California on September 26, 1934. She is best known for her autobiographical novel Farewell to Manzanar which describes her own experiences as a Japanese American in the World War II camps. Jeanne was the youngest of four boys and six girls in the Wakatsuki family. For the first seven years she experienced a normal childhood .She grew up in Southern California until 1942 when she and her family were evacuated after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 after Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. They were forced to leave their home and be taken to Manzanar. Even though she was born in the United States she was still treated as an enemy.Herself and her family spent the next three years in the camp, attempting to live a "normal" life behind barbed wire, under the watch of armed guards in searchlight towers. Though they tried to live a normal life some obstacles managed to get in the way a bit such as; her father's drinking habits and aggressive abuse, having no freedom, and very little space in the cubicles. However through times like this things eventually improved , or they either learned to adapt to everything around them. Several years after leaving the camp in 1945, Jeanne went to San Jose St. College where she studied sociology and journalism. She met her husband James, there and they married in 1957.Jeanne later decided to tell her story about the time she spent in Manzanar in Farewell to Manzanar , co-authored with her husband, James D. Houston in 1972. Ten years later, in 1967, Jeanne gave birth to twins, Joshua and Gabriel. A third child was born years later.
In an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II, the book and the movie were distributed in 2002 as a part of kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California. The kit also included study guides tailored to the book, and a video teaching guide.[4]
Other publications include Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1984) with Paul G. Hensler as a co-author, and Beyond Manzanar and Other Views of Asian-American Womanhood (1985).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Discover Nikkei: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston". DiscoverNikkei.org. 2007-01-09. http://www.discovernikkei.org/wiki/index.php/Jeanne_Wakatsuki_Houston. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ a b Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki (1973, 1983). Farewell To Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment. Laurel Leaf. ISBN 0-553272-58-6.
- ^ "Farewell to Manzanar (1976) (TV)". National Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074518. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ Pacyna, Deborah (2002-02-19). "Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante Announces Distribution of 10,000 "Farewell to Manzanar" Educational Kits to Public Schools and Libraries" (Press release). Office of the Lieutenant Governor, State of California. http://digitalarchive.oclc.org/da/ViewObjectMain.jsp;jsessionid=84ae0c5f82402c3a522bf66b4c42a589ac58b4613d15?fileid=0000045760:000002182803&reqid=26305. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
[edit] Critical studies
- "National and Ethnic Affiliation in Internment Autobiographies of Childhood by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and George Takei" By: Davis, Rocío G.; Amerikastudien/American Studies, 2006; 51 (3): 355-68. (journal article)
- "'But Isn't This the Land of the Free?': Resistance and Discovery in Student Responses to Farewell to Manzanar" By: Chappell, Virginia A.. pp. 172–88 IN: Severino, Carol (ed. and introd.); Guerra, Juan C. (ed. and introd.); Butler, Johnnella E. (ed. and introd.); Writing in Multicultural Settings. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America; 1997. xi, 370 pp. (book article)
- "The Politics of Possession: The Negotiation of Identity in American in Disguise, Homebase, and Farewell to Manzanar" By: Sakurai, Patricia A.. pp. 157–70 IN: Okihiro, Gary Y. (ed. & introd.); Alquizola, Marilyn (ed.); Rony, Dorothy Fujita (ed.); Wong, K. Scott (ed.); Privileging Positions: The Sites of Asian American Studies. Pullman: Washington State UP; 1995. xiii, 448 pp. (book article)
- "The Politics of Possession: Negotiating Identities in American in Disguise, Homebase, and Farewell to Manzanar" By: Sakurai, Patricia A.; Hitting Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism, 1993 Fall; 1 (1): 39-56. (journal article)
[edit] External links
 |
This Asian American-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This article about an American writer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
