Confinement in the Land of Enchantment: Japanese American Prison Camps of New Mexico

Confinement in the Land of Enchantment: Japanese American Prison Camps of New Mexico

In her multimedia presentation, "Confinement in the Land of Enchantment", Dr. Nikki Nojima Louis will share stories from both sides of the barbed wire of the all-male Department of Justice internment camps of Lordsburg and Santa Fe through slides and story depicting 1) the arrest and interrogation of Issei men (immigrants denied naturalization due to Asian exclusion laws) in the days, and even hours, following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor; 2) stories from diaries and interviews of the incarcerees of Lordsburg and Santa Fe camps in which these men were held without just cause or due process; 3) childhood memories of the camp recounted by Santa Feans, including a history teacher, a retired pilot, a former mayor of Santa Fe, and the sons of two camp guards.

Presenter Nikki Nojima Louis is a childhood survivor of the WWII American prison camps. Her father was held in Santa Fe and Lordsburg internment camps from 1942 to 1946. She and her readers theater group, JACL Players, have presented "Living History" plays throughout New Mexico since 2014.

This program is sponsored by New Mexico Humanities Council.