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National
Park Service Announces $2.9 Million in Grants to Preserve and
Interpret
World War II Japanese American Confinement Sites
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Washington,
DC – June 2014 / Newsmaker Alert / National
Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis recently announced 21 grants
totaling more than $2.9 million to help preserve and interpret the World
War II confinement sites of Japanese Americans. More than 120,000 Japanese
Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were imprisoned by
the U.S. government following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December
7, 1941.
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“As
America’s storyteller, the National Park Service is committed to sharing
this tragic episode of our nation’s past and what it teaches us about the
fragility of our constitutional rights,” Jarvis said. “These grants fund
projects to help us gain a better understanding of the past, engage new
audiences, and build new partnerships in the preservation of these historic
sites and lessons they hold.”
Projects
selected include the stabilization of the historic elementary school at
the former Poston site in Arizona; an educational training program for
600 teachers across California on the local and national stories about
the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World
War II; and an exhibition exploring the significance of the Congressional
Gold Medal awarded to Japanese American veterans of World War II who served
in the military while their families lived behind barbed wire.
The
grant amounts range from $12,650 awarded to the Nikkei for Civil Rights
and Redress organization for a Speak Out for Justice DVD video series that
highlights the testimonies of 157 people who spoke before the Los Angeles
public hearing of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of
Civilians in 1981, to $497,186 for the Topaz Museum to create exhibits
for the newly constructed Topaz Museum and Education Center in Delta, Utah,
located 16 miles from the Topaz incarceration site in Millard County, Utah.
The
Japanese
American Confinement Sites Grant Program, now in its sixth year, will
support projects in seven states and the District of Columbia. The grants
announced today total $2,905,000 and bring the program’s total awards to
more than $15 million since Congress established the grant program in 2006.
A total of $38 million in grant funds was authorized for the life of the
program.
Grants
from the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant program can go to the
10 War Relocation Authority centers established in 1942 or to more than
40 other confinement sites. The goal of the program is to teach present
and future generations about the injustice of the World War II confinement
history and inspire a commitment to equal justice under the law. Successful
proposals are chosen through a competitive process that requires applicants
to match the grant award with $1 in non-federal funds or “in-kind” contributions
for every $2 they receive in federal money.
For
more details about these projects, visit: www.nps.gov/hps/hpg/JACS.
For
further information, contact Kara Miyagishima, Program Manager for the
Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, at 303-969-2885 or kara_miyagishima@nps.gov.
About
the National Park Service
More
than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 401 national
parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local
history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at
www.nps.gov,
on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice,
Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice,
and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
Media
Contacts:
Kathy
Kupper (NPS) 202-208-6843
Emily
Linroth (NPS) 202-354-1935 |