Life Interrupted:
The Japanese American Experience
in World War II Arkansas

A partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Japanese American National Museum with major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

Dear Friends,

We invite you to join us in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 23-26, 2004 for an unprecedented series of events. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Japanese American National Museum are presenting a landmark partnership project, Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas. With the generous support from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation we are able to share with the citizens of Arkansas, especially educators and students, the experiences of Japanese Americans at Jerome and Rohwer, the two War Relocation Authority camps located within Arkansas.

Most exciting is the development of new curriculum material, lesson plans, and teacher training which is being made available to Arkansas teachers and school districts and will have a lasting impact throughout the state.

This four-day event will include the openings of five traveling exhibitions organized by the National Museum and three new exhibitions developed by UALR. The exhibitions will be installed at historic sites, cultural centers, and public facilities in four locations around Little Rock. On September 25, a day that marks the 47th Anniversary of the Central High Crisis, a major all-day conference, will take place. The conference, Camp Connections: A Conversation about Social Justice and Civil Rights in Arkansas will provide a unique forum to explore the greater issues of civil rights through the experiences of Japanese American during World War II. This event will bring together veterans, former inmates from all the camps, historians, community leaders, and the general public to share and interact with one another, establish contacts, and renew friendships. The weekend will conclude with a day trip to the Jerome and Rohwer campsites on September 26.

We hope you and your family will join us in Little Rock. Whether or not you had a personal connection to Arkansas, the camps or the military, this is a wonderful opportunity and everyone is invited to this weekend of historic events. We welcome you to Arkansas!

Sincerely,