PARTNER

OBJECT ID

ddr-densho-1020-13

PARENT COLLECTION

Emi Kuboyama, Office of Redress Administration (ORA) Oral History Project

DESCRIPTION

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, a historic piece of legislation that sought, for the first time, to provide a measure of justice to Japanese Americans nearly 40 years after their incarceration during World War II. The Japanese American Redress program that resulted is a little-known success story of the United States government - a program whose history is now captured in this film and oral history project. The Office of Redress Administration bore the seal and support of three different presidential administrations, and was run by a federal workforce that represented a diverse cross-section of the American people. And over its decade-long operation (1988-1998), the ORA reached 81,000 people with a redress payment and official apology letter from the President of the United States.

The Office of Redress Administration (ORA) Oral History Project is an effort to capture and preserve the first person recollections of those tasked with carrying out this historic government program, as well as the community leaders that made it possible. These interviews are featured in this short film.

Emi Kuboyama, Project Creator, Interviewer; Todd Holmes, Project Consultant, Videographer, Assistant Editor & Producer; Geoff McGhee, Senior Video Editor & Producer. Historic footage generously provided by Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) and Visual Communications.

(This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior.)

0:30:40

CONTRIBUTOR

Densho

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of Emi Kuboyama

RIGHTS