The JACL DC Chapter is pleased to invite our members and friends to participate in our third FREE virtual event via Zoom.

Join us on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7PM EDT to virtually meet with author Shirley Ann Higuchi as she discusses her new book, Setsuko's Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration. Higuchi, who is the associate executive director of legal and regulatory affairs for the American Psychological Association and the chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, will talk with attendees about this deeply personal account of her family and the generational trauma that shaped her own life.

As children, Higuchi and her brothers knew Heart Mountain only as the place their parents met, imagining it as a great Stardust Ballroom in rural Wyoming. As they grew older, they would come to recognize the name as a source of great sadness and shame for their older family members, part of the generation of Japanese Americans forced into the hastily built concentration camp in the aftermath of Executive Order 9066.

Only after a serious cancer diagnosis did Shirley's mother, Setsuko, share her vision for a museum at the site of the former camp, where she had been donating funds and volunteering in secret for many years. After Setsuko's death, Shirley skeptically accepted an invitation to visit the site, a journey that would forever change her life and introduce her to a part of her mother she never knew.

Notes:

The Zoom link, password, and call-in information for this event will only be shared with those registered for the event.

There will be an opportunity for questions during a Q&A session at the end of the talk. Please note, it is not required to have read the book before this event.

There will be a drawing for a signed copy of the book at the end of the event for those who tune in! 

Please note that the JACL DC Chapter will be recording the book discussion. The recording will likely be posted on the DC Chapter Facebook page, included in our New Notes newsletter or other marketing channels to promote our Chapter events. Personal names will not be shared in the recording. If you prefer not to be captured in the recording, please turn off your video camera during the Zoom event.

Questions about the Zoom event: Contact Kim Hirose at Kimhirose@gmail.com