Lessons for the Future, Lessons from the Past with Japanese Internment Camp Survivor Mary Kamidoi

Join Japanese American internment camp survivor Mary Kamidoi as she recounts growing up in an internment camp and the anti-Asian discrimination she experienced through the decades. Mary Kamidoi used to work for the Ford Motor Company and was the Treasurer for the Japanese American Citizens League in Detroit and is today an active speaker and storyteller, drawing parallels from her life experiences with the current situation today of a rise in Anti-Asian hate and xenophobia, and inhumane treatment of refugees and migrants on our southern border. 

Exiled to Motown: The History of Detroit's Japanese American Community

Join us for an interview with Dr. Mika Kennedy and Celeste Shimoura Goedert, co-curators of the exhibit Exiled to Motown: Japanese Americans in Detroit, for a vibrant discussion on the origins of the exhibit, the history of the Japanese American community in Metro Detroit, and the connections we can make today within our current socio-political climate.

This discussion is hosted by Bill Kubota of Detroit Public Television.

This event is in partnership with AAPI performance collaborative IS/LAND, Detroit Public Television, and Rising Voices.

Olmsted: Designing America—Barton Hills Village in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Historian and filmmaker Laurence Cotton, originator of and consulting producer to the PBS special “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America,” will be speaking on the remarkable life and career of the Renaissance-man Frederick Law Olmsted and the firm’s work in master planning Barton Hills Village.

The Great Migration: Reflections of the Past in Anticipation of the Future

The Great Migration transformed America’s cultural landscape, impacting cities and towns across the nation, including Detroit and Washtenaw County. Participants will learn about the exodus of more than 6 million African Americans from the deep South to the North, Midwest, and West Coast between 1910-1970.