“Life Behind Barbed Wire: Lessons for Today” Q/A session with community elder Mrs. Chizu Kitano Iiyama
2013 Guest Lecturer Series for Asian American/Asian Diaspora Studies 122:
“JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES”
September 26, 2013 (Thursday): “Life Behind Barbed Wire: Lessons for Today” 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, 554 Barrows Hall
On Thursday, September 26th, AA/ADS 122 will be hosting a Q/A session with community elder Mrs. Chizu Kitano Iiyama from 3:30 to 5:00 PM in 554 Barrows Hall.
This lecture is the first of a series of lectures that the course will be sponsoring this semester. Students, staff, faculty, and community members at large are welcome to attend. For additional information, please contact Professor Tsuchitani at lhtsuchitani@berkeley.edu
Mrs. Chizu Kitano Iiyama is a long-time Bay Area civil rights activist. Born and raised in San Francisco, she was a senior at U.C. Berkeley when war broke out between U.S. and Japan on December 7, 1941. It was while she was living in a horse stall at the Santa Anita Assembly Center that she would receive her diploma from the University. She served as Assistant Director of the Education and Recreation Department while at Santa Anita, and as a social worker at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah.
Mrs. Iiyama has been active with a number of organizations over the years as an educator and a leader, including the Early Childhood Education Program at Contra Costa College, the Richmond and El Cerrito Human Relations Committees, the National Japanese American Historical Society, the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, and the Japanese American Citizens League.