"From a title-winning boxer in Louisiana to a Broadway baritone in New York, Japanese Americans have long belied their popular representation as "quiet Americans." Showcasing the lives and achievements of relatively unknown but remarkable people in Nikkei history, scholar and journalist Greg Robinson reveals the diverse experiences of Japanese Americans and explores a wealth of themes, including mixed-race families, artistic pioneers, mass confinement, civil rights activism, and queer history. Drawn primarily from Robinson's popular writings in the San Francisco newspaper Nichi Bei Weekly and community website Discover Nikkei, The Unsung Great offers entertaining and compelling stories that challenge one-dimensional views of Japanese Americans. This collection breaks new ground by devoting attention to Nikkei beyond the West Coast-including the vibrant communities of New York and Chicago, as well as the little-known history of Japanese Americans in the US South. Expertly researched and accessibly written, The Unsung Great brings to light a constellation of varied and incredible life stories"--
Mostly drawn from Robinson's writings in the column "The Great Unknown and the Unknown Great" for the San Francisco newspaper Nichi Bei Weekly and the Japanese American National Museum blog Discover Nikkei, The Unsung Great, the stories in this collection describe Japanese American history and culture. They cover mixed-race Japanese American families that formed in the decades before World War II, including the Takamine, Hirose, Ohnick, and Thomson families and Sono and Timothy Osato; Japanese American literature by writers like John Okada, Sanae Kawaguchi, Mitsu Yamamoto, Mary Oyama Mittwer, Henry Mittwer, Ambrose Amadeus Uchiyamada, and K.K. and Clarke Kawakami; stories involving the World War II era, with discussion of Tsuyoshi Matsumoto, Toru Matsumoto, internment films, interracial marriage and wartime Japanese American confinement, Theophane Walsh, Dorothy Day, Pearl S. Buck, Woody Guthrie, and Forrest LaViolette; different forms of political activism among the Nisei and their struggles for civil rights, such as Clifford Uyeda, Ben Kiroki, Loren Miller, Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, and Jean Sadako King; the arts and sciences and individuals like Taro and Mitsu Yashima, Yoichi Okamoto, Sueo Serisawa, Newton Wesley, and Eugenie Clark; the queer history of Japanese Americans; and Japanese Americans outside the West Coast, including the Ito sisters of Chicago, Jitsuyichi Masuoka, and T. Scott Miyakawa. Annotation ©2021 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
From a title-winning boxer in Louisiana to a Broadway baritone in New York, Japanese Americans have long belied their popular representation as “quiet Americans.” Showcasing the lives and achievements of relatively unknown but remarkable people in Nikkei history, scholar and journalist Greg Robinson reveals the diverse experiences of Japanese Americans and explores a wealth of themes, including mixed-race families, artistic pioneers, mass confinement, civil rights activism, and queer history.
Drawn primarily from Robinson’s popular writings in the San Francisco newspaper Nichi Bei Weekly and community website Discover Nikkei, The Unsung Great offers entertaining and compelling stories that challenge one-dimensional views of Japanese Americans. This collection breaks new ground by devoting attention to Nikkei beyond the West Coast—including the vibrant communities of New York and Chicago, as well as the little-known history of Japanese Americans in the US South. Expertly researched and accessibly written, The Unsung Great brings to light a constellation of varied and incredible life stories.
