On Thursday, May 28, the Mount Madonna School 10th grade U.S. History class had the opportunity to interview author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston as part of their study of the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II. Teacher Tiffany Wayne’s class read Houston’s 1973 memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, about the experience of forcible relocation to the Manzanar government internment camp here in California when Houston was just a young child. The sophomores prepared thoughtful and deep questions as they wanted to know about what it was like for the children and families who lived at Manzanar, how the experience shaped Houston’s own family life and identity, and what larger lessons all of us can learn from this chapter in our nation’s history.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast in the name of national security. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans, the majority of them Nisei (second generation American-born) and Sansei (third generation) U.S. citizens, lost their homes and businesses when they were relocated to 10 different internment camps spread throughout several western states and Arkansas. Two of the largest camps – Tule Lake and Manzanar – were located in California, and Japanese Americans living in the Bay Area were especially impacted in large numbers.
Sophomore Blythe Wilson wanted to know how much Houston understood about what was happening to her family at the time. Houston shared that, as a young child (she was about age 7 upon first arriving at Manzanar), she was attune to the changes in her immediate family and their routines, but did not understand the larger impact of the events until writing the memoir.
“I thought it was interesting that it took decades after her time at Manzanar for her to process it, that it had a very long impact, and was connected to the rest of history,” reflected Wilson. “She had a lot of interesting things to say, and the interview was nice!”
Classmate Grace Timan agreed and appreciated that Houston “explained things in a way I hadn’t thought about before. I never realized that at the time she wouldn’t understand what was happening to her.”
“The opportunity for students to read about something that took place, from their perspective, such a long time ago in U.S. history, and then speak with someone who experienced that time period, is invaluable in showing the relevance of history to today,” Wayne observed.
“This was my first time meeting with an author and talking about the book they have written,” commented student Amirah Alexander. “I liked hearing her first-hand experience and how she was able to convert this experience into something that made her grow as a person.”
Jeanne Houston is now 85 years old and is a long-time resident of Santa Cruz. Mount Madonna School parents Ilga Celmins and Kent Kitchel had a personal connection with Houston’s daughter, Gabby Houston Neville, a local Main Beach and UC Santa Cruz volleyball coach, and were able to arrange the class meeting with Houston. Neville said that this was the first time Houston had used Zoom and that she was very impressed with the ability to talk to the class in this way.
“Success!” wrote Neville in a note to Wayne following the interview. “My mom says it was a pleasure and thanks the students for their intelligent questions and polite attention.”
“At the end of our interview,” Wayne remembered, “Jeanne Houston told the students that she had hope in the future because of them. It meant a lot to me that someone whose memoir has been read in high schools and colleges across the country for several decades – whose story has become a defining first-person account of the Japanese American experience – took the time to talk to our small group of Mount Madonna students.”
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Nestled among the redwoods on 375 acres, Mount Madonna School (MMS) is a community of learners dedicated to creative, intellectual, and ethical growth. MMS supports its students in becoming caring, self-aware, discerning and articulate individuals; and believe a fulfilling life includes personal accomplishments, meaningful relationships and service to society. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville. Founded in 1979.