California Nisei College Diploma Project

The California Nisei College Diploma Project was established to provide community outreach and education for a new law, AB 37, authored by Assemblymember Warren Furutani.  The California Nisei College Diploma Project seeks to identify and support individuals of Japanese descent who were unable to complete their college education in the State of California because of forced removal and incarceration during World War II.  Over 2,500 students of Japanese ancestry are estimated to have been in school at the time with the Nisei or second generation Japanese Americans comprising the largest number affected. AB 37 also allows a representative to accept an honorary degree on behalf of individuals who are deceased.

Downloadable forms

Nisei College Diploma Educational Packet Cover Letter

Law AB 37

JCCCNC Letter from Warren Furutani

Newsletter

Historical Background

Nikkei Family Legacy Project

After the completion of the first Nikkei Family Legacy Project in 2009, many of the participants voiced their enthusiasm to see an expanded program that would be a family history project.  In response to that enthusiasm, a second phase, the Nikkei Family Legacy Project - The Legacy Continues (NFLP), has been created.  The goal of the NFLP is to teach and give participants the tools to be able to collect and preserve their family history through the first-hand accounts of Nisei before they are lost forever.

NFLP will provide a series of five hands-on workshops to guide participants through the research process, scanning and uploading photos/documents and creating a hardcover book produced on blurb.com.  In addition, participants will also have a chance to visit the National Archives and attend other guest speaker workshops.  The project will conclude with the production of 50 hardback books, some of which will be showcased at our Nikkei Family Legacy Project Exhibition on June 23, 2012.

Sponsors: California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a program of the California State Library, as well as donations from the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation and the 100th Anniversary of Japantown Fund.

Reel Nikkei Stories

Reel Nikkei Stories

REEL NIKKEI STORIES is designed to engage youth to take an active role and empower them with the confidence, training and tools to interview, video document and share the untold stories of living relatives before their family histories are lost forever. Although many documentaries, books and oral histories have been produced to preserve and teach the Japanese American experience during World War II and in internment camps, your family’s personal story may still remain untold and undocumented. By interviewing and video documenting your elders’ stories, you will be able to start a dialogue in your family and learn first-hand accounts of the Japanese American experience. REEL NIKKEI STORIES will provide you with the help you need through workshops, training DVDs and loaning camera equipment to responsible participants.

Training Videos

• Step 1 - How to Interview and Sample Questions
• Step 2 - How to Record Sound for Video
• Step 3 - How to Set-up Lighting for Video
• Step 4 - How to Use the Camera
• Step 5 - How to Edit

Reel Nikkei Online Resources

Request a Reel Nikkei Training Tool Kit

Sponsored by: California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP); The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation; Best Buy

Special thanks to: Logan Baird, Dianne Fukami, Boku Kodama, Kedar Lawrence, Ken Yamada, and Jan Yanehiro

“If history becomes real to a person, it empowers them and lives through them and then can be passed on from generation to generation.”

- JCCCNC Executive Director Paul Osaki