As part of A Day in Remembrance which commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 that approved the forced incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, Centenary hosted an online encore performance of the reading of The Pink Dress on March 5, 2022. The Pink Dress is a book by Leslie Kitashima-Gray and is based on real incidents from her mother’s experience in camp.
Leslie and Rev. Mark Nakagawa, District Superintendent of the West District Cal-Pac Conference, moderated a Question & Answer session after the reading. Attendees also shared personal experiences of the incarceration while others retold stories they had heard from their families.
The event was recorded and now has a permanent space on Centenary’s YouTube site so that these stories may not be forgotten. The “Reading of The Pink Dress and Sharing Stories of the Japanese Internment Camp” video may be viewed at https://youtu.be/zyBtSMposwg.
Centenary also premiered on the Day of Remembrance, “Eddy Kurushima’s Internment Camp Paintings.” This video was created by Eddy’s daughter, Denise Kurushima Okamura and may be viewed at https://youtu.be/8AaSskkqOtc.