How many of us have at one time or another, pointed to a house, or a hospital, exclaiming, “That’s where I was born!”?
On April 23, 2022 Jeanie Kashima posed on a slab of concrete in the middle of the Utah desert–all that remains of the laundry room in Block 4 of the Topaz concentration camp. This “floor” is where Jeanie’s mother gave birth to Jeanie almost 80 years ago, since Topaz had just opened and the hospital was not yet finished.
Jeanie’s mother, Amy, lived to be 104 years old. After she died, during the lockdown, Jeanie began incorporating photos that her uncle had managed to take in Topaz to make collages.
Read Jeanie’s story, “Topaz Birth,” and see a few of her stunning works.
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories: Voices rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)