From Concentration Camp to Campus: Japanese American Students and World War II

In the aftermath of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the systematic exile and incarceration of thousands of Japanese Americans, the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council was born. Created to facilitate the movement of Japanese American college students from concentration camps to colleges away from the West Coast, this privately organized and funded agency helped more than 4,000 incarcerated students pursue higher education at more than 600 schools during WWII.
 
Austin argues that the resettled students transformed the attempts at assimilation to create their own meanings and suit their own purposes, and succeeded in reintegrating themselves into the wider American society without sacrificing their connections to community and their Japanese cultural heritage.
 

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword by Roger Daniels Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: "Ambassadors of Good Will" 1. Creating the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council 2. Living in Hope and Working on Faith, Summer 1942 3. In "Free America," Fall 1942-Summer 1943 4. Change and New Challenges in a World at War, Fall 1943-Summer 1944 5. Closing Down and Saying "Sayonara," 1944-46 Conclusion: Memory and the Meaning of Student Resettlement Appendixes 1. Attendees at May 29, 1942, Meeting in Chicago 2. Attendees at September 29, 1943, Meeting in New York City Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, Japanese Americans Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945, Japanese Americans Education (Higher) History 20th century, Japanese American college students Social conditions 20th century

About the Author :
Allan W. Austin is a professor of history at Misericordia University. He is the author of Quaker Brotherhood: Interracial Activism and the American Friends Service Committee, 1917-1950.

Review :
"[From Concentration Camp to Campus] offers an extraordinarily detailed look at how the [National Japanese American Student Relocation Council] was formed, the internal battles fought by its members, the relationship of the council to both government officials and college administrators, and the process the council employed to select--and often find funding for--Japanese American students."--Journal of American History
"Austin is to be commended for his careful analysis of the Council's and the American Friend Service Committee's records and his superb blending of institutional history with personal accounts by students, all of which cover aspects of the student resettlement not found in previous works."--American Historical Review
"Through an effective blend of scholarly research and personal stories, and not only tracing what happened but why, what could have been a dry history becomes a fascinating study with great relevance."--Multicultural Review