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Michi Nishiura Weglyn

にしうら みちこ

Michi Nishiura Weglyn

Aliases: Michiko Nishiura / Michi Weglyn

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1926-11-29 （Stockton, California, U.S.）
Died
1999-04-25 （New York City, New York, U.S.） age 72
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, Japanese
Residence History
Stockton, California (birthplace) → Brentwood, California (family farm) → Gila River War Relocation Center, Arizona (internment) → New Jersey (sanatorium treatment and family residence) → New York City (longtime residence and base of activities)

Career

Occupations
Author, Costume designer, Civil rights activist
Active Years
1944-1999

Education

Mount Holyoke College
Faculty of Science (Biology major) / Biology
Period: 1944–1945
Country: United States
Withdrew due to tuberculosis treatment
Barnard College
Period: 1947–1948
Country: United States
Attended; later required additional treatment for tuberculosis

Awards

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
1977
Work: Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Foundation
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctorate (Hunter College)
Organization: Hunter College
Result: 授与
Honorary Doctorate (Mount Holyoke College)
Organization: Mount Holyoke College
Result: 授与
Honorary Doctorate (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona)
Organization: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps

1976 Non-fiction, History, Investigative

A landmark investigative account documenting the U.S. government's misconduct toward Japanese Americans during World War II. The book challenges the military necessity argument for internment and highlights underreported issues such as camp protest movements and the internment of Japanese Latin Americans.

Civil rightsRacism and discriminationMemory and justiceInternment
Adaptations
  • [Documentary film] Out of Infamy

Bibliography

  • Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps (1976)

Adaptations

  • Documentary 'Out of Infamy'

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Investigative non-fictionFact-based, polemical prose
Recurring Motifs
Fragility of rightsPreservation of memory and testimonyExposing injustice

Health

  • Tuberculosis
    1944–1949（断続的に療養）
    Forced withdrawal from college and interruptions in early career; later recovered and resumed professional and writing activities.

Legacy

Years of Infamy is regarded as a seminal historical study of Japanese American internment and helped fuel the movement that led to reparations under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Weglyn served as a vocal advocate for affected communities and is recognized as an important figure in Japanese American history and civil rights scholarship.

Archives

  • National Archives and Records Administration (Japanese American Internee Data File)
  • Densho Digital Repository (interviews and materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Documentary film 'Out of Infamy' profiling her life and work

Quotes

  • (From the book's preface) I hope it will serve as a reminder of the fragility of their rights — and as a warning that those who say it can never happen again are probably wrong.
    Source: Michi Nishiura Weglyn, Years of Infamy (preface) (1976)

Trivia

  • Worked as a costume designer for the Perry Como Show from 1957 to 1966, becoming a nationally prominent Japanese American in that field at the time.
  • Married Walter Matthys Weglyn, a Jewish refugee from the Netherlands; his experience encouraged her writing.
  • Interned in 1942 at the Turlock Assembly Center and later at the Gila River War Relocation Center.