How Did Japanese Americans Experience the Jim Crow South?
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Join us for the next La Ceiba Festival conversation: “Jim Crow & Japanese American Life in Virginia” happening this Saturday, May 16th at 11am EST | 3pm GMT | 8am PST. This dialogue is presented by Regina H. Boone, award-winning photojournalist for the Richmond Free Press and Emma Ito, an Education & Program Specialist with the Library of Virginia.
Join this conversation and the Q&A to follow moderated by Alicia Aroche, the founder & director of La Ceiba Festival.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
REGINA H. BOONE is an award-winning photojournalist who has spent more than 20 years documenting human resiliency including in her hometown of Richmond, Va. working for her family’s newspaper, the Richmond Free Press, to Detroit where she worked for nearly 14 years at the Detroit Free Press. In 2016, Time magazine chose a portrait of hers as its cover image documenting the Flint water crisis.
Following graduation from Roland Park Country School in Baltimore in 1988, she attended Spelman College. After receiving a BA in Political Science in 1992 Regina taught English on the JET (Japanese English Teaching) Program while living in Osaka for three years. Once her time in Japan was over she backpacked solo through Thailand, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Egypt and Holland. Later she studied photojournalism as a graduate student at Ohio University.
In 2018, she completed the Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, where Regina began researching her Japanese grandfather, Tsuruju Miyazaki, and his wrongful arrest on December 7, 1941 in Suffolk, Va. Her father, Raymond H. Boone was just three-years-old.
In 2014 as her father was battling pancreatic cancer he asked Regina to tell their family’s story. Her goal is to continue to fulfill his last request and to shine a light on another American injustice that has caused great intergenerational pain and trauma. Regina’s hope is that the more that is known about the American government’s inhumane polices, the more people will become intolerant of these hurtful policies and practices.
EMMA ITO received her B.A. and M.A. in History at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her Master’s thesis was on the experiences of Japanese and Japanese Americans in Virginia, with a focus on Jim Crow and World War II. Emma works full-time at the Library of Virginia as an Education & Program Specialist, where she aids in coordination and implementation of educational programs and outreach for students, teachers, and the public. She is currently involved with Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) projects at the Library of Virginia and recently aided in creating several new resources for those interested in researching APIDAs in the Library and in Virginia, including a website.