Material contribuído por Greg
Sojin Kamiyama: The Man they called Sôjin
Greg Robinson
Among all the Japanese actors who graced Hollywood screens in the silent and early sound eras, perhaps none had such a charismatic and powerful presence as Sojin (Kamiyama). Though he spent only a relatively short time in the United States, and never attained the level of stardom of his contemporary …
Ernest Meyer: A Progressive Voice in Defense of Japanese Americans
Greg Robinson
In the period following the outbreak of the Pacific War, newspapers played a leading role in fomenting racial prejudice against Japanese Americans by reporting baseless accounts of espionage and fifth-column activity. West Coast columnists such as Harry McLemore beat the drum for mass removal of ethnic Japanese. Outside the West …
Ansel Adams and Born Free and Equal: Another View
Greg Robinson
A number of scholars, including Nancy Matsumoto, Jasmine Alinder, and Elena Tajima Creef among others, have discussed photographer Ansel Adams’s landmark 1944 volume Born Free and Equal. The story behind the book remains fairly obscure, especially Adams’s connection with Harold Ickes.
Paul Takagi: A Centenary Remembrance
Greg Robinson
May 3, 2023 marks the 100th birthday of the late Bay Area scholar and advocate Paul Takagi. As professor at UC Berkeley, Paul helped shape the university’s School of Criminology, adopting the “crime and social justice” approach of Radical Criminology.
Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 2: The Japanese American Response
Greg Robinson
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Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale
Greg Robinson
A tragic episode in the transnational history of Nikkei in the Americas is that of the Japanese colonists who settled in the Dominican Republic in the 1950s and their return after 1961.1 The story of postwar Dominican colonization has been extensively recounted in different ways (and languages), by scholars such as …
Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans II: A Day at the (Olympic) Races
Greg Robinson
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Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans I: A Night at the Opera
Greg Robinson
Yoshie (AKA Yosie) Fujiwara, a legendary tenor and impresario whose career spanned decades, was the biggest name in grand opera in Japan over the 20th century. For much of that period, he served as director of the Fujiwara Opera Company. Through his activities as singer, director, and teacher, Fujiwara “almost …