Japanese
Japanese Americans in Gallup
Research by Paul Benedict
From the bell tower in the cathedral to the overpass at 66 and Ford Canyon, small glimpse of Japanese influence can be seen throughout Gallup. Reoccurring names like Taira, Teshima, and Miyamura are still spoken of in Gallup and can be seen on walls and places around town. Though a small minority, their influence and the presence are still a part of our local history.
First the early days of the gold rush in the west to the building of the transcontinental railroad, Japanese have grown with the America in its westward expansion. For this minority the road has rarely been smooth. The hardest of all times came Feb. 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which allowed military authorities to exclude any group of people from any region without trial or hearings for reasons of "military necessity." E.O. 9066 provided the legal authority behind the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. In Gallup the word was “NO!”. Although located along Route 66 and the AT&SF Railroad, America’s two lifelines, Gallup was in Zone II. Gallup was the ONLY community that refused to intern its Japanese residents.
The pride of Gallup to its Japanese Americans can be seen no clearer then the first overpass linking the north side over the railroad and I-40 being named Miyamura Overpass. “Hershey Miyamura, a 1943 Gallup High School graduate, received the Congressional Medal of Honor after his release from a Chinese prison camp at the end of the Korean War. Mr. Miyamura was the first Japanese American ever to receive such an honor.
Dimmed through the view of larger ethnic groups in Gallup, the Japanese American influence in Gallup is as large and as valuable to remember and honor in our community.
Noe, Sally. (1997). Gallup, New Mexico, U.S.A. Donning Company. Virginia Beach, Va.
Phone Call: Gorge Taira. April 27, 2004
Japan~The Country
Japanese government site providing information for online budget hotel reservations, regional guides,
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html
Facts and information on the people, economy, land, and much more about, Japan.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e641.html
History of the country and its people. From 13000BC to postwar.
History of Japanese in America
http://www.janet.org/janet_history/niiya_chron.html
A short Chronology of Japanese American History
http://www.cetel.org/timeline.html
This timeline is primarily adapted from Sucheng Chan's book Asian Americans: An Interpretive History ©1991, Twayne Publishers, Boston. Some elements were adapted from LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics). Links are included to the text of selected historical documents.
Japanese in America and the Railroad
http://www2.hsp.org/exhibits/Balch%20exhibits/japanese/earlyissei.html
Written history of Japanese American and working on the transcontinental railroad.
http://www.gasi.org/diversity/cohort/japanese_am_cohort.htm
Chronology of Japanese and Railroad work in the US
Internment
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aamhtml/manzSubjects02.html
Pictures by Ansel Adams of the Japanese, Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, must see for everyone.
Movies, stories, and pictures of the experience of internment centers and forced relocation from homes and businesses that Japanese Americans had to endure.
Integrating Technology into Curriculum
Final Project
Daniel Comar
Part A: Japanese culture as related to Gallup, NM
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type of technology |
implementation |
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Powerpoint™ |
Demographic breakdown of Gallup population by race with accompanying images related to each culture |
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Excel™ |
Use computer to generate graph of population breakdown from table used in Powerpoint lesson |
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Internet webquest |
Use computer lab to search for history behind the Miyamura overpass (named after Hiroshi Miyamura, a Gallup resident who was a Korean war ‘hero’ |
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Internet research |
Students look up articles by Julie McHenry, a local teacher who documented a trip to Japan for The Gallup Independent: ( http://www.gallupindependent.com/03-24-03japan.html ) |
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Real persons |
Gallup Historical Society (505) 863 - 1363 |
Part B: Resources for Japanese culture
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curriculum |
source |
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Art |
http://www.international.ucla.edu/shenzhen/2002neta/lucas/homepages/home.html |
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Social studies |
http://www.jimmy.qmuc.ac.uk/usr/mc00walks/SUBJbook.html http://www.watanabegumi.co.jp/jpculture/jpculture.html |
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Horticulture/gardening |
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language |
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/thoreau/japanese.html |
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music |
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food |
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And, most importantly, math: |
Interactive soroban sight (the Japanese copy of the abacas): http://www.globalclassroom.org/2001/mathgames.html an origami instructions sight: |