LibGuides: Preface- Reading Program: 2022

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei; Justin Eisinger; Steven Scott; Harmony Becker (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juvenile Collection: D769.8.A6 T355 2019
ISBN: 9781603094504
Publication Date: 2019
A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself -- in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love. George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future. In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard. They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future. What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

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Spartanburg County Libraries

The Spartanburg County Public Library also has copies of They Called Us Enemy, including the ebook, available for checkout.

They Called Us Enemy Catalog Record

Preface 2022 Events

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Session Title: Recognizing Propaganda and Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II

Speaker Name: Dr. Matthew Placek, Political Science

Session Time: 5:00-6:00pm

Location: Tukey Theatre, Library Building

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Session Title: George Takei, Anti-Racism, and Science Fiction

Speaker Name: Dr. Peter Caster, English

Session Time: 2:00-3:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Session Title: Stop AAPI Hate

Speaker Name: Hao Wu, Asian American activist

Session Time: 4:00-5:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Friday, October 7, 2022

Session Title: After Hiroshima: Untangling the Web of Science, Ethics, and Politics

Speaker Name: Dr. Pam Barber, Biology

Session Time: 1:00-2:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Session Title: Film: To Be Takei

Session Time: 5:00-7:00pm

Location: Tukey Theatre, Library Building

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Session Title: Memories of Imprisonment

Speaker Name: Sam Mihara

Session Time: 2:00-3:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Thursday October 20, 2022 - Saturday, October 22, 2022

Session Title: Voices to Hear Staged Reading: A Question of Loyalty by Robert K. Maesaka, Directed by Allen Evans

Session Time: October 20-22 at 7:30pm and October 22 at 3:30pm

Location: Studio Theatre in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center, Room 129

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Session Title: Activism and Social Media

Speaker Name: Dr. Allison Ellis, Political Science

Session Time: 10:50am-12:05pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Session Title: Does Work Make One Free? Japanese Internees and Agricultural Labor

Speaker Name: Dr. Carmen Harrison, History

Session Time: 3:00-4:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Monday, November 14, 2022

Session Title: From Exclusion to Becoming the Model: The Complicated Identity Construction of Indian Immigrants in the US

Speaker Name: Dr. Renu Pariyadath, Communication Studies

Session Time: 2:30-3:50pm

Location: Tukey Theatre, Library Building

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Session Title: Alumni Panel: Immigrant Contributions to US Science and Technology

Speaker Name: Dr. Chris Bender, Chemistry, and Dr. Alex Lorenz, German Studies

Session Time: 5:00-6:00pm

Location: Olin B. Sansbury Campus Life Center Ballroom

Preface Calendar Fall 2022

Information about Japanese Internment Camps

To learn more about Japanese Internment Camps, please visit our guide by clicking below: