About the Event
Stories of Japanese Americans who were stripped of their constitutional rights during World War II and how the “America’s Pastime” was a means of enduring and escaping their imprisonment. It brought a sense of normalcy to their very abnormal lives and created a social and positive atmosphere for these so called ‘Enemy Aliens. ’The irony that these ballplayers could travel from Gila River, Arizona to Heart Mountain Wyoming and Colorado for baseball tournaments. In their world, life brought a desert and they built these ‘Diamonds in the Rough.’
About the Speakers
Kerry is the author of ’Through a Diamond,100 Years of Japanese American Baseball’ and ‘ A History of Japanese American Baseball in California.’ He is the founder and president of the non-profit Nisei Baseball Research Project, ( NBRP ), founding curator of ‘Bridge Across the Pacific’ international exhibit and produced curriculums with SPICE at Stanford University. He also produced/directed ‘Diamonds in the Rough’ documentary with his Godpapa Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita and other multiple documentaries. He produced the dramatic narrative award winning film ‘American Pastime.’
He was a consultant to the hall of fame exhibit ‘Baseball As America’ with Buck O’Neil and the ‘Chasing Dreams’ exhibit with the National Museum of American Jewish History. He is a Ambassador/consultant with the 2025 exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame entitled ‘Yakyu/Baseball.’
Bill Staples, Jr. is an award-winning baseball historian and author with a passion for researching and telling the untold stories of the “international pastime.” His areas of expertise include Japanese American and Negro Leagues baseball history as a context for exploring the themes of civil rights, cross-cultural relations, and globalization. He’s the author of Kenichi Zenimura, Japanese American Baseball Pioneer and Gentle Black Giants: A History of Negro Leaguers in Japan, and serves as board President of the Japanese American Citizens League – Arizona Chapter, and board member of the Nisei Baseball Research Project. Learn more at www.zenimura.com.
Special thanks with support from:
