Between 1946 and 1960, more than 30,000 Japanese women who married American servicemen immigrated to the United States and settled in small towns and rural communities throughout the country. They were the largest group of Asians arriving in the United States in the 1950s. In the aftermath of a terrible conflict, many faced prejudice and difficult lives in America. They persevered in raising families, became American citizens, and gradually found acceptance. Their children, raised as Americans, knew little about their mother’s Japanese life.
The story of these women is almost unknown, but it is an extremely important example of American immigration and assimilation. Today these stories have fresh resonance.
The goal of the War Bride Experience is to document, present and hopefully draw important lessons from this little known chapter of U.S. immigration and social history.
But time is very short. The surviving war brides are in their 80s and 90s. We have produced a short documentary film, Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight: The Japanese War Brides, and an archive of oral histories. We now hope to expand on these efforts to create a traveling exhibition, an hour-long film, and a high school curriculum describing the Japanese war bride experience.
The War Bride Experience, Inc.
a 501(c)(3) Maryland corporation
The story of these women is almost unknown, but it is an extremely important example of American immigration and assimilation. Today these stories have fresh resonance.
The goal of the War Bride Experience is to document, present and hopefully draw important lessons from this little known chapter of U.S. immigration and social history.
But time is very short. The surviving war brides are in their 80s and 90s. We have produced a short documentary film, Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight: The Japanese War Brides, and an archive of oral histories. We now hope to expand on these efforts to create a traveling exhibition, an hour-long film, and a high school curriculum describing the Japanese war bride experience.
The War Bride Experience, Inc.
a 501(c)(3) Maryland corporation