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Feared funding cuts for JANM’s Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops
JANM
By William T. Fujioka
Photo by: Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times
[Los Angeles] On Friday, JANM’s education team received this chilling email from the National Endowment for the Humanities, confirming what we have feared: the clawing back of $190,000 in funding for JANM’s Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops this summer. These weeklong workshops bring teachers from across the United States to JANM, Little Tokyo, and Manzanar National Historic Site to experience Japanese American history, hear from former incarcerees, and most importantly, bring those stories and lessons back to their classrooms.
“I didn’t learn about the camps until I was an adult. I really want to change that for my students.” - Lily Freteng, 7th–12th grade teacher, Arkansas
Faced with the loss of funding, we had the sad task of notifying 72 teachers— each reaching hundreds of schoolchildren—that this summer’s workshops would likely be cancelled.
This grant is a fraction of the $1.45 million in current funds that JANM has been awarded from the NEH and the Institute for Museum and Library Services—funds that are now at risk due to drastic cuts at these federal agencies. Affecting museums and libraries nationwide, these cuts are part of the current administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion and its ongoing efforts to erase history.
Earlier this year, JANM’s Board of Trustees joined me in reaffirming the Museum’s commitment as a beacon for civil rights and democracy, ensuring that the injustices faced by Japanese Americans during World War II are never repeated against any other group.
Our Museum stands as a place of memory, truth, and justice, where history is not only preserved but actively used to confront contemporary threats to democracy and human dignity. At a time when many agencies and organizations have scrubbed their websites of references to DEI, JANM vows to scrub nothing. Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in.
When we got word of these latest cuts, we spoke out, and the media responded. Stories on ABC7 and the Los Angeles Times struck a chord. Over the weekend,
JANM received dozens of spontaneous donations through our website to thank us for taking a stand—many from people new to JANM, from all across the country. Inspired by their response, we now ask you, JANM’s community:
“This is not just a chapter in history, this is a part of all of our histories…It has far-reaching implications day to day, so this has been very powerful.” - Lhisa Almashy, 9th–12th grade teacher, Florida
An anonymous donor has stepped up and pledged $85,000 for the Landmarks workshops, enough to cover JANM’s costs here in Los Angeles. In order to bring 72 teachers from 28 states to Los Angeles to experience the program, we need another $93,600 to cover travel stipends for the teachers. Without these stipends, most of these educators will not be able to make the trip and experience these stories of the Japanese American experience first hand.
Over the past two years, JANM’s Landmarks workshops reached more than 100 teachers in 31 states, who in turn reached approximately 21,000 students. This year’s teachers include 11 from states we have yet to reach through this program. With the numbers of survivors dwindling, this year may be one of the last times we are able to share first-person incarceration voices with a large group of teachers from across the country, many of whom would otherwise never have the chance to meet someone with that history in their areas.
“This has been a wonderful experience because I have learned so much about Japanese American history and I’m going to be a better teacher because of this experience.” - Melissa Collins, 2nd–3rd grade teacher, Tennessee
Your support is more important now than ever. Please give today and help JANM continue our mission of preserving this history, building bridges across communities and divides, and ensuring that America remains a nation where all people can thrive. JANM website: https://www.janm.org/
With gratitude, William T Fujioka
ABOUT THE JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM (JANM)
Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over one hundred exhibitions onsite while traveling forty exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus, throughout Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Southern California, and beyond from early January 2025 through late 2026. For more information, visit janm.org/OnTheGo or follow us on social media @jamuseum.
