THE ARCHIVIST
Paper Hearts BY LOREN ITO HARDENBERGH Commemorating Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month held particular significance this spring in the face of the most recent wave of violence and anti-AAPI racism in the country. Along with Erika Lee’s Zeidman lecture on the history of anti-Asian racism, visits by children’s book illustrator and author Grace Lin, and other events (see “Into the Fold,” on page 26), the Sidwell Friends community gathered to do what we’ve done for
In the spring of 1987, as the District awaited the emergence of the Brood X cicadas, students were studying all things Japan in anticipation of the Japanese Language and Culture Program trip that summer, which launched in 1985 with the help of U.S.-Japan Culture Center president and Sidwell Friends parent Mikio Kanda (P '86, '89). In their studies, they read the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. Sadako was a toddler when her hometown of Hiroshima was bombed, and she later developed leukemia from the radiation. According to Japanese legend, if you fold a thousand paper cranes, you are granted a wish. After
24 SIDWELL FRIENDS MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021
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Sidwell Friends Archives
Sidwell Friends Archives
decades as we strive for peace and healing during difficult times: We folded.
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Sadako's passing, thousands of paper cranes have been left at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima Peace Park in her honor. That summer, four students and advisor Ellen Pierson placed 4,000 paper cranes at the base of Sadako’s statue, and a Sidwell Friends tradition was born. Folding origami cranes for the School’s student peace ambassadors to bring to Hiroshima each year has been a regular spring occurrence at Founder’s Day and other Sidwell Friends events for decades now. Some alumni may even remember sitting under the cherry blossom trees in the courtyard near the Kogod Arts Center with Michiko Yamaoka, a survivor of the
bombing of Hiroshima who served as Peace Speaker and became a longtime friend of the School. Only 15 years old when the bomb dropped, Yamaokasan felt connected to the Friends community after living with Quakers while receiving over 25 procedures for the disfigurement caused by the radiation. For decades, students who participated in the Japan trip had the unforgettable experience of being a personal guest of Yamaoka-san while visiting Hiroshima. Not all of these cranes have flown across the Pacific. Several student art displays over the years have become a part of campus life. While some may suspect the Upper School’s Crane
