Mine Okubo

Mine Okubo was a Japanese American who grew up in Riverside, California during World War II.  She was one of 110,000 Japanese Americans that were ordered into detention camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  She was sent to a detention camp that was converted from a racetrack.  She was made to remain in a barn and sleep in a horse stall.  All internees were forbidden to use cameras so she recorded her interactions in charcoal and watercolor.   In 1946 her drawings and sketches were published in her book entitled Citizen 13660. It includes 200 illustrations with captions and is a great book to use when studying the home front during World War II.  She was recently highlighted in a New York Historical Society program.