The JASC Legacy Center Presents a free “Memories of Now” Seminar Series Presentation

July 24, 2018

TUESDAY, 6:30pm – 8:00pm Presentation Location: Japanese American JAPANESE WAR BRIDES Service Committee (JASC) 4427 N. Clark Street In Post World War II America Chicago, IL 60640 Featured Speaker: Sonia Gomez, PhD During the Allied Occupation of Japan and the Korean War, approximately 13,000 Japanese women immigrated to the United States as brides to Amer- ican servicemen. Although U.S. immigration law excluded the Japanese from entering the country, a series of Congressional acts eventually allowed Japanese women to enter the U.S. in much the same way as the so called Co-sponsored by the “picture brides,” though this time they entered as wives to American men. Chicago Japanese American This presentation looks at the marriages of Japanese women and Ameri- Historical Society (CJAHS) and can servicemen, beginning with a discussion of the American Red Cross the Japanese American Bride Schools that sought to mold Japanese women into good American Citizens League - Chicago housewives. Second, it looks at Japanese war bride clubs in the United Chapter (JACL-Chicago) States, such as the Cosmo Club, which was founded in Chicago in 1952 un- der the auspices of the Chicago Resettlers Committee. This program is made possible in part by a grant from Illinois Humanities, with Sonia Gomez is a historian of the modern support from the MacArthur Foundation’s United States. Her research and teaching Safety and Justice Challenge. focus on the intersections of race, gender, and immigration. Sonia earned a PhD in history from the University of Chicago in 2018, and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mahin- dra Humanities Center at Harvard University. Her book project, “Good Wives, Wise Moth- ers: Race, Gender, and Belonging in the Making of Japanese America,” Event and Parking are Free. investigates the ways in which marriage, the nuclear family, and female do- RSVP to Ryan Yokota mesticity facilitated Japanese immigration and settlement, and constructed By calling or emailing at: specific roles for Japanese women in the United States. Sonia is the grand- 773-275-0097, ext. 222 or at daughter of Michiko Ikeda, a Japanese war bride who immigrated to the [email protected] U.S. in 1952. Web: www.jasc-chicago.org Twitter: @myjasc Facebook: www.facebook.com/JASCchicago