Sharon Yamato
Sharon Yamato is a writer and filmmaker who is a consultant at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Her abiding interest in Japanese American history began in 1998 when she wrote her book, Moving Walls: Preserving the Barracks of America's Concentration Camps," focusing on the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. As a consultant to the Japanese American National Museum, she has also served as editor of the Museum Magazine and project director of The Encyclopedia of Japanese American History from A to Z (revised edition), An American Son: The Story of George Aratani, and More than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community. She also served as interviewer/researcher for a series of oral histories with members of the National Coalition for Redress and Reparation funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Project.
Having graduated cum laude from UCLA with a B.A. and M.A. degree in English literature, she began her creative career working in public affairs programming at KNBC, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, where she associate produced such award-winning programs as the "Sunday Show" and "At One With." She went on to segment produce for Westinghouse Broadcasting Company's "EveryDay," Universal TV's "The Toni Tennille Show," BCTV's "The Alan Hamel Show," and KCBS' "Two on the Town." Upon leaving broadcast journalism, she developed her interest in issues relevant to Japanese American history and has since written articles on the subject for the Los Angeles Times. She is currently a columnist for a Japanese American daily newspaper, the Rafu Shimpo.
In 2008, she co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed the film, Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn, which was accepted at the Sedona Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. She is currently writing a book about the founding president of the Japanese American National Museum, titled Jive Bombers: A Sentimental Journey.
Born in Denver, Colorado, where her family resettled after being incarcerated in Poston, Arizona, she has been a resident of Los Angeles since age 3. She is a devoted marathon runner who has completed fifteen marathons, including the Boston Marathon.
Out of Infamy: A Forgotten Story of Love and Bravery
Sharon Yamato paints an unforgettable portrait of Michi Nishiura Weglyn, a dynamic woman who put a human face to a tragic and long-hidden event in American history-the incarceration of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps during World War II. The first woman and the first Japanese American to write about the camps, Michi Weglyn would change the course of American history through her book, Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps.
A stunningly beautiful woman, she and her family were sent to a camp while Michi was still a child. She later married a handsome German Jewish Holocaust survivor in one of the century's most touching and enduring love stories. Leaving a glamorous career as a renowned costume designer (for the Perry Como show, among others), Michi changed careers almost overnight to begin her eight-year pursuit. The result was a critically-acclaimed book that revealed the shocking facts behind the decision that led to innocent American citizens being forcibly taken from their homes with only the belongings they could carry.
Michi's research was meticulous, her tenacity unswerving, and her passion legendary.
Her life story is a tale of life, love, and unimaginable bravery in the face of hardship. It is also a love story: the tale of two people whose passion for each other and for the truth fueled a lifelong commitment to the struggle for civil liberties and for justice.
Michi's story has been turned into an award-winning film, "Out of Infamy" that will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2010. Sharon's moving talk about Michi and her inspirational work includes the showing of the film.
Sharon Yamato, an author and consultant at the Japanese American National Museum, has been committed to sharing stories about the mass incarceration for the past twenty years. Born shortly after the war, during which her family was incarcerated at a camp in Poston, Arizona, Sharon knew little about the concentration camps from her parents who, like many of their generation, felt ashamed to talk about it. In 1994, she traveled to Wyoming to the site of one of the camps and experienced first-hand the extreme conditions under which her parents and so many others were imprisoned. The result of that trip was her book, Moving Walls. Since then, Sharon has written about the subject for the Los Angeles Times and is a columnist for the ethnic newspaper, The Rafu Shimpo.
Sharon Yamato is a writer and filmmaker who is a consultant at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Her abiding interest in Japanese American history began in 1998 when she wrote her book, Moving Walls: Preserving the Barracks of America's Concentration Camps," focusing on the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. As a consultant to the Japanese American National Museum, she has also served as editor of the Museum Magazine and project director of The Encyclopedia of Japanese American History from A to Z (revised edition), An American Son: The Story of George Aratani, and More than a Game: Sport in the Japanese American Community. She also served as interviewer/researcher for a series of oral histories with members of the National Coalition for Redress and Reparation funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Project.
Having graduated cum laude from UCLA with a B.A. and M.A. degree in English literature, she began her creative career working in public affairs programming at KNBC, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, where she associate produced such award-winning programs as the "Sunday Show" and "At One With." She went on to segment produce for Westinghouse Broadcasting Company's "EveryDay," Universal TV's "The Toni Tennille Show," BCTV's "The Alan Hamel Show," and KCBS' "Two on the Town." Upon leaving broadcast journalism, she developed her interest in issues relevant to Japanese American history and has since written articles on the subject for the Los Angeles Times. She is currently a columnist for a Japanese American daily newspaper, the Rafu Shimpo.
In 2008, she co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed the film, Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn, which was accepted at the Sedona Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. She is currently writing a book about the founding president of the Japanese American National Museum, titled Jive Bombers: A Sentimental Journey.
Born in Denver, Colorado, where her family resettled after being incarcerated in Poston, Arizona, she has been a resident of Los Angeles since age 3. She is a devoted marathon runner who has completed fifteen marathons, including the Boston Marathon.
Out of Infamy: A Forgotten Story of Love and Bravery
Sharon Yamato paints an unforgettable portrait of Michi Nishiura Weglyn, a dynamic woman who put a human face to a tragic and long-hidden event in American history-the incarceration of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps during World War II. The first woman and the first Japanese American to write about the camps, Michi Weglyn would change the course of American history through her book, Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of America's Concentration Camps.
A stunningly beautiful woman, she and her family were sent to a camp while Michi was still a child. She later married a handsome German Jewish Holocaust survivor in one of the century's most touching and enduring love stories. Leaving a glamorous career as a renowned costume designer (for the Perry Como show, among others), Michi changed careers almost overnight to begin her eight-year pursuit. The result was a critically-acclaimed book that revealed the shocking facts behind the decision that led to innocent American citizens being forcibly taken from their homes with only the belongings they could carry.
Michi's research was meticulous, her tenacity unswerving, and her passion legendary.
Her life story is a tale of life, love, and unimaginable bravery in the face of hardship. It is also a love story: the tale of two people whose passion for each other and for the truth fueled a lifelong commitment to the struggle for civil liberties and for justice.
Michi's story has been turned into an award-winning film, "Out of Infamy" that will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2010. Sharon's moving talk about Michi and her inspirational work includes the showing of the film.
Sharon Yamato, an author and consultant at the Japanese American National Museum, has been committed to sharing stories about the mass incarceration for the past twenty years. Born shortly after the war, during which her family was incarcerated at a camp in Poston, Arizona, Sharon knew little about the concentration camps from her parents who, like many of their generation, felt ashamed to talk about it. In 1994, she traveled to Wyoming to the site of one of the camps and experienced first-hand the extreme conditions under which her parents and so many others were imprisoned. The result of that trip was her book, Moving Walls. Since then, Sharon has written about the subject for the Los Angeles Times and is a columnist for the ethnic newspaper, The Rafu Shimpo.
