Through the generosity and support of the Aratani Foundation, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and the UCLA Institute of American Cultures in partnership with the Teacher Education Program of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the UCLA Center for Ethnocommunications are piloting the Aratani Nikkei Civil Rights Project. The project draws upon the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II to explore civil rights issues through educational technology geared for teachers and students in K-12 schools.

The Aratani Nikkei Civil Rights Project is currently developing two educational tools: a web-based App and a popular video gaming program that high school teachers can use in their classes to provide students an interactive means by which to learn about Japanese American experiences and history. These educational resources will be made available free of charge to teachers and school districts.

Project team members are currently refining the App and gaming program and will during the summer of 2019 host a multi-day teacher training to introduce and to test out the tools. The workshop will also feature leading scholars from UCLA with expertise in Japanese American Studies who will be able to work with the teachers. Based upon feedback from the workshop, the project will further revise and update the resources for dissemination.

The Project would like to gratefully acknowledge the Aratani Foundation, and the staffs and project members of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, the Institute of American Cultures, the Teacher Education Program and the Center for Ethnocommunications. We are also thankful for the support of Densho.org as consultants on the project and for its open access resources that have been an important part of the content of the project.